Chapter 16

It was a stand-down of epic proportions. Two of the greatest fighters of the modern era stared each other down, willing the other to make the first move. The crowd was silent, Ika and Callie were off to the side, and even Marie was holding her breath. Amber's foot shifts.

Octavio slams down on multiple buttons, imputing the command for a volley of missiles. Amber slides to the right and begins running towards Octavio, her gaze planted firmly on the missiles' path. She reaches the first missile and jumps over it, easily avoiding the explosion.

She sidesteps the second, shoots down a third, and slides under the fourth. Octavio's eye twitches as Amber easily evades the rest of his missiles. He twists the turntable, making his mech turn around, and blasts off over the ink.

The ground rumbles and Amber wobbles slightly as the arena splits apart. The moving platforms slowly float to a spot in front of her, forming a pathway. A path straight to Octavio.

Amber begins running as fast as she can to get to the end of the path. Octavio presses some more buttons, and suddenly some calamari-like bombs are launched at her. Amber's eyes widen and she slides to a stop, unable to move faster than the bombs.

The bombs land, but unlike what she thought would happen, they only crack. Then, from within the bombs, come out Octarian regulars. The tentacle-looking grunts stare directly at her, then begin charging forwards.

Amber easily sidesteps one, then leans to the side as another spits a glob of ink at her. She quickly lowers her gun and takes aim. With the pull of the trigger and a quick sweep across the floor, three Octarians splat loudly.

A sudden screech is heard from across the path, and Amber turns in surprise. Another killer wail was lowered from the mech, and it was preparing to fire.

With Amber's guard lowered, the fourth Octarian jumps onto Amber's backside. Amber gasps, stumbling for a bit, as the Octarian gurgles loudly in victory. Amber reaches behind herself and grips the Octarian's leg, then throws it over her shoulder. It screams loudly as it is sent across the arena to Callie and Ika's position. Callie wastes no time in splatting the creature.

Another screech is heard, and Amber turns towards the mech once more. She eyes the killer wail, then jumps high into the air. The deadly sound waves fly right past her position, narrowly avoiding Ika and Callie. Amber turns to the mech again, and her eyes widen. Octavio wasn't inside!

She hears a rush of air above her, and remembering Ika's fight, looks up. She sees Octavio turn humanoid, his leg outstretched and ready to hit her into the beam below. Amber frowns, tensing her body and ready to counter.

As Octavio falls, Amber's body shifts to the right, onto the side of Octavio's leg. Once he reaches her position, Amber aims her gun at Octavio's chest, who flew right past her, not expecting the change in position.

Octavio stares at the barrel of the guy, eyes wide in surprise, then at the holder. Amber smirks, then pulls the trigger.

A torrent of ink slams against Octavio's chest repeatedly. He grunts and grits his teeth as the splatters stain his clothing and burns his skin. Amber's aim adjusts with Octavio's falling form, and soon the king hits the ground, the beam from the killer wail gone.

Grunting in pain, Octavio grips his chest, then turns back into an octopus. Before Amber can even react, Octavio is jumping back to his mech, ink trailing behind him. He lands flawlessly, turning his angry gaze to the inkling in front of him.

He presses a few more buttons, loudly proclaiming "I've had ENOUGH of you SLIMY HIPSTERS! LET'S END THIS!"

Amber simply shifts her feet, her stance back into place. She narrows her eyes as Octavio presses a particularly flashy button. Suddenly, the platforms around her begin moving once more. She hears Ika's and Callie's cries of surprise, and Amber herself only just barely keeps her balance.

Octavio laughs loudly as he flies around the shifting platforms. "Ha! Try keeping up with me now, agent!"

With that declaration, Octavio flies towards Amber's position. Amber frowns and plants her feet down, successfully keeping her balance and preparing herself to attack.

As the mech approaches, Octavio swipes one of the turntables. Once he does so, a fist shakes, and then launches at Amber at high speeds. As this happens, he presses a few more buttons, and a flurry of eight missiles launch at Amber as well.

