Chapter 21: Split or Splat
"Weak." A voice said. "After all that hype, you were weak."
Alex just looked forwards. Ty was standing right in front of him, the barrel of an N-Zap was just pushed right to Alex's forehead.
"This is our win!" He pulled the trigger.
Alex just woke up and shot up out of the bed. He was gasping for air and looking around the room. It took him a few seconds to get his bearings straight, but he just calmed down and slowly got up.
He made his way to the washroom and then when he came back, Ink was sitting up too. "Nightmare?" Ink asked.
Alex just nodded. "Yeah. I think it's brought on by the tournament and being nervous about it."
"Ah." Ink replied.
"Sorry if I woke you."
"Nah, I could barely sleep anyway with the partying going on." Ink said, gesturing towards the window. Outside Alex could see some fireworks being set off in the distance, and he could even see some things rattling from the bass. "What are your plans after the tournament?"
"I hope to get home." Alex replied.
"I guess I can't convince you to stay here."
Alex just shook his head. "No. Especially since I believe that after this tournament, well, I have reason to believe that there will be a really big target on my head."
Ink just looked at Alex. "What do you mean?" He wondered.
"I thought you didn't want to get involved?" Alex questioned.
"I don't, but..." Ink looked away rather uncomfortably. "You're in danger, aren't you? We've only known each other for a small amount of time, but I do consider you as a friend. And I don't want to see you hurt, or worse."
Alex found that a bit reassuring. "Thanks, in my meeting with Zero, he said that Zenith was going to move after the tournament." Alex explained. "I've been trying to figure out how to go home, how to open a portal since I've locked myself up in this room for most of the week, but... I've made no progress."
"I see." Ink said. "Well, like I said last time, I can't help you there."
Alex just nodded. "I know."
"Although, there might be something else I can do..." Ink said.
Alex suddenly looked up rather shocked. "Really?" He questioned.
"It's not much," Ink admitted, "basically causing a distraction for a few seconds, to buy you time. You get into the sewers, and get to Octo Valley. You can hide there for the rest of your life."
"I really don't want to spend the rest of my life as a hermit." Alex muttered. "I've got places to go, things to do... My friends to save..."
"You care about them..." Ink said.
Alex just laughed. "Yeah, Z is just hopeless without me. I'm worried about him..."
"Z?"
"Oh, it's my nickname for him. His name is Zoroark." Alex replied. "He's a Zoroark, you know a pokemon..." Alex suddenly realized what he was saying, and to an outsider this probably sounded crazy.
Ink just stared at him for several seconds. "A Zoroark?!" Ink managed to say.
"Yes..." Alex had to kick himself, realizing and remembering that yes, Pokemon as a game, did in fact exist here in this world.
Ink just rushed into a drawer and pulled out something, a moment later he was unmistakably playing Pokemon Black and White. He just held the object out. On screen was indeed a Zoroark. "A Zoroark, as in this?"
Alex nodded.
"You're not lying about this..." Ink whispered.
"No." Alex replied. "This may sound very strange but-"
"Stop!" Ink quickly said. He froze for several seconds and just looked around unsure. "Kamabo... I mean this Zenith... You fight against them, right?"
Alex let off a heavy sigh. "I thought you wanted a simple life. If I answer that, you might not be able to return back to it..."
"I do." Ink replied. "There's nothing more I'd love than to just do turf wars with my friends at the school club. But... after our dealings with Kamabo and other things, I don't think we ever can."
"Yeah, yeah I do." Alex replied. "I fight them, and we're trying to stop a disaster from happening. In this world, and many others."
"I wish you luck." Ink replied. "If their dealings as Kamabo are anything, then they seem like a nasty bunch. So, other worlds?"
Alex just nodded. "Yeah. There's many others out there. Like ones where pokemon are real."
Ink just grunted in frustration.
"Is something wrong?" Alex questioned.
"When I was a young squid, I fantasized about what I'd do if Pokemon were real." Ink admitted. "You know, just being able to battle it out with friends, getting out of school to travel the world. Turns out I was just born on the wrong world."
"Well..." Alex muttered. "I guess that's one way to look at it. But I can't lie, an adventure like that sounds fun."
"I don't know how you do it though." Ink sighed. "Leaving your family and friends behind, going on an adventure... I don't think I could."
"I didn't really have a choice." Alex admitted. "I was kind of dragged into it... Besides, if I don't, who will?"
"There's bound to be someone else, right?"
"I don't know." Alex replied. He just let out a defeated sigh. There were the other chosen champions, or what remained.
"So, you were just picked randomly and taken to another world or something?" Ink wondered. "Because that's way too cliche. I get enough of that from anime."
"It's more like I was chosen."
"Oh cod! That's even worse." Ink groaned.
"I don't know what you were expecting." Alex muttered.
"Well, it's not like we have much else to do right now..." Ink replied. "I figured just talking would help pass the time."
"Are there any funny cat videos online or something that you could share?"
"Not really, the only cats are Judd and Lil Judd." Ink replied.
"Judd? Lil Judd?" Alex questioned.
"The judges." Ink replied.
"Oh, I think I may of seen them." Alex replied. Remembering one very large, round cat, and another smaller, but also round cat. Oddly, both of them had the same spots in the same spots. Alex glanced over at a digital clock. Not even 5 minutes had passed since the last time that he had looked over. "This is getting us nowhere."
"Agreed. Since we have some time, did you want to go over any strategies for the tournament?" Ink wondered. "Then afterwords we can find something to watch."
"Yeah I think so." Alex replied. "It'd help get my mind off of potential impending doom at least."
They made their way outside to the dining-room table, where they found Ika who also couldn't sleep. Currently she was just drinking a cup of something to keep her awake.
They just went over their various strategies, it lasted all of 10 minutes. From there they began just watching something on Inkflix until dawn broke through the night sky, and eventually Levi came over bearing gifts of some much needed caffeine. With that, they got dressed and made their way down to Inkopolis Plaza.
As soon as they could see the plaza and approached it, it suddenly felt different. Previously it was inviting. But now, it was stuffy and hostile. No doubt a result of the tournament.
"It's just the same as in the Bottle Ship..." Alex muttered.
"Is something wrong?" Ink asked.
"I think it's the competition." Alex replied. "I'm just finding it hard to breath all of a sudden."
"Yeah, it's pretty intense." Levi said. "Far more than I was expecting."
"Well, I can guess why, there's a few X ranked teams here." Ink replied. "Well, I think we can take them."
"Let's crush them!" Ika added on.
Alex just nodded. Their confidence was contagious and it was at least helping calm him down a bit. Soon an all to familiar jingle began to play. And up on the screen, Callie and Marie appeared.
"Hold on to your tentacles..." Callie began
"It's Inkopolis News time!" Marie added on.
"Well, today is the big day!" Callie said. "It's the annual Splashdown Tournament! Inklings from all over have come here for a chance to win glory."
"Not to mention the prizes."
"Ah right the prizes! The top 8 teams will all qualify for an exhibition match between us the Squid Sisters, and that new sensation that we're contractually obligated to mention: Off the Hook!"
"We're not going to hold back! Of course, that's not the only prize."
"The top 4 teams will qualify for the nationals later were even more fame and fortune can await!"
"And the top team will get the winners trophy, along with a cash prize of $4,000,000, split between each member of the team."
"256 teams have entered, but only one will win!"
"The rules of this tournament are simple! Each round will be a best of three!"
"Except for the semi finals and finals which will be a best of five!"
"You'll have to do your best and bring your A game because it's single elimination."
"That's right there's no loser bracket here. You lose a round and you're out of the Tournament!"
"So get out there and good luck!"
"And don't forget to..."
"Stay Fresh!" The two said in sync while posing.
"Are you ready for this?" Ink asked.
"Yeah." Alex replied.
"You're not going to hold us back? Right?" Ika asked.
"I hope you're not holding me back." Alex replied.
"You're a bit cocky for someone who just started doing turf war this week."
"What can I say, I'm a quick learner." Alex replied.
"Alright, let's win this tournament!" The four of them just put their hands into a circle, on top of each other's and let off a cheer.
"You're in high spirits!" A voice said. Approaching them was Kelp and three others.
"We're just bluffing, deep down we're all just shaking from sleep deprivation." Levi joked.
"To be honest same." Kelp said. "Alex, why don't I introduce you to my squad."
"Sure," Alex replied.
First was a male inkling with purple hair. "This is Kale."
There was another male inkling with blue hair. "This is Ace."
"And finally, of course you know Tako."
"Yo!" Tako said.
"Hello."
"So this is the infamous squid that we've heard so much about." Kale laughed. "Well, if we meet each other, let's have a clean match."
"Right!"
"Actually, I've been wanting to challenge you to a duel." Kelp said.
"A duel?" Alex said a bit confused. "Well, I don't mind, so I guess."
Kelp just smiled and motioned for Alex to follow him. They went into Ammo Knights. "Hey, Sheldon, can we use the test area for a few moments?" Kelp asked.
"Yes, of course." a small horseshoe crab like creature replied.
Kelp just walked back and grabbed two briefcases. He motioned for Alex to follow and just handed him a briefcase. Alex opened it and inside was a Splattershot Jr.
"We both have the same weapon." Kelp said, opening his briefcase and showing Alex the Splattershot Jr.
"Okay." Alex said.
"We start back to back, take ten paces, turn around and try to splat each other." Kelp said. "We'll have limited ink, so it won't refill."
Alex just looked at him rather surprised. "What?!"
"I said a duel, so we're going to duel." Kelp replied. The scary thing was that he was serious. Even though he was laughing, and had a goofy smile across his face, Alex could tell this wasn't a joke.
"I see." Alex said. "May I ask why?"
Kelp just nodded. "Well, there are a few reasons. The first, as much as I'd like to I'm not sure if we will get to face each other in the tournament. The second, this sort of became an initiation for our squad, and someone has to do it. The third and final reason, you're just like me, aren't you?"
"Just like you?" Alex said a bit confused.
Kelp nodded. "I watched over some footage of your fights. You're only alive when you're fighting, aren't you? It's only then do you feel that passionate fire inside you, and only then are you ever motivated. You have to be fighting for something."
Alex just nodded. "I see, when you put it like that, I guess we are the same."
Kelp just smiled. "All right, come on." He walked to the center of the area and just faced away. He had hooked up the Splattershot Jr. to an ink tank. Alex did the same and just walked forwards. They stood back to back.
"All right, 10 paces and then we turn around and fight." Kelp laughed.
"All right." Alex said.
"One!" They both took that step, and the next one, and the one following that. "Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!"
At ten, they both turned around and faced each other, and began to shoot. The Splattershot Jr's range wasn't enough to actually reach the other, but they quickly turned into squids and swam towards the center, before jumping out of the ink and shooting at each other in the air. Due to the low accuracy of the weapon and how quickly they were moving around they weren't actually able to get in any quick or clean hits. When Alex tried to accommodate for where Kelp was going to move next, he was able to notice the quick change, and quickly jumped back to change his tempo.
The change in pace actually messed Alex up a bit. He just jumped back, however quickly hit a wall, and realized why this area was chosen. There wasn't a lot of cover. Besides some targets, they were boxed in a rather long rectangular room, with some overhanging grating.
Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw a small ramp leading up to a second area. He just quickly pressed against the wall and jumped off towards the ramp, up into a much larger square area. There were six small inflatable targets, and 3 larger ones.
Alex just quickly hid behind one of the large inflatable targets, and waited for Kelp to appear. He could hear Kelp's feet quickly running up the ramp to catch up. He made no attempt to hide his presence.
