Chapter 22: Inkfinite Calamari Inkantation
Outside Inkopolis Tower, at a small cafe, a group of inklings was just waiting patiently for the match to end. One was drinking tea in a rather dignified way, and constantly looking up at the commotion around Inkopolis Tower.
"Fools, they'll just drain their energy." He said.
Beside him was a female inkling, who was also drinking tea. She just looked forwards at the screen displaying the match between Alex, Ink, Ika, and Levi VS. Final. "It will be an easy tournament when all is said and done. How many will drop out or be disqualified?"
"I was hoping this Alex would prove interesting." The first inkling said. "He certainly showed some tenacity, but it was nothing."
"The tournament is probably going to be canceled at this rate." A third said, he was the male inkling that had approached Alex several days before. He was also drinking tea.
Sitting there, fidgeting, uncomfortable about this whole situation was Zero.
"Is something the matter Zero?" the first inkling asked. "You're not drinking your tea."
"I'm sorry Xavier." Zero replied. "My armor gets in the way of that."
"You can take it off," the female inkling replied. "I don't get why you're so shy."
"Sorry, I can't do that, Lexi." Zero replied.
"You certainly are an enigma." The third inkling said. "Ever since you've joined our team... you haven't shown us your face."
"I'd like to keep it that way, Maximilian." Zero replied.
"Just what are you hiding?" Maximilian asked. "Also, I told you, just Max is fine. Maximilian is such a mouthful."
"Maybe they have an ugly scar..." Lexi said.
"Sorry, I just don't want my face known publicly, that's all." Zero replied. "Are we going to join this battle?"
"I don't see why we should." Xavier replied, putting down his tea cup. "This battle would just waste energy. By staying on the sidelines, we won't get in trouble if they do bans, and we will be in tip top shape if they continue the tournament, while others will be exhausted. We'll just easily clean up the tournament."
"That Final squid has clearly snapped though!" Max laughed. "Thinking he can destroy the world!"
Zero just clenched their fist. "No." They thought. "He hasn't snapped, and isn't bluffing either. He really intends to go through with it..."
Behind the power armor's mask Zero closed their eyes and recollected the meeting of this squad.
They had come to this world to enjoy the various events. They were enamored by the splatfest and the partying throughout the whole night. Several inklings had taken a liking to them teaming up for the battle and sticking with them.
What was just supposed to be a quick recon and break from work had become something else a habit to check back and enjoy the various activities that went on.
They even joined ranked matches and began to level up. And then there was the announcement of the X rank. What was said to be the best of the best, inklings that stood above all others.
Many inklings were hoping to get up there. And for the time being Zero made it their goal.
And then it was the fateful day where they had climbed up the ranks enough to become an X ranked.
"Do you want to join us?"
"I'm not interested." Zero replied. "I'm only here to blow off steam after work."
"Squids just don't become X ranked by blowing of steam after work. Those are the ones who meander down in the A ranks, thinking that it's a grind to get this high." the inkling said. "My name is Xavier, and I want to make an unbeatable completely X ranked squad. You will be our fourth member."
Zero let off a small laugh. "You don't know how to take no for an answer Xavier." Zero sighed.
"I can see that you're different than other squids. And I want you on my squad before someone else gets you on theirs. What do we have to do for that? Do you want money? Anything?"
Zero just sighed. "I don't need money. Or anything. I just can't fully commit. My job can see me traveling away for long periods of time."
"That's fine." Xavier said. "We can work around you, if necessary."
Zero just nodded. "Can I think about it?"
"Of course!" Xavier shouted rather excited.
"What's your number?"
They exchanged numbers. "Listen, our goal is to be a squad that has reached X rank in every single ranked mode." Xavier said. "We'll be trying to rank up in the other ranks as well."
Zero just nodded. "Right."
At the time Zero intended to never call him back. They had even let their X rank lapse after spending a month or two away from Inkopolis. But upon seeing a group that was boasting all of the members were fully X ranked, they wondered how Xavier and his squad was doing.
Curiosity got the better of them, and they called.
"Hello?" Xavier answered.
"It's me, Zero." they replied.
"Did you call to join our squad? Are you interested?" Xavier said rather excited.