Amber's eyes widen as the missiles overtake the fist in speed, rapidly approaching her position. She was originally going to ink the fist and send it flying back, but that wasn't an option now with the missiles rapidly closing in. She looks around herself at the small platform that was still moving. She huffs in annoyance, and then her gaze flickers to the side. Another platform was approaching, one on a slightly lower level than her own. Her mind begins rapidly making assessments, and then she grins.

Amber runs at the missiles, making Octavio raise an eye ridge in surprise. With the platform ending almost right in front of the agent, he expected her to dodge to the side, which would give the fist time to slam into the slam platform with little escape.

Instead, the agent runs straight forwards, right towards her imminent death. Octavio's eyes narrow, searching for some sort of plan to these motions. She couldn't be suicidal, right?

Amber reaches the edge of the platform, then jumps. Her eyes widen, staring at the ink-filled lake below her, before she lands on something solid. Not wasting time to congratulate herself, she jumps once more.

Octavio's eyes widened in shock at what he just saw. The inkling just used a missile as a springboard! He growls, then prepares the other fist. With only a second of preparation, the other fist launches as well.

With her focus on not falling to her death, Amber almost doesn't realize how close the first fist is to her. When she uses another missile as a springboard, she looks up, and her eyes widen in surprise at how close the fist is. She yelps, but still lowers her gun and fires. The fist begins getting coated in ink, rapidly slowing down.

Amber begins falling, no longer focused on the missiles. She looks down, still firing at the fist, and notices the platform moving into place below her. She grins, then hears a sudden clank as the fist recoils backwards.

Octavio's eyes widen in surprise at the fists return, and he presses a button. He manages to get the mech to burst to one side, but the fist still grazes the barrier. More specifically, it grazes the damaged spot from before. The crack reforms midair and the barrier fluctuates rapidly, flashing a deep red color.

As Amber lands, she looks up, and her eyes widen in shock. Another fist was almost on top of her! She kneels down and begins firing, when her gun clicks with an empty tank. Amber curses, then dives into an ink trail left from previous shots.

The fist collides with the platform, creating a pool of ink and sliding into it. Amber, her tank refilled, looks at the fist with a frown. When the fist begins jerking back towards the mech, trying to free itself, she knows what to do.

Amber begins unloading her tank on the fist, but another thought crosses her mind. Even with the barrier down, Octavio can probably keep the mech moving or out of her range to stay relatively uninjured. If she wanted to take him down, she had to take him down up close and personal.

Suddenly, a crazy, almost suicidal idea enters her mind. Her eyes widen, and she glances at Octavio. He was still fumbling with the last hit and not paying attention. When another clank is heard, signalling the fist's return, she knows what to do.

Amber runs as fast as she can as the fist recoils back towards the mech. She slides to a stop at the edge of the platform, turns into a squid, then super jumps, right towards Octavio.

Octavio hears the loud clank and turns towards the sound, and his eyes widen immensely in surprise. Another platform appeared in front of them, AND the second fist was almost on top of him!

With no time to dodge, Octavio simply braces himself for the inevitable impact. The fist collides with the barrier, and the barrier fluctuates violently. Then, with a loud crack, the barrier disappears like glass shards.

The sound of the barrier falling apart and his own disorientation from the hit left Octavio wide open for the next event. As the barrier falls and the ink temporarily blocks his vision, a sudden sound is heard. Octavio turns to look in front of him, when suddenly, a figure appears.

Turning back into a humanoid, Amber had her fist drawn back and her beak grit. Octavio's eyes widen, and Amber screams "HYAH!"

She sends her fist forwards, propelled by the super jump. Her punch lands solidly on Octavio's cheek. The king stumbles back in shock, slamming against the wall. The mech jerks with the sudden motion and weight.

Amber stumbles, looking around at the mech while Octavio is disoriented. First, she pushes the button that made the platforms move. As she turns and sees the arena begin to assemble itself again. She turns to Octavio.