Kelp stood in the opening and just scanned the area. "I wasn't expecting that!" He shouted.
Alex just remained quiet to avoid giving him an idea of where he was located.
"There's really only a few places you can hide in here." Kelp pointed out, "it's a bit pointless."
As pointless as it was to try, Alex figured it was his best shot. He just quickly rushed out from behind the target. He figured it would take Kelp a few seconds to react. He raised up the Splattershot, and shot. Kelp's speed actually surprised him. He was quickly able to match shot for shot Alex's ink. The gobs of ink just hit each other in the air, and just fell to the ground, mixing together.
Alex tried to feint, however Kelp was able to keep up with him despite the feints. Alex just jumped back, a bit unsure of actually how to attack. "Why isn't he falling for my feints?" Alex questioned.
Kelp took advantage of Alex's confusion and rushed forwards, quickly getting in close and locking him in close to the walls. Panicked, Alex began to fire, hoping he could at least hit something. Kelp just quickly fired to counter the ink that was coming towards him, and try to avoid from being hit. Realizing what had happened, he jumped back.
"I guess it is true what they say." Kelp replied.
"And that is?" Alex questioned.
"That novices are far more dangerous than experts." Kelp replied.
"How so?" Alex questioned.
"You don't know how novices will react." Kelp pointed out. "Meanwhile, an expert has found what works for them, and has a foundation that they can fall back on. You, you're just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks!"
"I guess." Alex replied.
He looked at Kelp's tank. It was pretty much empty at this point. Judging by the weight off of his back, he had a pretty good feeling that his was getting low as well.
He looked for an exit, so he could get back out and sneak attack Kelp. But this time, Kelp had positioned himself between him and the exit.
"I could start jumping around." Alex thought. "But I wanted to save my energy for the tournament..." he looked towards Kelp who just began to rush forwards.
"If you're not going to move than I will!" Kelp shouted. He just rushed forwards.
Alex took this as his chance to get past him. He just charged forwards as well. His main thought was: it had just turned into a game of chicken. The one who got out of the way first, would lose.
Unsure if Kelp would move, Alex just began to put a bit of aura into his feet, so at the last second he could quickly jump out of the range if necessary.
As they got closer and closer Kelp raised his Splattershot Jr. Alex mirrored him, and they both fired.
Once again the ink collided and stopped each other.
Realizing that Kelp was calling his bluff, Alex quickly stepped away. He used Aura to push himself away faster, hoping that Kelp's eyes couldn't track him. He used this opportunity to slip behind Kelp. He raised his Splattershot and pulled the trigger...
However nothing happened.
Kelp took his chance to aim right at Alex, and pulled the trigger...
However nothing happened.
"You're out of ink." Alex said.
"So are you." Kelp replied.
The two of them just laughed.
"I'm willing to call that a draw, as long as you promise me that we'll meet in the tournament and then finish this duel there." Kelp said.
"That works for me." Alex said.
"No hard feelings if you lose?" Kelp said.
"Same goes for you." Alex said.
The two put away the Splattershot Jr's back into their briefcases. They walked out of the shop and rejoined the other Inklings. Currently they had gotten a two tables outside at a cafe. "There you guys are." Ace said. "Where did you go?"
"Eh, just to have a quick duel." Kelp replied.
"Ah, of course." Ace laughed.
"Well that's fine." Ink sighed. "Looks like the tournament will be late to start, like usual."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Has there ever been a tournament that starts on time?" Ika wondered.
"Not that we've participated in." Ink replied.
"So we're going to be waiting waiting for a while." Alex said.
"Unfortunately." Ink muttered. "Anyways, here's the menu, don't eat or drink too much."
Alex just looked through the menu, and eventually just decided on a cake that everyone was recommending. It came rather quickly and as he bit into it, he could feel it melt into his mouth. Within seconds he was done the cake. Tears were coming down his eyes.
"Hey, is everything alright?" Ace asked.
"That cake was so good!" Alex cried. "I feel like I can die happily."
"Well don't die yet, we still need you for this tournament!" Levi said.
"Right!" Alex replied. He just closed his eyes to try and figure out what was going to happen next. When he got nowhere, he just tried to listen into a bunch of other conversations.
"There are a lot of heavy hitters here!" An Inkling said. "Look there's Rider and his crew."
"And there's team Goggles! Goggles is going over to Rider!" One said rather excited.
Alex just looked over and saw an inkling with blue hair wearing goggles walking over to an inkling with green hair and wearing a black leather jacket.
"Hey Rider, I want you to know I don't intend on losing!" An Inkling wearing goggles said.
"That's fine Goggles." He laughed. "I don't intend on losing either. And this time, you better fight clean, and not try and take off my pants in the middle of a battle."
Goggles just laughed. "We'll see."
"I mean it." Rider said.
Alex actually had to do a double take, and had to wonder what kind of matches they had.
"Team Goggles is known for their unorthodox fighting style." Ink said, noticing him staring in confusion at Goggles and Rider. "They're a riot actually."
"If you say so." Alex replied. "I'll just make a mental note to defend my pants against them."
Another inkling had come over and was talking with Kelp. He was slightly younger. "Hey, Alex!" Kelp said.
"Yes?" Alex questioned.
"This is my younger brother, Leek!" Kelp laughed.
He looked at the two, he was able to see some resemblance. "Nice to meet you."
"His squad is also participating in the tournament." Kelp said.
"It is still happening right?" Leek questioned. "It's been an hour since it was supposed to start."
"Yeah this late even by normal standards..." Ink muttered. He just pulled out his phone and began to text someone.
"Who are you texting?" Alex wondered.
"A friend." Ink replied. "They do some behind the scenes stuff, so I was wondering if they'd heard anything with why it's starting so late."
He put the phone down and less than a minute later, it began to vibrate. He read the text. "They have no idea either. It's apparently still happening, just things are behind for whatever reason."
"Maybe someone is stuck in the washroom." Levi muttered.
"Hopefully."
An all too familiar jingle started, causing everyone to look up at the giant screens. On it Callie and Marie were standing there. "Hello, and we're sorry for the delay." Callie said.
"It seems there was an error with processing, regardless we now have the brackets and are ready to show them off!" Marie added on.
"The first round will be able to start in another hour." Callie said. "So, make sure you find out who you're fighting, where you're fighting and when, and then make sure you're ready. May the best team win!"
"But most importantly remember to..."
"Stay Fresh!" They both signed off.
"Why did we get out of bed so early?" Ink questioned.
"We couldn't sleep, remember?" Alex replied.
"Right." Ink growled.
"We also had to check in." Ika added on.
They watched as numerous inklings were rushing up to a board where the tournament bracket had been posted. It quickly became a mob. Ink just looked at his phone and within a few seconds found the bracket posted online.
"Looks like we're in the A bracket, and our first match is at Walleye Warehouse." Ink said. "Do you care to know who we're facing?"
"Nah." Alex replied. "I think it will be more fun with the surprise."
"Okay." Ink replied.
"Well, it looks like we're in the C bracket, and our first match is at Camp Triggerfish." Kelp replied. "So we won't meet each other unless we get to the finals."
"Where's Ty and Sky?" Alex wondered.
"They're in the B bracket." Ink replied. "So, we both have to survive until Semis. That should be easy for them. But seems like there's a few heavy hitters in the A bracket."
"Such as?" Ika wondered.
"Quad X." Ink said.
Levi just groaned. "Okay, so it's going to be an uphill battle."
"What's Quad X?" Alex wondered.
"A team of inklings where their entire team is all X ranked in all 4 categories." Ink replied. "So, they're dangerous and terrifying."
"But we do have a secret weapon." Levi laughed. "So, who knows."
"I don't think he's as much of an equalizer as you think it is." Ika said. "Any team worth their salt will probably have prepared precautions for him."
"Well, all we can do now is do our best." Alex replied.
"May the best squad win." Ink said.
"Yeah," Kelp laughed, "of course that squad is going to be us."
"You're a bit presumptuous." Ink said. "We're not going down without a fight."
"And there are bound to be others who are competitive." Ika said.
Ink and Kelp just fist bumped. "Don't lose." Kelp said.
"That goes for you too." Ink replied. Kelp and his squad just began to walk away.
Alex just looked around to see the crowd in the plaza thinning a bit. "Should we get going?" He questioned.
"No," Levi replied. "We can access all the stages directly from the tower and the pipe system there."
"Then why did they leave?" Alex wondered.
"Well, it can get crowded and some may prefer to walk or get there through alternate means. But, I think Kelp wanted to be with his squad to go over a few things secretly. And give us the chance to do the same." Levi replied. "Honestly, just take a breather for the next little bit. We'll go to the arena when 15 minutes remain."
"All right, I'm going to walk around a bit and try to relax." Alex replied getting out of his chair.
He scanned the crowd. And while it had thinned out considerably, he was quickly able to find who he was looking for.
Alex looked over at Sora and Ty who were with their other two team mates. Alex just took a deep breath and walked over.
"Alex, hey!" Ty shouted out waving.
"Hey." Alex replied.
"Why did you come over here?"
"Well, first I wanted to wish you luck in the tournament." Alex said. Suddenly it was like it was dead silent. Every inkling was now staring at them, and there was whispering that no one was bothering to hide.
"Wishing them luck? How arrogant does he think he is?"
"Wow, I hope he gets knocked out in the first round."
Ty just smiled. "Thanks. Good luck to you too. If both of us last that long, we'll meet in the semi-finals. So I hope to meet you there."
"Same." Alex replied. "I also actually wanted to talk to Sora about something."
Ty just looked rather surprised. "Oh, okay."
"Preferably in private." Alex said.
Sora just nodded. "Okay." He said.
Alex just walked away and Sora followed. Once they had made their way to an alleyway, and away from most prying ears. "So what did you want to talk about?"
"There's three things." Alex replied. "First, I guess I wanted to apologize once again, for this whole Sky thing."
Sora just laughed as he put both hands behind his head. "Don't worry about it too much." He said. "I can't say I have too much attachment to that nickname. Besides, it will be interesting to fight someone who has a similar fighting style to me."
Alex just closed his eyes and used aura to make sure no one else was listening, then to make sure no one was he extended a small wave to create a bubble.
"The second... I have my suspicions but, does the word Keyblade mean anything to you?" Alex asked.
Sora tensed up. "No..." He managed to say. It was in no way shape or form convincing.
Alex just sighed. "That was a terrible lie."
"What makes you say that?" Sora wondered.
"There was that inkbrush you used when we were talking back at the base... It seemed like you just had it concealed, but... you actually summoned it out of thin air." Alex replied.
"It's just a slight of hand trick." Sora replied.
"Also In preparation of our potential turf war I watched some of 'Sky's' battles." Alex replied. "It just reminded me of flowmotion. And for that reason, I want to say that you remind me so much of the Keyblade wielder Sora."
"I think you have me mistaken for someone else." Sora replied.
"That's one hell of a coincidence if I do." Alex replied. "But, I get it. You're like me, you want to stay hidden. But, if I'm right, I get the feeling that by the end of this tournament, both of us are in trouble unless something happens."
"What do you mean?"
"You were eavesdropping in on the conversation between Zero and I." Alex replied. "You should know that Zenith is going to try and attack to capture me as someone who can world hop. And if my suspicions about you are correct, you'd be a prime target for them as well. Listen, if you are who I think you are, I need your help to get out of here. I can't open a portal."