Zero just laughed. "Not exactly, I just saw some X ranks, and I decided to call. And check up on you."
"I see..." Xavier said. "Well, we're maintaining our X rank. But it's not easy."
"I've been away for a few months, so my X rank lapsed."
"Would you like to join us for some matches then?" Xavier wondered.
Zero smiled. "I think I'd like to try it out."
They joined several matches, and much to their surprise, they found that they were enjoying themselves and the company of Xavier and his squad.
After several rounds, they found themselves at a lobby. "Hey, Xavier."
"Yeah?"
"I can't promise I'll be able to participate in every match, but I think I can join your squad as a backup, once I rank up again."
"Great!" Xavier said. "Let me introduce you to the squad! This is Lexi, this is Maximilian, and this is Xander!"
"I'm Zero. I'm sorry, my name doesn't have the letter X in it." Zero laughed.
"A minor irrelevant detail that we can easily look past..."
"If you say so."
"It was really more of a coincidence."
Back then, Xavier seemed like a completely different person. He looked like he had fun during turf wars. But now... he seemed cold. Victory was the only thing that mattered. They were unaware of what caused this change, and when they asked, the rest of the squad was rather quiet. But from what they could gather, it seemed like Xander's absence was the catalyist.
"Where's Xander?" Zero had asked.
"Don't talk about that traitor." Xavier snapped.
Zero just looked at him rather shocked, and made a mental note not to ask. They tried to dig in and research Xander, but they were unable to find anything. Regardless of his new cold attitude though, Xavier was able to push on and win.
This was Quad X, a group of inklings that had reached X rank in every single ranked mode. But at the same time, Zero felt something was missing like they were empty. Zero stuck around just out of obligation, and that the battles they were challenged to from other squads made them feel alive.
And now, sitting across from their squad, Zero just sat there in silence. Unsure of what was about to transpire.
Final just floated in the air, looking at the group of inklings that had joined the match.
"You're crazy!" One shouted.
"No, I'm not." Final replied. "I'm just sick of this stupid world, and want to see it burn! I want to see some people suffer!"
"So you're just a sociopath!" Kelp shouted. "Well, we'll beat you!"
"I'd like to see you try! Now then, I will hide somewhere in Inkopolis!" Final said. "You only need to splat me once to win!"
Several chargers were suddenly pointing at him. They fired, however before the ink hit, they were just stopped in the air.
"I haven't even hidden yet." Final laughed. "But nice try."
A twisted smile crossed Final's face. "Now... let's see, I think I should clarify one other thing. For all of you just sitting back on the sidelines, or just watching from home. You're all participating and it's mandatory! It will be the city of Inkopolis against me!"
Final turned to the crate that was holding Alex, Ink, Ika and Levi. "Hurry up and recover, I don't want this to be boring! And I want to personally splat you!"
With that he stepped through a strange shadowy portal that appeared and disappeared.
The ink puppets that he had summoned suddenly began to aggressively ink. The area. They rushed away from the group of inklings that began to open fire.
Alex, Ink, Ika, and Levi were still recovering from the constant onslaught from killer wails. They had luckily been moved down off of the main battle platform of Walleye Warehouse, however they were still able to hear Final's declaration of war.
"The whole city of Inkopolis." Ink muttered.
"That crazy bastard... Can he do something like that?" Ika wondered.
"I don't know..." Alex replied. He looked over, and just noticed ink was beginning to drip off of the main stage onto the floor of the warehouse. From it, inkling puppets were coming up, and immediately they were starting to spread their ink.
Ika held her charger and took aim. Quickly splatting the inkling puppets. However a moment later the spread out ink just reformed, and even more spawned out from the mess.
"Crap... He's basically got an infinite army that's constantly spreading out the ink." Ika muttered.
"When we get our strength back, we need a plan." Levi said.
"Can you do that fire thing again?" Ink asked.
Alex just looked at the pendant. "Sorry, I don't think so." He replied. "Unfortunately, it seems that having powers just having no idea how to use them is a thing with me."
"What was that, anyways?" Ink wondered.
Alex just sighed. "I don't know. It just came from this necklace that kind of suddenly appeared on me."