The king was reeling from the punch, his eyes wandering aimlessly in an attempt to orient himself. The violently moving mech didn't help much in that regard.

Seeing an opportunity present itself, Amber runs towards Octavio's stumbling form. She grabs his 'waist', which makes the DJ gasp in shock, and Amber runs back to the front of the mech. Octavio tries to break her grip, but with the punch disorienting his mind, he couldn't muster the strength.

Amber prepares herself for a jump, when the mech shakes violently. Amber's eyes widen at the sudden smoke coming from the mech. She turns back to the arena, crouches down, then jumps.

Octavio firm in her arms, she flies across the air, trying to reach the arena in time. Ika and Callie watched with wide eyes, while the crowd held its breath. Then, the mech explodes.

The shockwave slams into Amber and Octavio, and the agent yells in shock as her velocity doubles. She hits the arena and rolls across it rapidly. She slams against an injured Ika, who stops her from moving farther. She looks up at him and smiles, exhausted, in victory, Ika and Callie tiredly returning the expression.

Octavio wasn't so lucky. When the explosion hit, he was ripped from Amber's grip. The sudden velocity change and Amber's hold change his trajectory, right towards a descending platform. Octavio launches like a rocket towards the platform's side, which formed a lowering metal wall. With a loud clang, Octavio's form hits the wall, and the king falls unconscious.

Pieces of the destroyed mech fall into the ink lake. The agents look around with exhaustion, Callie's leg still bleeding and trying to reform. Ika's battered body tried to collapse, but he willed it to go on. They were still in enemy territory.

Then, without warning, cheering breaks out. The agents look at the crowd in surprise. They expected hostility, a fight for their lives, maybe even their last, due to the sheer number of octolings in the stands. But… they were cheering. And, judging from the yells, they were cheering for them.

Amber stands up slowly, and the cheering nearly doubles in volume. Amber looks around with a tired smile, when suddenly music plays loudly. Calamari Inkantation. Amber looks up, and sees quite possibly the craziest thing yet. A flying truck, piloted by Sheldon of all people, was descending to their position.

The agents all begin to stand, Ika and Amber helping Callie stand. They all shuffle to the truck, ignoring the crowd beginning to sing along with the music. The side of the truck opens, revealing a seating area similar to that of a military deployment helicopter.

Marie looks out at them all with worry, relief, joy, and fear all at the same time. Seeing their injured forms set her on edge, but the fact the battle was over was too much of a relief. The agents wordlessly enter the truck and fall against the seats, trying to regain some energy. Marie looks over to Octavio and silently walks over to the back of the truck. It opens up, and she sees a massive snowglobe. Large enough to hold Octavio inside.

As she grabs the lift and rolls the snowglobe over to Octavio's unconscious form, she thinks about recent events. When Ika unleashed Akuma, she knew she had to do something. So, she called in Sheldon, who was actually their weapon supplier, and the two of them began their descent into the HQ. Luckily, they knew exactly where the passageway for flying vehicles was. It was sealed off during the war to prevent the Octarians from deploying once more while underground. Now, they could use it to enter the underground and escape.

Marie quietly loads the king into his new prison, then quickly goes back to the truck. Unnerved by the crowd's cheering and singing, she quickly enters the truck, and Sheldon begins their ascent. Only a few octolings took notice of the events that just played out.

Octavius, his suit in place and hands behind his back like the politician he was, stares at the retreating truck. Then, he turns to the crowd dispersing around him, many still singing the… Calamari Inkantation.

Octavius growls lowly, then looks at the ink lake, where many mechanical parts are floating silently. Contrary to popular belief, the lake wasn't deep. Maybe a foot or two, just enough to throw off the agents from entering. Still fatal for an inkling though.

With a twist of his heel, Octavius begins to depart, two octoling soldiers following. Quietly, to himself, Octavius says "Octavio's failure will be the spark needed to commence the plan. So, let's begin."

The door shuts silently behind him, and not a single octoling took note of his disappearance. The battle was over, and soon they began leaving as well. The events of today would go down in history.