"Sorry, you've got the wrong person." Sora replied. He just turned away and was about to walked back to Ty and the rest of his squad.
"Person? Not squid?" Alex questioned.
Sora suddenly flinched.
"Right, squid, you have the wrong squid. You must be thinking of someone else. I can't help you, even if I wanted to." Sora said walking back to his squad, leaving Alex alone in the alleyway.
Alex just walked out and rejoined his squad. "What were you talking to Sora about?" Ika wondered.
"I was just apologizing for stealing his style." Alex replied.
"That all?" Levi wondered. "You already did that at the base."
"I know, but I was hoping that he was who I thought he was." Alex replied. "But, I guess I have the wrong squid." He just hung his head rather defeated, and swore under his breath. "I'm screwed once I'm out of this tournament."
They had explained the situation to Levi and Ika earlier in the day. "We can still attempt to cover you." Levi whispered. "Just get into the sewers and then you can practically be home free."
"Shiiiit..." Alex groaned.
"Still, why did you think that Sora could help you?" Ika wondered.
"It doesn't matter, but I thought he could open portals." Alex replied.
"That's really weird." Ink muttered. "Why would you think that?"
"Just, I heard of someone with the same name who could." Alex replied. "I think we best keep it at that."
Up above at another much higher class restaurant, that looked down upon Inkopolis Plaza, an inkling was cutting a rather delicious meal. He took a small bite, and then swirled around a glass of wine that he took a sip from.
He scoffed. "May the best team win? It's already been decided who's going to win, you're just all filler."
Standing attentively at his side were 6 other inklings. Sitting down enjoying the meal was Vincent. He looked at his phone and just laughed. "It seems that was money well spent, I'll be getting my revenge in the very first round."
He took another sip of wine and savored it. When suddenly from the entrance of the restaurant there was a loud crashing sound.
"You're all pathetic." A voice shouted out, following by more crashing. Soon a door was kicked down, and walking into the private room that Vincent had reserved, was another rather rough looking inkling. He had numerous piercings on his ears, and eyebrows. Across his cheek was a scar that went up across his nose and eventually reached his forehead.
"You're as pathetic as I imagined." He laughed looking at Vincent. "Do your servants wipe your ass for you?"
"Who are you?!" Vincent snapped.
"How about this, I could make you all a deal." The inkling said. "I join your team, and defeat that inkling everyone has been talking about."
"You didn't answer my question!" Vincent snapped. "Answer me!"
He just looked at Vincent rather bored. "I see no reason to tell you my name. Though I guess you do need something to call me. Master would be nice as you're going to be licking my boots."
"What!" Vincent said shocked. He was immediately met with a punch to the stomach that caused him to fall down onto the ground and whimper.
"Silence slave." The inkling said.
The bodyguards just hesitated on attacking this new inkling. The inkling just looked around the room. "Now let's see..." He just stepped forwards and disappeared. A moment later he reappeared where he was standing and in his hands were 6 collars.
All of the bodyguards just reached up for their necks. Much to their surprise, the collars that Vincent used to keep them in check were gone.
The collars suddenly exploded in the strange inkling's hands. "Now that those are taken care of, let's see..."
"What are you doing?!" Vincent gasped.
"I didn't say you could speak slave!" The inkling just kicked him in the stomach. Vincent just let out a cry of pain. "You misuse your team so much and they suffer for it. They'd be so much better without you, and not having to worry about carrying you."
He just turned to the inkling bodyguards. "Now then, you can call me Final. If you choose to work with me, I can quickly turn you into an inkling beyond an X rank. And victory is all but assured. All I want is a complete victory! Do that, and you can live the rest of your life however you please."
The inklings looked at each other rather confused. Within a few seconds they turned to the new inkling. "You mean it, Final, sir?" One asked.
"Of course." Final replied. "You never have to go back to this loser again." He kicked Vincent once more, who was now just a blubbering mess on the floor.
"How can you guarantee that we would be beyond X ranks?" An inkling asked.
Final just smiled. "I'm glad you asked." he stretched out his hand and suddenly a strange spectral sphere appeared. "Just accept this spirit into you..."
It suddenly just flew right into the nearest Inkling, and suddenly an aura was bursting around him. "I've never felt this power before!" He said.
The other 5 inklings were quick to ask for this power, which Final was happy to give them.
"Now, let's go claim victory!"
It was about 15 minutes before their match was about to start. Ink, Levi, and Ika stood up. "Well, let's get this over with." Ika laughed.
"Right!" Levi replied. "Time to get started."
"I hope your ready." Ink said, looking over at Alex.
Alex just groaned, "yeah, sure dead man walking..."
They made their way in, and were lead to a waiting room. In there, they just sat down, waited and started suiting up for the battle. Despite being brought on as the charger, the lack of practice with it, meant that Alex couldn't get the hang of it. Leaving Ika as the charger with a Bento Splatterscope. Levi was a roller, with the Krak-On Splat Roller. Ink meanwhile was using a Tentatek Splattershot. Apparently at one point Ink had used Rollers, however an injury made it hard for him to use anything but the Carbon Roller.
Finally, there was the weapon Alex had decided on. With much deliberation, the one that he had found that just felt right was the Inkbrush Nouveau. He swung it around a few times, narrowly missing Levi's head, but it felt like an extension of his body.
As Alex was looking around the room, on the wall appeared the bracket. For the first time he looked up at it and saw the team that they were facing. "Wait, Vincent?!" Alex said rather surprised. "We're facing Vincent? Leave this to me."
"You sure about this?"
"Yeah, hang out on the base for three minutes." Alex laughed. "I think it should be easy."
"Well, if you think you can do it." Levi laughed. "I'm not going to stop you."
"But you only have one shot at this." Ika replied. "If we think that it's going result in us losing, we're jumping in."
"Right! Of course! You can jump in if you think it's going to go bad. But he should be a complete and total pushover that I can use to warm up." Alex replied.
"I don't know." Ink replied. "This seems too suspicious."
"What do you mean?" Levi wondered.
"The delay for everything..." Ink replied. "And us fighting him, I mean, there is a 1 in 255 chance that we were going to face him... but... Those odds are weird."
"Think he paid off someone to change the bracket?" Levi asked.
"Yeah." Ink replied. "And I wonder if he'll have some other trick up his sleeve that the judges will conveniently ignore."
"If he did, I'd almost feel sorry that he wasted all that money." Ika laughed.
"I won't." Ink replied.
Alex just looked up at them a bit surprised. "So... just how corrupt are the cats?"
Levi just laughed. "Not the cats in this case. It's the OTWF."
"OTWF?" Alex questioned.
"Official Turf War Federation." Levi replied. "They make the rules and regulations, and try to make sure they're followed. They also are running this tournament. Otherwise, yeah, there's been a few scandals with some people in the top over the years."
"Should you really be saying this?" Ika wondered. "The walls have ears after all."
"It's public knowledge." Levi replied. "They said their lines without ever actually addressing what the issue was, and acted like it was an apology. And hoped that the controversy was buried with some new announcements."
"Ahh, one of those." Alex laughed.
Time continued in the waiting room, until eventually the gate into the arena opened.
They all swam through the pipes and emerged at Walleye Warehouse on their spawn point.
Alex just suddenly froze. The other team was completely different. Even though it had 3 of the people he had seen only a few days prior, their atmosphere and aura was just completely different.
"What's going on!?"
"Is something the matter?" Ika asked.
"That fourth person is new, I didn't see them with my encounter with Vincent." Alex replied. "And, this atmosphere they carry is completely different.
He tried to focus on the fourth person. They were cold and had no Aura. Alex suddenly just gasped in shock.
"What's wrong?"
"That fourth inkling." Alex replied. "He was the one who attacked me."
Ink just looked at his phone. "At least according to the bracket, his name is Final."
Alex just nodded.
"We have about 3 minutes to investigate the stage, and talk with the opponents." Levi pointed out. "Do you want to do that?"
"Yeah, we can." Alex replied.
They walked out to the center of the map. Levi and Ika went off to investigate a few other places, leaving Ink with Alex. However, only Final moved from the enemies spawn point. He just met them in the middle of the arena, jumping up on top of some stacked boxes, and sitting down, looking down at the two inklings.
"Alex, you look like you have some questions." Final laughed.
Alex just glared at him. "You are the same inkling that attacked me the other day, right?" Alex asked. "Is this your actual face?"
"I am and it is." He replied smiling.
"Good, I can't wait to punch it." Alex replied.
"That would be considered a foul in a turf war." Final replied. "I don't think you want that."
"Why did you attack me?" Alex wondered.
"I just wanted to get rid of a threat to Zenith." Final replied. "That man has his head stuck so far up his own ass, he can't see any other threat besides Nugai. So, I'm just doing the easy thing and nipping the problem in the bud. You and this whole world, all at once."
"Why?" Alex asked.
"I hate this place!" He laughed. "I'd like nothing more than to see it be destroyed! Tell me Alex, what happens when a world is destroyed? Especially one where it hasn't yet been discovered and made into a game in your world. Especially one that would have so much importance and housing a Smasher!"
"A Smasher?"
"You looked it up, in the library. Don't you remember?"
"All I remember was just seeing someone's wish list." Alex replied. "Since you seem so intent on sharing everything why don't you tell me why the Joker from Batman is in the game!"
Final just burst out laughing. "Oh that's cute! You know absolutely nothing! You're so stupid! It looks like I win no matter what! Even if you somehow get away, you haven't found the inkling that's destined to be a Smasher! If I destroy this world, then you'll never be able to recruit this new Smasher."
Alex just gritted his teeth. "So that's why you're issued the order to destroy it?"
"I think those are the main reasons." Final replied. He glanced up at a countdown clock to the match. "Now, I grow bored of this conversation. Now I just get to enjoy watching you die, and these poor inklings that you dragged into this mess growing to slowly hate you."
"Just what do you want?" Alex asked.
"For complete victory!" He just turned away and began to walk back to his team's spawn point. Alex just clenched his fist, and punched the boxes that were piled up in front of him in frustration.
"What were you talking about?" Ink asked.
Alex just looked at him in shock. "Was I speaking in a different language again?" Alex asked.
"Yeah." Ink replied.
"So he was talking in English then, okay..." Alex muttered. "He's from Zenith... Let's just win this."
"Right."
They rejoined Levi and Ika. "There's something off about the other three inklings in that team." Levi whispered.
"How so?"
"I approached their base during that time, and tried to talk to them, but they didn't acknowledge me." Levi replied. "I'm not liking this."
"We're going out there with you." Ika said.
Alex nodded. "Okay."
A tone came over some speakers, it was followed by a voice. "Everyone, are you ready?!" Callie's voice shouted out. "It's now time for the tournament to begin!"
"However, it seems that one match is going to be broadcast first before any others start?" Marie added on, her voice raising at the end in confusion. There was an awkward pause.
"Something is off script." Ink muttered. "Callie and Marie never get flustered or confused like this."
"Y-yes!" Callie stuttered out. "Everyone want's to see that popular squid, known as Alex fight."
"They never screw their lines up like this." Levi muttered. "What's going on?"
"So the first match of the tournament, will be broadcast for all to see." Marie continued. "And then after the match is done, the rest of the fights can continue."
"How nice of Vincent to pay off everyone being able to see us trash his team." Ink said.
"I don't think this was Vincent." Ika replied.
"I think this was Final's doing." Alex muttered.