"Ever see the necklace before?" Ika wondered.
"Yeah, my cousin has a similar necklace. Though I don't think his ever spontaneously combusted..." Alex replied. He inspected the pendant and it seemed duller than it was previously. He just tried to put a bit of aura into it, it briefly let off a small glow however a moment later it once again returned to a rather dull color. "Just great, another thing I don't have the time to figure out."
"Well, it at least helped us out of that bind." Ika replied. "And that's all that matters right now."
"Agreed." Ink said.
"So, do we have any other plans?" Ika wondered. "We're going to need something once we get back in action."
"My main solution has to just normally punch whatever in the face until its no longer an issue." Alex sighed.
"That sounds like a great solution." Ink laughed.
"I agree." Levi added on.
"Well it's a great plan for when we find Final, but in the mean time, we have a lot of turf to cover. Any plans for that?" Ika wondered.
"I mean, besides getting to the high ground and looking for him" Alex replied.
"He could be hiding in a parking garage... just hiding out of sight maybe in a trunk of a car." Ika pointed out.
"I mean, he could... But I don't think so." Alex replied. "He seems like the sort that would just stay out in the open and watch the chaos. Taking glee in the panic he created."
"Fair point." Ika replied.
Ty had an N-zap out and was constantly blasting the inkling puppets. Sora was rushing through them, with his ink brush, instantly splatting. However, it seemed that almost instantly they reformed. To make matters worse, for every one they splatted, two more formed.
"If this keeps up, we're going to be overwhelmed!" Ty said, as he was backing up, he bumped into someone. "Sorry!"
"Sorry!" the other inkling apologized at the same time.
Kelp, who was using a Jet Squelcher had quickly thrown out a splash wall to act as a barrier from several approaching inkling puppets. They just mindlessly approached and hit up against it until being splatted. Having taken a second to recover his ink, he quickly covered up the area that their ink had reached. The inkling puppets didn't reform.
"After you splat them, cover what they ink with ink!" Kelp relayed the information.
"Got it!" Emperor said. He wielded Enperry Splat Dualies. "Team Emperor! Prince, Squidkid Jr. , N-Pacer! It's time to do that! Emperor's Road!"
"Right!" The three other inklings dressed in the white jackets said.
Emperor's Road, was an aggressive walk forwards, where all ground was covered, forcing their opponents back to their spawns, and eventually trapping them in that area.
They all just focused forwards at a bunch of the inkling puppets. Squidkid Jr.'s Clash Blaster was able to quickly splat them, and N-Pacer's Splatterscope, quickly covered the ink that they left behind. They progressed forwards while Prince and Emperor made sure to cover any ground that they missed.
Unfortunately for Emperor, their tactic of Emperor's Road only worked in normal turf wars against teams of four. Against an army such as this, it was only a matter of seconds before the large number of the inkling puppets would overwhelm them. And as expected, they were quickly surrounded.
"What the?!" Emperor said rather shocked.
"The Emperor's Road doesn't work against this mob..." N-Pacer said. "Let's retreat!"
"Right!"
Emperor and Prince, both took to the skies with Inkjets. They quickly cleared a path for both N-Pacer and Squidkid Jr. to rush back to the group. However there was one flaw with their plan. When the inkjet finished they would be returned back to where they started their special, which currently had several of the ink puppets just waiting for them to return.
Realizing this Sora just a held his inkbrush in front of him and shouted. "Blizzard!"
A chunk of ice just shot out towards the congregating inkling puppets. It hit, and suddenly exploded, encasing them in ice.
As Emperor's and Prince's specials ran out, they returned to where they started, and quickly retreated but fore the inkling puppets broke out of their ice prisons.
Emperor was just looking at Sora. A bit intimidated, and not sure how he should react, Sora just panicked. "Why are you using those weapons?" Sora asked.
"We were using tournament legal weapons for the tournament." Emperor replied. "But when this mess started, we quickly switched to what we were used to. Besides, what is the secret of your weapon?"
Sora just tensed up. "Nothing," he replied. "I promise I don't use it in actual turf wars."
"You're inkbrush does look rather unique..." Emperor said.