A countdown began to the start of the match. They just all braced themselves and watched as the numbers dropped from 10, all the way down to 1. And then the match began. However, they Ink, Ika, Levi, and Alex didn't move from the spawn point. They just stared transfixed at the timer. Currently it was just set to infinite time.
"What the?!" Ink said.
"What's going on? What's the meaning of thi-" Callie and Marie were heard shouting before they were cut off.
"I'm really not liking this." Ika said.
"Well, we have only one choice of fighting." Levi said. "Let's go!"
They rushed out, inking their base and moving forwards. Ika as the charger, stayed back, keeping a look out. Alex, Levi, and Ink ran forwards towards the center of the stage.
They inked and prepared themselves for the attack from the other inklings. However, it didn't seem like they were coming.
"Maybe they're just really meticulously inking their base..." Alex said.
Suddenly a killer wail just hit all four of them and they were instantly splatted.
It took Alex a few seconds to come to. But he had respawned at the respawn point and just looked around at Ink, Ika and Levi. All of them were holding their head.
"What the hell was that?" Alex muttered.
"A killer wail." Ika replied.
"Shit..." Levi muttered. "That was too weird... That was too quick..."
"Yeah." Ink replied. "They shouldn't of had one charged up by now..."
They just waited patiently for the killer wail to stop, a few seconds later, it ended, and they all rushed out. However, a few seconds later they could feel a wave of energy that suddenly splatted them once again. Another killer wail had been unleashed.
They all respawned at the respawn point. "What the hell?" Alex in the distance, they could hear laughter, even through the killer wail's constant blaring. Once again they waited for the killer wail to stop. This time they quickly ran out. When it started to fire up again, they all jumped out of the killer wail's range. Due to Walleye Warehouse being a rather long and thin arena, it left them with a rather limited area.
"That killer wail, it seems like the area it covers is larger than normal." Levi said.
"Yeah," Ika replied.
On the other side of the killer wail attack, Ink and Alex were just quickly covering what they could with ink. "We go up the side route!" Ink said. "And we attack the inkling who is using the killer wail. We splat them, and that should take care of our problems!"
Alex just nodded in agreement. The two of them just rushed forwards, taking the side ramp up, there they saw a killer wail left unattended. Alex just rushed forwards and kicked right through it, destroying it in one shot.
There was suddenly some clapping, Alex and Ink just turned to see Final sitting on a crate, looking rather bored. "Congratulations!"
However beyond Final, Alex could see the spawn point, and the other three inklings hadn't even moved. They were just standing there rather attentive. "What the hell is going on?" Alex muttered.
He just looked up at Final who pulled out an N-zap. "Now, let's continue with your execution!"
Final just disappeared, a moment later, both Alex and Ink were splatted. They returned to the resapwn point, both of them looking rather confused. The respawn point continued to whirl, and soon Ika and Levi had emerged from it.
"What the hell?" Ika muttered.
"This isn't good..." Levi said.
Just as they were about to step out, a killer wail started up again, and kept them boxed in the safety of the barrier.
Right now the barrier was protecting them, but there was only so much it could do against the constant attack. Already, it was constantly beginning to flicker and looked like it was beginning to lose power. If that happened, they knew they'd just be in a constant cycle of constantly splatting and respawning.
"What the hell?!" Ink muttered. "Are we facing off against hackers?"
"Kind of feels like it." Ika replied. "I didn't think you'd get that much notoriety to be hunted down like this."
"I don't think it's hackers." Alex muttered. "I think it's something else."
"Such as?" Ika asked.
"Well, he is from Zenith..." Alex replied. "So, it may be something similar to hackers in that they're blatantly cheating."
"Speaking of blatantly cheating..." Levi piped up. "This killer wail has gone on for far too long."
"I'm getting the feeling it's permanent." Ika muttered. "Which, in which case... I don't know how to get out of here."
Alex just closed his eyes and began to use aura to try and inspect the area. It was a bit difficult with the killer wail constantly pulsing, and acting as a barrier. However within a few seconds he was able to pierce through.
Alex was quick to learn that because of Final's lack of aura, it was actually a dead giveaway to where he was. He just quickly found this space where aura didn't exist, swimming through ink. He let off a small chuckle, and continued looking around. Eventually seeing that two of the inklings that hadn't moved yet. The third was just standing in front of the killer wail operating it.
There was something strange about their auras. There was something else in there, it seemed like vines that ensnared and spread out through them.
"They're in pain." Alex muttered.
"They're in pain?!" Ink questioned. "Sorry, but they're not the ones being blasted constantly."
"They're going to be in a hell of a lot more pain when I'm done with them." Levi growled.
"I don't know why, but I don't think they're in control of their actions." Alex pleaded.
"That's not going to save them when I get my hands on them." Ika replied.
It was quite clear to see that they were frustrated.
"I'll beat all of them!" Ink snapped.
"No, just Final." Alex replied. "I want to beat him to an inch of his life as well, but the other three. Well, at least two of them, they haven't moved."
Ika looked up and across the stage. "That's right, they haven't moved since the match started..." Ika said.
"Yeah... why?" Alex muttered. "I've never seen an aura like this before. Like it's ensnared by vines... It might have something to do with it, but..."
"This isn't really the time to try and figure this out." Levi replied. "We beat the crap out of Final, and then move on. We figure out if they were innocent later, but if they get in our way, we splat them."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Ink replied. "But how do we get out of here?"
"I've got a plan." Levi said.
"I'd love to hear it." Ika replied.
"It's going to involve breaking tournament rules but at this point, I don't think anyone cares." Levi replied.
"If we get to beat the crap out of them, I'm all for it!" Ink replied.
"Great!" Levi replied. "Alex what about you?"
"I'm getting pretty sick of this so I'm open for anything." Alex replied.
"All right." Levi replied. "We're fighting fire with fire." He just pulled out a pin and jabbed it into his tank. A moment later several lights were turned off.
"Oh, that's clever." Ika laughed. "They must of really pissed you off."
"What did he do?" Alex asked.
"He removed all safety features from the equipment." Ink replied. "Normally, there's cool down to avoid things being spammed like the situation we're experiencing right now. It also stops you from staying transformed for too long."
"You up to it?" Ika wondered. "This is going to place a lot of burden on you."
"I'll be fine." Levi replied. "I've fought against worse."
"You sure?" Ink questioned.
Levi just nodded.
"Has he ever fought someone with all the safety features removed before?" Alex wondered.
"Yeah, once." Ika replied. "Tako."
Alex just looked rather surprised.
Levi just laughed. "That was a fight, though I can't say I have the same load out that I did back then, but that's fine. All right, follow right behind me, and I'll do the best I can to protect you."
"Got it."
Levi just closed his eyes and began to breath in and out. Suddenly he was covered in a glowing aura that even made his hair seem like it was on fire and his eyes bolted open.
He suddenly transformed into a much larger Kraken. His tentacles just wrapped around Ink, Ika and Alex who quickly transformed into their squid forms and he began to rush through.
He spiraled to try and counteract against the constant blasting from the killer wail, but it seemed like he wasn't getting much closer to them. Alex just closed his eyes and did his best to project a barrier around them.
The thin barrier was enough to allow them to progress further.
Even through the blaring noise they were suddenly hearing horns. "Competitors Levi, Ink, Ika, and Alex, cease this at once, you have been disqualified."
"Screw that." Alex heard Ink say. "What a farce."
By all means, it was stupid, the other team should have been disqualified before them.
"I don't know about you guys, but I can't hear anything over this killer wail blazing in my ear." Alex replied. "I think I might have hearing damage after this."
Ika just laughed. "Yeah, I can't hear what they're saying."
As they got closer, Levi was able to jump out of the killer wail's stream and they were all flung up into the air.
It took a few seconds to get reoriented. No longer being under the steady stream of the killer wail was such a relief.
Ika wasted no time pulling out her charger and aiming at the inklings down below. Much to her confusion they were just standing there. Regardless she fired in quick succession hitting all three with perfect head shots. They were splatted, and suddenly sent back to the respawn point.
But what was shocking was that despite the inklings who had summoned the killer wails had been splatted, the killer wails were still active.
"We're dealing with hackers." Levi cursed. "Of course they'd be active."
"You really are annoying, you should have just given up!" Final said, having jumped up into the air to meet the now falling inklings. "It would have been less painful for you."
All four of them were just splatted in the air, and respawned back on the respawn point.
"What just happened?" Ink muttered.
"It felt like a blaster, but I never saw anything." Levi grunted in pain.
Alex was shaken. "Was that aura?" He asked himself.
"This Final is really pissing me off!" Ika snapped. She just looked forwards and tried to find him.
Ink was just gritting his teeth. "I'm really, really pissed off." He grumbled.
Having fought many turf wars, Levi, Ink, and Ika were all familiar with the sting of defeat. When you fought someone who simply outclassed you in every single way. Where you could walk away and look yourself in the mirror and say that it was okay, they were clearly better than you. That upon reflection you could learn new tricks, and figure out a way to better yourself.
This feeling of frustration that they now shared was nothing like that. Their opponent cared nothing for the honor or integrity of the sport of Turf Wars. They just were laughing at them and this farce that they had created. Pointlessly slaughtering them for their own ego. Just cruelly humiliating them just waiting for them to break.
"This asshole is nothing but a bully!" Alex growled.
"So, any idea how to beat him?" Ika asked.
"Unfortunately not." Alex sighed.
"There is no way to beat me." Final replied. He was just standing outside of the spawn point's barrier. "You should have realized this by now."
"I'll show you!" Alex just threw a punch, but as soon as his fist left the safety of the barrier, the killer wail began to hit and cause the liquid inside his body to vibrate. He just pulled his hand in, before it exploded. Looking at it, there were several cracks that had already appeared and began to bleed, as though the skin had dried out.
"Oh, you really showed me!" Final laughed.
"This guy is really pissing me off." Alex muttered.
Final just put his hand against the barrier. "Oh, I could destroy this barrier." He laughed. "And then, and then you'd just be feeling an endless hell! Constantly exploding, and then respawning just to do it all over again! You'll be begging for your death to come! And these three innocent inklings will all suffer just because of you!"
Alex gritted his teeth. Where Final was touching the barrier, it actually began to break up there.
"And why are you causing them to suffer?" Alex asked.
"I'm not." Final replied. "You are. Because you oppose Zenith, these three inklings had the tournament that they were looking forwards to stolen away from them. Just think about it, if you weren't here, I wouldn't be doing anything. Therefore, it's your fault! But, for you three Inklings who were unfairly tossed in here, I'm benevolent. Just simply push him out of the barrier, and I'll end everything."
"Hey, Final?!" Ink said.
"Yes?"
"Fuck you." Ink replied pulling out an Inkzooka and firing at point blank. The ink from it just formed a column and splatted Final. It didn't stop there. It went rocketing back to the killer wails. Upon contact it broke the killer wails.
All four of them just collapsed and breathed a sigh of relief. "Hopefully that's over." Ika muttered.
When Final respawned, he didn't look very happy. He just began to fly above the stage and looked down at them. "I was trying to be nice. But it appears you wanted to suffer. I'll show you the error of your ways of siding with him! All rules are off! It's over when I say it is!"
"Well, I'm ready to kick this guys ass." Levi growled. His hair tentacles, which had been held up into a ponytail had come undone. They now looked rather long and unwildly.
"Let me show you how pointless it is." Final just floated over to his barrier. He looked down at the three inklings who hadn't moved since they were splatted. "Here are your new orders. Break them!"
They all began to move in an awkward way. They just looked forwards at the group all the way across the battlefield. And then the began to run forwards.
Ika was about to step out of the barrier, however Alex just quickly grabbed her shoulder. "Wait!" He said.
"And why should I?" Ika wondered.
"Something is off." Alex replied. "He ordered them to 'break' us."
"And why would that be off?" Ink wondered.
"Why not something simpler, like 'kill'?" Alex asked. "I think he wants us to suffer."
All three of them suddenly jumped out of the ink and just rushed right for the barrier with no regard. Even as they were suddenly forced away by the barrier they quickly recovered and just charged forwards once again. They had discarded their weapons and were just clawing at the barrier with their hands. There was nothing normal about them, they were now just feral.
Levi just held out his roller and quickly brought it down, splatting all three of them.
Ink, Ika, and Alex had all pretty much just backed up in shock and were just gasping terrified.
"I need to pee." Ink said.
"I told you to always go before the match." Ika grumbled.
"I did, but this is terrifying." Ink replied. "I'm sorry if I piss myself."
"I did not need to hear that." Alex muttered.
"You and me both." Levi replied.
"Were those just like the sanitized octarians we saw?" Alex questioned.
"I'd say they're worse." Levi replied. "The sanitized octarians I fought were robotic, they did things with precision. These things are attacking us like feral animals."
"So we just have to beat them, right?" Ink wondered. "Even wild animals know when they're in danger."
He was beginning to get ready to go out of the barrier, however Ika just quickly stopped her brother. "Wait, stop!" Ika ordered.
Ink just looked at his sister a bit confused. "Why?"
"I think the cheating bastard over there has a lot more than three team mates." Ika said.
"What makes you say that?" Levi wondered.
"Their lures." Ika replied.
"Lures?" Alex questioned.
"This." Ink just pointed to what appeared to be a fishing lure that was hanging off of the back of his jacket. Alex hadn't really thought about it before this point, to him it just looked like a key chain that happened to be a fishing lure.
"I'm sorry, what's the point of fishing lures?" Alex questioned.
"It's a code." Levi replied. "Just letting others know what you're looking for in a relationship. Just letting others know if you're single, taken, who you're interested in."
Alex just looked at the lures that were hanging off Ink's jacket. He then looked at Ika's and Levi's jacket. They were also wearing lures. He wasn't knowledgeable about fish to tell what types they were supposed to be.
"So they're kind of like pride flags from where I'm from. So what does Ink's mean? and what does that have to do with anything?" Alex replied.
Ink just froze. "Um, that's a secret."
"It really isn't if you're hanging them on you with the sole intention to broadcast them to others." Alex sighed.
"This isn't the time to give you a cipher for them." Ika replied. "But basically, I noticed on at least two of them who were attacking us had different lures than the ones I splatted earlier."
"Are you sure?" Levi asked.
"Positive." Ika replied. "So with all the foul play that's happened so far in this match, I don't think it's too hard to suspect that there's more than 4 inklings on that team."
Alex just nodded. "All right, leave it to me." He closed his eyes, and focused on trying to find their auras. It was difficult. The ink seemed to hide them pretty well. But the moment that they began to move, he was able to sense their general positions. The hard part was that their aura was so weak, and they were all moving so fast, and crisscrossing that he was constantly losing track of how many there were.
"Damn it, this is going to become a thing, isn't it." Alex muttered. "Increase output!" He focused harder on anything he could try. "I can feel it, I know they're there."
"See anything?" Ika asked.
"I can't focus!"
Ink just placed his hand on his shoulder. "Then let's try this." Ink said. And he let out a sudden screech.
It was a new sensation. But now, Alex could see everything better. "This is, Echolocation! I see, even if their bodies aren't letting off aura, or are able to mask it, they can't mask that they're actually there!"
"There's six of them swimming in the ink!" Alex shouted.
"Damn, they really like cheating." Levi sighed.
Ika just got her charger ready and began to fire. She was able to quickly splat one. However A moment the remaining five jumped out and rushed for the barrier.
Levi wasted no time in splatting them with his roller. "I take no pride in this." He muttered. He just looked up at the other three in the barrier. "Well, I think we need to go and take the fight to them, and give them a taste of their own medicine."
They aggressively charged forwards, inking as much as they could. Considering how much of the stage had been covered by enemy ink, they needed to recover as much ground as possible.
Several of the inklings tried to rush towards them, however as soon as they touched the new ink, they suddenly had difficulty moving. It seemed that in their feral state they had forgotten even the basics of turf war and that they couldn't move through the enemy ink as well as they could their own.
This made them quick and easy targets for Ika to splat.
They managed to get to the center of Walleye warehouse, where several crates acted as a shield.
"I don't know if these things can climb, so I think we should be safe." Ika said.
"Well let's find out!" Ink replied.
He just quickly climbed up the boxes and stood out in the open.
The inklings just lunged for the top of the box, however they couldn't climb up it.
However Final didn't look too amused. Suddenly emerging out of thin air from behind him were several splatlings. They began to rev up and within a second began firing ink. Ink just jumped down to the cover of the crates.
"All right we just have to wait until those splatlings run out of ink." Ink said.
"Splatlings?" Ika questioned.
"Yeah, he apparently just summoned them out of thin air." Ink sighed.
However as they listened, they heard the splatlings continuing to attack and they weren't running out of ink.
"This cheating bastard is really pissing me off." Levi snapped.
"I bet he can't even win a turf war without cheating!" Ink shouted. "This asshole thinks he's so tough!"
"Should we really taunt this guy right now?" Alex wondered. "Is this really the thing that we should be doing?"
"I think it is." Ika replied.
Alex just looked at her rather confused. "Why?"
"This whole match is nothing but a farce anyways, so..." Ika replied. "Besides, if we can get him to be blinded by anger and only target one of us, that let's the other three able to do what they want nearly unopposed."
"I see..." Alex muttered.
"I say we leave that to Ink." Levi said.
"No problem." Ink laughed. "Good luck." He just climbed up the boxes and began to squidbag. The Splatlings stopped aiming at the boxes, and tried to hit him. However, Ink proved to be a much more agile target than Final thought. "Hey, you can't even splat me!" Ink taunted. "You've got what 5 splatlings just floating around you, and you can't even hit me!"
Ika, Levi, and Alex just took the moment that Final was distracted to make their way towards the side path up to the base. As they passed, they did notice that Final did indeed have five splatlings just floating around him, constantly firing.
As they began to swim up the ramp, they encountered one of the inklings. However they actually just swam off of the platform, ignoring the guard rail, and diving down below.
"What the?!" Alex said rather confused.
"What does it mean?" Ika whispered.
"I think that whatever method he's using to control them, he can't multitask." Levi replied. "He's focusing everything on Ink right now."
"So, they're not truly autonomous?" Alex wondered. "Maybe the inklings are fighting back."
"Maybe..." Levi replied. "But I don't think we should take any chances."
A confused one was just spinning around in circles. Levi just quickly took his roller and splatted them.
Final just looked rather annoyed. "It seems that I'm still not strong enough to do what I want to. Even hitting a simple target... Well, it looks like I'll just have to start with plan B."
He waved his hand, and more and more weapons began to materialize around him, creating a protective sphere. "If I can't hit one thing, then I'll just hit everything!" He laughed.
Ink just froze and looked terrified. "Oh shi-" He was splatted.
Final's gaze just turned to Alex, Ika, and Levi. "Now, don't think you're escaping." He said.
A moment later the three of them were splatted.
"So, he couldn't multitask, but he overcame that by making multitasking pointless and inking everything." Ika muttered.
"Still, all that ink that he's using up, has to come from somewhere." Ink pointed out. "And now with more weapons, he'll be draining it faster. When it stops, that's when we'll strike."
"He's a hacker though." Levi replied. "It's easy for them to make it so that they have unlimited ink, or multiple tanks as backup, or that it charges up before the lack of ink is even an issue."
Alex just groaned. "Okay."
"Any ideas how we're going to approach that giant death ball though?" Ink wondered.
"It seems pointless to have weapons at the top." Levi said. "Maybe there's a hole or something that we can go through and use that as a point of attack..."
Alex nodded. "Okay, I'll try and figure that out." he just got ready, focused his aura, and began to super jump between the walls, granting himself height.
As he was getting higher and higher, Alex noticed that Final had made a perfectly enclosed sphere around himself. "That seems so pointless." Alex muttered.
Final quickly noticed Alex and began a full assault with all the summoned weapons. Alex however reached a girder and quickly launched himself right towards the sphere.
He created a barrier of aura in front of himself, to stop the ink. As he was rocketing towards the sphere, he also focused aura into his inkbrush and just quickly used it to cut through several of the weapons.
Alex landed on the sphere and just began jabbing the wooden handle of the inkbrush down, hoping to damage numerous weapons.
Suddenly Levi, transformed into a kraken super jumped towards him, followed by Ink and Ika. Levi was aggressively spinning with such speed and ferocity that all the ink that was being fired at him was being knocked away. Visually, it appeared that the giant kraken was actually a drill.
They hit the weapons, damaging several more of them, and at least providing Ink and Ika a safe place to land. Ika was quick to find a hole on the sphere that had been created and stuck her charger in. She just had a devilish smile. "Found you! Dumb-ass!" She fired, and a moment later the weapons stopped floating in midair.
The weapons, Ink, Ika, Levi, and Alex just fell to the ground. They were able to quickly recover, and watched as the shattered weapons all just began to transform into ink.
From the enemies spawn point, they heard Final just shouting out obscenities in frustration.
Levi, Ink, and Ika were just looking at the broken weapons transforming into ink rather confused. "How did he do that?"
"This doesn't seem possible."
Alex figured this wasn't a normal occurrence. His handling of the weapons had proved to him that they were solid. Made of plastic, or wood in his inkbrush's case. Plus when they were on the sphere, they were undoubtedly solid. "I don't know what this guy is doing, but I'm not liking it." Alex said.
"It's like he's bending the very fabric of reality." Ika replied.
"But he's not very good at it." Alex muttered.
"What makes you say that?" Ika wondered.
"We're still here." Alex replied.
"But he's toying with us." Levi reminded them. "Like he's saying, that he can take us out at any moment, but he want's us to suffer."
"So we might not be seeing the true extent of his power." Alex muttered.
"Hey, squids, I hate to break apart this thrilling conversation, but last time I checked, I don't think ink was supposed to do that." Ink suddenly said.
They looked over at the giant puddle of ink. It was now all crawling back towards Final, who just had his hand outstretched. The ink was forming into numerous boxes, and long cylinders.
A moment later numerous missiles were launched form the boxes towards them. Ink, Ika, Levi and Alex just split up avoiding the attacks. However, as soon as the ink hit the ground, it would just begin crawling back towards Final restocking the missiles.
Intermixed, there were much larger blasts of ink that covered a greater ground.
"What are those?" Alex shouted.
"Tenta Missiles and Inkstrikes." Ika replied.
"I've only seen Inkstrikes." Alex replied.
"Tenta Missiles aren't available at this club!" Ika replied.
She jumped further away, narrowly avoiding being splatted.
From some ink, two inklings jumped out towards Ika, tackling her, and knocking her out of bounds.
Two more followed through with an attack on Ink and did the same. The same thing occurred with Levi. Suddenly all six were tackling Alex on the ground. It only took a few seconds before he was splatted under a barrage of Tenta Missiles, and an inkstrike.
When Alex respawned, he just looked at Ink, Ika, and Levi. "This bastard is getting really dirty!" Ika snapped.
"I think it's safe to say we've succeeded in pissing him off." Levi laughed.
"Well I'm glad you're finding levity in this situation." Ika snapped.
"Sorry, but at least it's progress." Levi replied. "Tell me what do you see?"
Ika looked through her charger's scope, and just looked at Final who was standing at the other end of the arena. However he was gasping for air. "He's tired..."
"I kind of want to say he's done screwing around." Levi replied. "He's trying to finish this. He also realized his limitations too. Whatever method he is using to control those inklings, it's working a lot better than it was a few minutes ago."
Alex just looked at the inklings who hadn't moved since he was tackled. "I don't think so." Alex replied. "He still can't multitask. He had to of momentarily stopped his Tenta Missiles and Inkstrike assault to give them instructions."
"But he didn't." Ika pointed out.
"What if he didn't need to do that. And instead we didn't notice because once the Tenta Missles and Inkstrike are activated, and locked on, they go to their target." Ink replied.
"So he used the time that they were in the air to issue the commands." Ika replied. "Making it seem like he was multitasking."
"I think so." Ink replied.
Alex just looked rather shocked at the inklings. Despite everything happening so quickly they had analyzed the situation.
"So what now?" Alex wondered.
"We just keep exhausting him until he falls over." Levi replied. "That's at least my thought."
"I can't say I have much of a plan either." Ika sighed. "So, let's go with it."
"That works for me." Ink replied. "I don't think he can keep up for much longer."
"Okay!" Alex replied.
They rushed forwards and once again the Tenta Missiles and Ink Stikes began raining down. Expecting the inklings to strike, Levi was able to quickly roll over them with his ink roller.
They respawned with barely any delay and all six of the inklings just rushed towards them once again. Levi finally having enough transformed into a kraken and just immediately splatted them. He quickly swam up to Final and just jumped into the air, and spun into him, splatting him once again.
He transformed back, and just laid down his ink roller, taking no pride in the six inklings constantly respawning and just rushing to their doom each time.
Inside the respawn point, Final was gasping for air.
"Do you regret everything you've done Final?" Levi asked.
"I'm nowhere near done!" Final snapped. "I'll crush you all!"
He stepped forwards to get out of the barrier, but suddenly his legs gave out.
"It's over." Levi said.
"It's never going to be over!" Final replied. "I'll keep him here until he dies for opposing Zenith!"
Levi just let off a heavy sigh. "You're pathetic." His hair tentacles began to stand on end.
"Just what the hell is up with a squid like you." Final sneered. "I should show you your place. Give me more power!"
A rather sinister laugh could suddenly be heard echoing throughout the warehouse. "You want it?"
"Yes! Of course!"
"It will hurt." The voice replied. "After this battle, you might not be able to do anything for a week..."
"I don't care! I'll end this threat here! Give me your power!"
"Well then... Don't say I didn't warn you."
There was a sudden pulse of energy that sent Levi flying back. He just got up, and Ink, Ika, and Alex rushed to his side.
"Are you okay?" Ink asked.
"Yeah, I think so." Levi replied. "Some invisible force just pushed me away. But what is this chill..."
The air was getting much colder. Suddenly Final began to scream. When he was done screaming they just looked up towards Final, who now was just laughing.
"This power." He laughed. "I feel so much stronger!"
In the air beside him numerous splatlings just began to materialize. As they revved up, Alex, Ink, Ika, and Levi just ran for cover behind some crates.
They just breathed a sigh of relief, until they noticed ink was piercing through the crates. A moment later they were all splatted.
As they respawned Alex was the first to ask. "What the hell just happened?!"
"This bastard is using a Stinger too?!" Ink snapped.
"What's a Stinger, I didn't encounter any of those..." Alex wondered.
"It's a new super." Ika replied. "At newer turf war clubs. And it pierces through walls! As you can see..."
"What a pain..." Ink grumbled.
"I think it's safe to assume that he has access to every single weapon and special." Levi replied.
"Well, he hasn't used Kraken, Bubbler, any Bomb Rushes, Inkzooka, Echolocator, Inkjet, Splashdown, Inkarmor, Ink Storm, Baller, Bubble Blowers, Booyah Bombs, or the Ultra Stamp yet." Ink repiled.
"Thanks, like we weren't trying to keep track." Ika muttered.
"I think we can rule out Echolocator and Inkjet though." Ink replied.
"Seems like he knows where we are regardless. So it's not needed. And he was flying without an inkjet earlier so... yeah."
Alex just nodded. The sting ray was currently hitting the barrier. Thankfully it seemed to be able to protect them for the time being.
"This guy just knows how to piss you off though." Levi muttered. "You think he'd get bored by now. Most hackers I've seen matches of, they have their fun but quickly move on."
"Well he is specifically targeting me." Alex sighed. He looked at the constant beam of ink that was shooting from across the stage. "I'm growing tired of this." He just placed his hand on the barrier. He pushed it through so that he was touching the constantly shooting high pressure ink. It hurt like hell, but he gritted his teeth and endured it. "I think this can work."
"What are you doing?" Ika asked.
"Do you know how electricity works?" Alex wondered. "How the current travels through a circuit?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm going to use this stream of ink as a circuit directly to him!" Alex replied.
A smile crossed Levi's face. "Interesting."
Alex sent a pulse of aura through the stream of ink. Several moments later they could see a sudden explosion of ink on the other side followed by a scream of pain. The Stinger's attack ended, and Alex just pulled back his hands.
They were extremely raw and currently bleeding some ink. Alex just quickly wiped his hands on his clothes and looked up at his teammates. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Alex replied. "I can continue."
"I get the feeling that even if you couldn't, he wouldn't have stopped the match." Ika muttered.
Alex just grimly laughed. "Yeah... unfortunately." he reached for his inkbrush, but as his hand touched it, it hurt. He winced in pain, and his teammates just looked at him. "It's fine, it's fine!" Alex continued to reassure them.
"If you say so." Ink said.
Alex just nodded. They walked out of the safety of the barrier, and towards a constantly cursing Final. "My arm! You blew off my arm!" He swore, ink that was near him was trying to apply itself to the wound and form into an arm. However the moment it formed, it wouldn't stick on. The six inklings were just standing around. He looked at them rather frustrated. "What are you looking at!? Go kill them! Destroy them, make it so that they can't recover! Do it, no matter what!" he snapped.
The six inklings just suddenly came to life and began to shuffle towards the approaching squad of Ink, Ika, Levi and Alex.
Levi just grabbed his splat roller. "I'm getting really sick of these guys!"
"They're victims in this too." Alex muttered. Looking through aura, the vines that had ensnared them seemed to be getting even more and more suffocating. Across their skin was now visible purple bruises that looked so much the thorny vines that was ensnaring them. Alex didn't exactly want to know what would happen if this continued. "Is there some way I can free you?" he asked.
They didn't respond to him, instead just letting out gargling noises. One raised up their hands.
"They can't even fight anymore..." Ika muttered aiming her charger at them.
"This is just sick." Ink said rather disgusted.
They barely had any strength. Despite that, Final continued to bark orders, and they just continued shuffling forwards.
"Their ink..." Ika muttered. "They're going to die like this..."
The ink that composed their hair, was growing duller and duller. The tips was looking like it was beginning to dry and break off.
Alex just looked horrified. "These inklings... They're innocent, I can't let them die like this!"
"What?!" Final laughed. "Do you think you're some kind of hero!? You're just some spoiled brat who probably jumped at the chance to go on an adventure with the Smashers! Thinking it would just be all fun and games! But look at where that got you?!"
Alex just glared at Final. "Why don't you shut up!" he snapped. "Quit talking like you know me!"
Final laughed. "I hit it right on the head? Didn't I?!"
"You couldn't be further from the truth." Alex replied. He clenched his fist and closed his eyes. "I think I'm cursed. Doing this because if I don't, no one else will!"
"Oh, you're so full of yourself!" Final laughed.
"Do you think I'm happy, that my whole life has essentially been just learning about different games? Just getting all the information I can to stop Zenith and people like you from destroying the world? Watching as my cousin was accused of being insane, and somehow knowing that what he was saying was the truth."
"Have you ever thought for yourself?!" Final asked.
"I have, many times." Alex replied. "Thinking that it's pointless, maybe I should just give up. But seeing you here, and what you're doing to these inklings is just reassuring me that he is right and Zenith must be stopped."
"Zenith must be stopped? Don't make me laugh. This is only happening because you came here." Final replied. "If you didn't, these inklings would have just lived a happy and ignorant life! Just blissfully unaware of the world out there. I'd have no reason to destroy this place either!"
"You can cut the bullshit!" Alex snapped. "You said it yourself, that you'd destroy this place because it houses a Smasher!"
"Oh, I guess that's true." Final replied. "You want to know how much more peaceful everything would be if the Smashers just knew their place and stopped fighting back?! If they just accepted their lives as worthless data?!"
Alex just looked up at Final in shock. "What?!"
"You don't get it do you, these video games are just made for us!" Final replied. "Once we discard them we discard them, they're nothing!"
"How can you even say that?" Alex asked. "Looking at all of these inklings and saying that they're just data?!"
"That's all they are. Just data." Final replied. "Data to be deleted once their usefulness is gone! You're the crazy one thinking that they're alive! Enough standing around, kill them!"
The inklings under his control began to move forwards once again.
"So, all those experiments that Kamabo, I mean Zenith has been doing... you never thought of us as living creatures?" Levi asked.
"Of course not, you're just data!" Final replied. "You're just programed to have something similar to what we humans call emotions and inteligence. At the end of the day, they're just fake projections to make you seem more real and authentic... The sooner you accept this Alex, the sooner all this can end."
"What?"
"The Smashers are just some bits of data, thinking they gained sentience and fighting back to stop what they simply view as destruction of their worlds." Final replied. "And you Alex, are just the result of some gullible fool, who bought it all hook, line and sinker. That's it. That's the truth of this world."
Alex just backed away from the approaching shambling inklings. Using Aura, he observed them. He could see that they were getting weaker, and crying out in pain from the vines strangling them. Alex just stomped his feet down and glared up at Final. "No! You're wrong." He shouted. "Nugai once told me that aura is the our very life force. That anything living has aura! What I've seen, here in these worlds. Lucas, Shulk, even these inklings. They love, they mourn. They have hopes and dreams. They have fears."
"Those are just illusions. Tricks to manipulate you." Final replied.
"They are not simply illusions!" Alex shouted. "And I will stand up to you and Zenith to protect them!"
"But how can you protect them when you can't even protect yourself?" Final wondered. He snapped his fingers and the six inklings all just began to run at them with whatever strength they could muster.
Alex suddenly felt a bit of weight around his neck. He reached up to his chest to find a small gemstone cut with the Smash Bros. insignia on it just hanging there. He recognized it as a smash pendant nearly identical to the one Nugai had always worn.
"What the?!" Alex said confused.
The smash pendant began to suddenly burn with an intense fire. Alex looked at it rather shocked and was scrambling to try and take it off. However he noticed that the flames didn't actually burn him. The flames began to spread from the pendant and across his body and then across the floor consuming Ink, Ika and Levi.
They just looked confused at the flames. "Just what's going on?" Ink asked.
"I don't know!" Alex replied.
The six inklings that were under Final's control stopped their approach towards the fire.
"What are you doing? Break them! Kill them!" Final shouted.
Alex just looked at the flames and began to pass then between his hands. No matter what they didn't burn. He just looked up at the six inklings and rushed forwards. As soon as he touched them, the flames spread to them. Looking through aura, the vines that seemed to ensnare them were suddenly burned, and the 6 inklings just fell down unconscious.
Ink, Ika and Levi quickly rushed to their sides and began to check their pulse. "They're alive." Levi was the first to say. "Breathing's weak, but they're alive."
Alex just closed his eyes and focused. Their aura was slowly returning. "Let's get them out of here."
A crate was lowered onto the stage. Alex looked around confused, but saw a jellyfish manning something behind a glass pane. It just waved towards them. Quickly they got the six inklings on the crate. It then began to move away to safety.
Alex looked up at Final and cracked his knuckles.
"What did you do?!" Final shouted.
"Hell if I know!" Alex replied. "But, I'm not complaining right now. At least I know I saved their lives from you!"
Final just lifted up his remaining hand. From each of the six inklings a strange ball of energy came out of it and just rushed to him.
Embedded in the palm of Final's hand appeared an eye. The pupil was like a slit. There was a yellow iris, and then there was the scleara, it was blue.
"What the hell?!" Ink muttered.
Alex just looked at him rather shocked. "Are you even human?" He asked.
Final just laughed. His hand faced a large pile of ink that his team had placed down. "It doesn't matter if you got rid of those pawns." Final said. "I can just make some more. These ones, you won't be able to free!" He bit down on his hand, causing it to bleed a black ink that went into the large puddle of ink. The ink began to bubble and come together, forming the bodies of 6 inklings. The white spheres just rushed down into the bodies. Suddenly they began to move.
"What is that? What did you do?" Alex asked.
Final just glared at Alex. "I used the spirits that I was using to control them, to animate these ink puppets."
"Spirits?" Alex questioned.
Final just laughed. "Like you'd even be able to understand. Now, break them!"
The puppets just rushed forwards. However, they were immediately splatted by Ika's charger. She looked up at Final rather annoyed. "Sorry, were those targets yours?" She asked.
"What?!"
"They didn't even move or react when I shot them." Ika replied. "They're going to make my aim worse."
They began to reform, however without even looking Ika shot them all again. "Looks like you're finally out of tricks, Final." Ink laughed. "And you made the mistake of pissing off my sister."
"What!? Final muttered.
"This was supposed to be a fun tournament that we just participated in, not worrying about anything." Ika said. "But you just had to come in here and ruin it."
Final just gritted his teeth.
"You should realize it's over." Levi said.
"It will never be over!" Final snapped.
"This could have ended at any time." Alex shouted. "You're the asshole that stopped the timer! If you simply wanted to beat us and win we could have all moved on with our lives by now..."
"But you see I just don't want to beat you." Final said. "I want to break you! Teach you the error of your ways for opposing Zenith! Show you how weak you are and hopeless it is to oppose us!"
"How sad are you?" Alex shouted. "You really think that cheating like this is going to show me how weak I am? If anything it's showing how weak you are, since you have to rely on cheap tricks."
"Not to mention, a lot of good it did ya." Ink pointed out. "We still bested you in every single way."
There was just silence. Final was just shaking with rage. "I'm not weak!" He eventually shouted out. "I'll splat you! Until there's nothing left and you can't even reform!" He let out a scream of frustration. The puddle of ink just began to transform into numerous weapons and a killer wail.
They were all instantly splatted by a shock wave from the killer wail. A few seconds later they all reformed back at the spawn point, which was under heavy fire from the stingers and splatlings. The constant blaring of the killer wail once again stopped them from going out of the barrier.
But it was becoming quite clear that the barrier was beginning to fail. It would flicker, and a little bit of ink would leak through.
"Wow, we really pissed him off this time." Ink laughed.
"This is really going to suck..." Alex muttered.
"Ika, did you bring some aspirin?" Ink asked.
"Yeah." Ika replied.
"When this is done, I'm going to need some." Ink muttered.
"Yeah same..."
Cracks began to appear on the barrier. A moment later it shattered, and they were instantly splatted.
Outside all the inklings could only watch in horror as the match continued. Ink, Ika, Levi, and Alex would respawn, and without the protection of the barrier they were instantly be splatted again, and again, and again.
It was just an infinite cycle, with no end in sight.
The inklings in the crowd were not happy. They were booing and hissing at Final. Shouting obscenities at how much this was a farce and that the judges were corrupt for letting it go on.
But it was quite clear that their words were falling on deaf ears.
Ty was just shaking in anger. Sora who stood by him was also extremely frustrated.
"This isn't a turf war." Ty muttered. "What's going on?!" He was just crying.
"Is something wrong?" Sora asked.
Ty nodded. "Everything. I wanted to have one last good turf war, before we had to leave."
Sora nodded. "Same. Especially since he... knows my secret."
Ty looked at Sora shocked. "Who?"
"Alex..."
"He's with them though." Ty whispered.
"He might be the only way out of here safely." Sora replied.
Ty just looked around rather pained. "I don't know what to do about that... But this isn't the time to worry about this, I can't let this match continue like this... You wanna go cause some trouble?"
"Yeah, I'm in." Sora laughed.
The two just broke away from the crowd. Currently a bunch of Inklings were currently trying to break into Inkopolis Tower to forcefully end the match. However it was barricaded from the inside, along with several security guards at the ready.
There was no way they were getting through.
"What's the plan?"
"I think we need to bust into Walleye Warehouse ourselves." Ty said.
Sora just smiled. "I like the sound of that okay... which way..."
"Walleye Warehouse is... I believe that way!" Ty replied pointing in a direction.
Sora just nodded, and suddenly super jumped on top of a building. Ty followed. Only a few inklings had actually noticed, as most were focused on the doors, and trying to get through.
Sora just went higher, and higher, until he got a good vantage point and just looked out. Soon they were able to locate the exterior of Walleye warehouse. "You were right!" Sora replied.
Ty just caught up, and pulled out a scope to look around. "That's way too strange." He muttered.
"What is?"
"There's inklings on the roofs." Ty replied.
"What?" Sora questioned.
Ty just focused on them. It seemed like they were patrolling and watching for inklings or anyone else who might be running to interfere.
"I'm not liking this, this is just getting more and more suspicious by the second." Ty said.
Sora just nodded in agreement. "I think they're going to try and stop us."
"There's no other reason for them to be out on top." Ty pointed out. "Now, what should we do?"
Sora just had a rather goofy smile across his face. "I say we rush right towards them, and blow past them!"
"Works for me!" Ty laughed.
The two of them just began to super jump towards Walleye Warehouse. It wasn't long before the inklings up top noticed, and rushed to intercept.
Sora was rushing to get his inkbrush ready however four other inklings intercepted the four inklings on the roof. Three engaged, while one continued on wards.
"I don't know what's going on, but let's take advantage of this!" Ty said.
"Right!" They super jumped right past the seven inklings. Sora actually made sure to quickly hit two of the ones who were previously patrolling to make it a bit easier for the other three.
They caught up with a blue inkling. "You heading to Walleye to stop it too?" Ty asked.
"Yeah! I'm Goggles." the Inkling replied.
"I'm Ty, and this is Sora." He had heard of Goggles, his squad was known for being a rather unconventional group in Turf Wars. But, it was noted that they would always have fun during Turf Wars.
"Glad to have you with us!" At the very least, he figured extra numbers couldn't hurt.
Several more inklings just super jumped to block the way. However Sora was at the ready. He pulled out his Inkbrush and just swung it hitting them, and allowing the three to sneak past. In the confusion, Ty had dropped a splat bomb.
It exploded, and sent the pursuers to the ground. They could see Walleye Warehouse up ahead. On top of it they just saw a skylight.
"We're breaking through that!" Ty said. "Then we'll stop this farce of a turf war!"
"Right!"
Inside the waiting room, several teams were rather frustrated with what was going on. They went to protest, however soon found that the doors were locked.
Kelp, Kale, Ace, and Tako were among the groups trapped in the waiting room. They were doing their best to remain calm. "I'm not liking this at all." Tako muttered.
"Same." Kale replied.
"We need to get to the bottom of this." Kelp said.
"But how, we're trapped?" Kale wondered.
Ace just hit his foot to the side of Kale's foot and motioned up towards a grate in the wall for ventilation. He quickly just covered his mouth to signal not to talk out loud.
Kale and everyone else nodded in acknowledgement. They just quickly made sure no one was looking and then just turned into squids and jumped through the grate.
"Good thinking Ace!" Kelp whispered.
They made their way through the vent, and then out into the hallway. There were several guards standing guard, and making sure that no one could get out.
Kelp just jumped out. "hey, uh, I think I'm lost." He said.
The two guards stationed there were rather confused by his sudden appearance. They just approached, which quickly allowed Tako and Ace time to get out of the vent and knock them both unconscious.
Kale was the last to get out of the vent and just looked at the two unconscious inklings rather surprised. "We're going to get disqualified for this..."
"Yeah, sure." Tako laughed.
Kelp was just quickly frisking the guards, until he found the keys to the change rooms. "I'm going to slide them under the door, we'll probably only have 10 seconds before they get out, and there's a flood of inklings trying to figure out what to do."
"I say we go to the Squid Sisters..." Tako replied. "They're probably locked in their booth, unable to interfere with this mess too."
"That makes sense to me." Ace said.
"I'm for that too." Kale said.
Kelp just nodded. "Right! Then start running!"
The three of them began running down the hallway. Kelp just quickly slid the keys underneath the doors, and began to run. As he turned the corner, he saw the doors beginning to open.
They made their way through the hallways, numerous times guards tried to stop them, but they were able to make quick work of them.
Callie and Marie were stuck in the recording room with Pearl and Marina. Of course Cap'n Cuttlefish was there to watch his grand daughters and cheer them on for their commentary for the tournament, but as soon as the match began, things got weird.
Their commentary was cut, something that no one would do to the superstars that are the Squid Sisters. Someone had entered into the room, and blocked the door, making sure they couldn't leave either. They could only just sit there in shock as they watched the current match play out.
"This is bullshit!" Pearl snapped. The smaller of the two of Off the Hook, was known to be incredibly foul mouthed.
"Can you let us out?!" Marie asked.
"I'm sorry, but I'm just doing my job. I'm in here to make sure you don't leave due to unknown assailants."
"That is quite possibly the worst lie we've ever been told, and we've had to deal with our record label." Callie muttered.
Marie just nodded in agreement. She went over to her purse and just pulled out a taser. She just quickly rushed up to the guard and shocked him.
The guard fell to the ground and they just opened the door where two more guards were stationed outside.
They turned, however Cap'n Cuttlefish just quickly used his Bamboozler cane to knock the two out. They just walked out into the hallway.
A few moments later Kelp, Kale, Ace, and Tako rushed up. "You're okay?!" Tako asked.
"Of course." Cap'n Cuttlefish replied. "What's happening?"
"I don't know, but this tournament has gone to shit." Pearl replied.
"We let out a bunch of inklings from the waiting rooms." Kelp said. "They should be causing chaos."
"Then, I think we need to go to the control room, where the higher ups are watching things." Callie said.
They just rushed through the hallways. Most of the place had been cleared out due to the chaos. The front doors had been broken open and inklings had rushed in to find who was responsible and what was going on.
"It's in a heavily secured employee's only area." Marie replied. "No normal inkling is going to be able to get there."
"So, if we go in, we'll probably be facing a bunch of armed guards alone." Kale pointed out.
"Not a problem." Marina spoke up. "If I can get to a computer."
They nodded, and it wasn't long until they had made it to the abandoned and mostly trashed lobby. There was one inkling that was hiding underneath their desk, currently shaking and terrified. "I don't get paid enough for this, I don't get paid enough for this." She was saying. She just began to go white as she saw numerous figures stand over her.
"Sorry." Marie said. "But can we use your computer?"
It took her several seconds to register that the inklings standing above her were half composed of the two idle groups. This seemed to at least calm her down. "Of course."
"All right, you're up Rina." Pearl said.
Marina just nodded and went to the computer and began to frantically type. A few moments later, she just let off a small chuckle. "And done."
"What did you do?" Callie wondered.
"I just unlocked every door here." Marina replied. "All right we need to get to them before anyone else."
"Right, let's get moving!" Cap'n Cuttlefish said.
As they were about to run away, the inkling girl who was previously manning the desk, reached up and grabbed Callie by the wrist.
"Wait, don't leave me alone?! What's going on? Why are people angry and rioting?" The inkling girl asked.
"The tournament was hijacked by someone." Callie replied. "You can come with us if you're afraid."
She just nodded.
"Is that wise?" Tako asked. "That gives us someone we have to protect now."
"It should be fine." Kelp replied. "The rioters should know we're not with the people who hijacked the tournament. And if all else fails, just shout and be angry, say you want answers too."
"I guess he does have a point." Pearl laughed.
"She can also just leave the building and wait outside." Kale pointed out.
She looked a bit shocked, reluctantly she looked out from the cover of her desk, and saw that it was clear. She just immediately ran out of the building.
"Well, let's go!"
It wasn't long until they found an employee only area. They rushed in and it wasn't long until they were able to find a rioting crowd fighting and overpowering several guards.
They were able to sneak past and continue onwards. "Hold on a bit longer." Kelp was thinking "We'll be there to save you in a bit."
It wasn't long until they came to a door that was more heavily guarded than anything before it. There was 15 guards standing attentively. All ready there were several Inklings on the ground, moaning in pain.
From the room they were hearing laughter that just made their blood boil.
"Those bastards are enjoying this." Ace muttered.
"We can't reach them this way." Kelp said. He just scanned around and was able to find a vent. "We'll do what we did before."
"Right."
They looked at the vent and quickly jumped in. They traveled through it and was quickly able to find the exit into the board room. The big suits were all drinking wine and laughing every time Alex, Ink, Ika, and Levi were splatted.
"We can't just rush in." Cap'n Cuttlefish said. "We're limited by how many of us can get through the vent."
"There's a few more vents." Kale whispered. "We can attack from multiple fronts."
"We have to be quick and silent, as to not inform the guards out front." Callie muttered. "Unless we could time our attack with the riot arriving and fighting the guards."
"But we can't really do that can we..." Tako muttered. "If we set some ink mines right by the door as they rush in..."
"That will only work for one or two of them."
"Leave it to me." Pearl said. "I can shout loud enough for you guys to hear inside. And that will be your cue!"
"Are you sure?" Marina asked. "This might be dangerous."
"I'll be fine." Pearl laughed.
"All right, we'll get in positions."
Pearl just exited out of the vents and looked around. The guards were still waiting attentively.
"HEY! OVER HERE!" She shouted. "THERE'S A BUNCH OF GUARDS AND THE HEAD OFFICE OVER HERE!"
Suddenly she heard both the guards and the rioters rushing towards her. She just quickly jumped up into the vent and watched as several guards were the first to arrive. They were confused, and just before they were about to go back, the rioters arrived.
Ty and Sora just smashed through the window of Walleye Warehouse. They both saw Final just constantly unleashing a barrage that continued to splat Alex, Ink, Ika, and Levi.
"I've had enough of this!" Ty shouted.
Final just looked up in shock at their sudden appearance. He was pushed down to the ground.
Ty just punched Final across the face. A second later he just froze, and looked at Final both confused and afraid.
Several of the ink puppets just rushed right for Ty, however Sora just cut right through them with his inkbrush.
Final was also confused. "Who the hell are you!?" Final snapped.
"That's my question!" Ty replied.
Final just took Ty's moment of confusion to kick the inkling away. He quickly got up and looked at Ty rather annoyed.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Final asked. His voice dripping in venom.
"This match has just been one giant sham and I can't stand by watching this!" Ty said.
Final just laughed. "Is that so, and you'd risk disqualification?"
"If this tournament goes on in this state, it has no right to call itself an official tournament with any bearing." Ty shouted.
"You're not the one to call that." Final laughed. "I am, I control the tournament committee and I say this is the finals! Isn't that right?"
"That's right," a voice said over the intercom. "any interference from anyone outside- hey who are you and what are you doing?!"
Inside the room that the tournament committee was watching, it had suddenly been broken in. Cap'n Cuttlefish had his bamboozler out and just quickly shot all of the inklings inside with some low tide ink that immediately disoriented most of them. Marie also had her charger ready and was doing the same thing. Ace, Tako, and Kale rushed in and immediately restrained them.
Outside, they heard the voices of the guards and the rioters clashing. Marina just rushed to the door, and make sure to quickly lock it so that no guards could come in.
With the room now taken over, Capn' Cuttlefish just went over to the speaker and picked up the microphone. "This is Agent 0 of the Squidbeak Splatoon, we have apprehended the people in here working for Kamabo. Feel free to interfere, and end this."
He just put down the microphone and looked at the inklings and octarians in the room. "Well that's the end of that." Cap'n Cuttlefish laughed.
"No, they still need our help." Kelp said. "Where's the closest warp?"
Marina just looked at a computer and after several seconds left off a rather shocked gasp. "Right in this room." She said. She pointed at the table. They just moved it aside, and it was covering a transporter.
"Bunch of cowards." Ace muttered.
"Can you change where it's going?" Kale wondered.
"Who do you think I am?" Marina wondered. "It won't even take 10 seconds."
She just began to frantically type on the computer. Five seconds later she just let out a "Done."
"Now then, we have to wait until those killer wails are gone." Kelp said. "Then I think we can let in the flood gates."
Final just looked furious.
"You say it's the final round, but no one here is going to accept that!" Ty shouted. "Now then, let's put an end to this farce! Sora!"
"Right!" Sora replied. He just glided through the air and used his inkbrush to just smash right through the killer wails that were out and constantly unleashing their attack.
With them destroyed, Ink, Ika, Alex and Levi finally had a chance to recover. The four of them were just gasping for air.
"I never want to do that again." Ink muttered.
"Same." Alex added on. He just fell forwards. It was hard to even keep his body solid and looking at Ink, Ika, and Levi, they were having the same problem. All of them were just reverting back to liquid uncontrollably.
Looking over at TY and Final he was a bit confused. Having been in this world for only a week at this time, he wasn't exactly too sure on differentiating the subtle differences on Inkling faces. At best, there was the occasional mole, piercing, or they had a different hair style. But that was it. But even here, he could see some similarities between Ty and Final.
"Don't day dream!" Ika shouted, snapping Alex back to reality.
"Sorry." Alex replied.
"It's okay, don't let it happen again. You can day dream all you want when you get back to the apartment!" Ika said.
"Right! I understand!"
Suddenly their spawn point began to spin, and a moment later emerging from it was four other inklings. Barely able to focus, Alex couldn't even look at them. All he heard was a whisper. "Gramps apologizes for not being fast enough." He heard one whisper to Ink. "Leave this to us, and recover."
The inklings just walked past them. Alex could only focus on the whirling of the spawn point. It just continued. The next group of four inklings actually helped move them to the side. Alex looked up and he could focus on the inkling carrying him. It was Kelp. "You guys need to recover." Kelp said. "You wouldn't believe the amount of inkings out there who wanted to help you."
Alex just weakly nodded. "Sure they just didn't want to beat this guy?"
"Maybe a bit of that too." Kelp laughed.
"Well, regardless, thanks." Alex muttered.
"No problem." Kelp replied. "Now, rest. You've done enough."
Alex just nodded and tried to focus on retaining a solid form. It was a lot harder than it looked. He just tried to pay attention to the cavalry that was arriving.
A group of inklings wearing long white jackets just walked past them.
"This farce has gone on long enough." One said. "To disrespect the sport of turf war this much, that the King would need to step in. He won't be forgiven."
He had a serious and rather intimidating expression on his face. He was just glaring at Final. Two of the others wearing the white jackets also were scowling. A slightly younger looking inkling had a softer expression but was still visibly upset.
More and more inklings just passed them. A few said comments along the lines of "You did good."
"Leave it to us."
"We'll beat in his face. Hope you don't want a piece of him."
Alex wasn't paying much attention until he felt someone standing over him and looking at him.
As he looked up to acknowledge, he saw a younger inkling wearing goggles. One that that was pointed out to him in Inkopolis Plaza, as Goggles, an inkling that fought in rather unconventional ways. "Aren't turfwars fun?" He asked.
"Yeah." Alex managed to reply. "At least when you're not fighting someone like this."
"Then you're a good inkling." Googles replied, before joining the crowd.
Several inklings just grabbed the four of them and moved them onto a crate that had been lowered.
"Recover okay?" Kelp said.
"Yeah, we'll be back soon enough." Ink muttered.
The two just fist bumped, however it was quite clear that even that had taken a lot of strength from Ink. He was wincing in pain.
Levi was just lying on the crate, spread out like a starfish. "Crap..."
"It's alright, you squids did everything you could." Kelp said. "Let us take it from here."
"Right." Ika said.
The crate they were on began to move away from the elevated arena, and then was suspended, hopefully safely, in the air several meteres away.
"We can trust them." Ink said.
"How did you know I was thinking that?" Alex questioned.
Ink just laughed. "The worried look on your face said it all. A group that big, they'll be fine. Final won't know what hit him."
Alex just smiled. "Yeah. Let's recover."
He lied back and closed his eyes trying to calm himself. "Good luck, you'll need it. Final is a piece of work."
Final just looked at the group of inklings that had joined the match. "So what? You bolstered your numbers a bit!" He laughed. "In the end, it won't matter! A killer wail could easily knock you all out!"
They all just glared at Final.
"But you know, that wouldn't be fun!" Final laughed. "Watching those four get splatted over and over again, made it lose it's luster. Not to mention, this little warehouse is getting a bit cramped. So, I've got a better idea!"
"Oh? And what's that?!" Kelp shouted.
"Welcome to the biggest Turf War in the history of Inkopolis, the entire stage is Inkopolis itself! It will be all of you, against my team!"
Every inkling there began to murmur. "What did he say?"
"You're just a single inkling, this will be easy!" Kelp laughed.
"That's where you're wrong." Final replied. He just looked at the pool of ink that he was standing in. From it, more and more inkling puppets just began to emerge. Each of them just had a fiery dark look in their eyes.
To make maters worse, several just divided in half in front of everyone's eyes.
"That should even the odds a bit." Final replied.
Everyone just looked at the army that Final had effortlessly summoned.
"The time limit is one hour!" Final said. "If you can't defeat me by then, well, it's over for Inkopolis! I'll do what I intended to do! I'll destroy this entire world! Now, welcome to the final battle! Let us begin!"
File 1
Do you want to save?
YES
Party 1: Alex, Ink, Ika, Tako
Notes:
Goggles, Rider, and Emperor are from the Splatoon Manga. I like it, it's a fun gag manga.
Splatoon Lures: Actually, I'm not making that up. Fishing Lures are apart of the Agent 3 uniform. The Art of Splatoon artbook states that: "The lure on the hip is an accessory designed to attract the opposite sex. It's an item almost everyone has in this world." I just changed it so that it was more inclusive.