Sora's inkbrush looked more like a giant toothbrush, the bristles were all on one side. Attached to the end of it was a squid charm. "This isn't the time for this!" Ty said, jumping between them. "We can talk after we deal with this threat!"
Emperor smiled. "I look forwards to that talk..." he replied before beginning to attack some approaching inkling puppets.
Kelp saw a large group and quickly pulled out what appeared to be a missile. A moment later it launched into the air. Several seconds later what appeared to be a tornado of ink hit down, consuming, splatting and covering the whole area with ink.
When it cleared, and none were left standing, or respawning from that spot, Kelp just had a large smile across his face. "Inkstrikes seem to do a lot of damage!" He shouted.
"It's not like we can constantly launch them all off though!" Ace pointed out.
"Leave that to me, and my squad." An inkling wearing a leather jacket said. He was known as Rider was wielding a Gold Dynamo Roller. "Just give the signal and we'll annihilate them!"
"All right! Though, it might be better if you use your own judgment!"
Despite the group's best efforts of culling the inkling puppets on the stage, many were falling down off of the stage and onto the floor below. Alex and Ika had been keeping an eye on the battle, and while they were able to do somethings to reduce the number of inkling puppets, the harsh reality of the situation was, five minutes had passed since Final's countdown had started. The allied group of inklings were restricted to that arena, meanwhile the inkling puppets had fallen down into the main part of the warehouse and begun to spread out into Inkopolis.
Ink was forcing himself up. His legs were still shaking, but at this point in time he had enough of lying around uselessly.
Ika, not one to be shown up by her brother also began to try and stand up. However they both were brought down by the sudden shaking of the suspended crate they were on.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Alex protested. They all just froze and hung on for dear life.
Eventually, the swinging subsided. "Don't forget we're up here with you." Levi said. "And if we all fall down, I'm guessing we're going to be pretty defenseless against those things."
"But we have to get back to the battle..." Ink protested.
Levi just glared at him. "I think you of all squids should know the importance of holding off and waiting!" He snapped. "After all, isn't that part of the reason why you can't use Rollers anymore?!"
Alex just looked between them, a bit confused. "You're right." Ink sighed.
"We need to recover, and to do that, we need to rest." Levi reassured him. "Otherwise, we'll just be severely injured."
"You're right." Ink repeated.
"Unfortunately, I don't think we'll have a chance for that." Ika said.
She was pointing down below. It seems that their shaking, and shouting had gotten the inkling puppet's attention. And now, a crowd of inkling puppets were reaching for the crate, piling on top of each other, and getting higher and higher.
"Crap..." Ink muttered. "Are you all okay to move?"
"I think so." Alex replied.
Ika and Levi nodded.
"Okay, then let's join the battle!" Ink said.
"We just can't push ourselves too hard. Don't do anything fancy, just shoot and defend yourselves until you can." Levi ordered.
Alex nodded. He looked at the ropes suspending the crate they were on. "Oh I hope whatever is in this crate is insured." He muttered. "On my signal, start shaking this, let's try and make it like a wrecking ball."
"That's crazy!" Ika shouted. "I like it!"
"Got it!" Levi laughed.
"I thought you just said not to do anything too crazy!" Ink protested.
"Yeah, but if we use this we can smash right through the barricade of those things."
"And what about our sudden stop?" Ink questioned. "We'll just be splatted against the wall due to the high speed and then recovering again!"
"We'll be fine!" Alex replied. "Trust me!"
"Fine, fine, I'll trust you!" Ink said.
They began to rock the crate, the tower of inkling puppets seemed to reach towards them as they got closer and closer. Suddenly the crane itself began to move. Alex just looked around until he saw the jellyfish in the control room. It seemed to get what they were doing and was assisting with lining up the crane. After a few seconds it just gave what Alex assumed was a thumbs up.
They began to swing, reaching higher and higher. So much that they were beginning to feel the crane jolt a bit with each time it crested.
The giant tower of inkling puppets tried to reach for them. Occasionally, it would hit one or two with a bit of force, sending them flying away rather violently.
"Any second now please!" Ink shouted.
"Wait for it..." Alex muttered. He grabbed the rope and just focused. Mentally trying to calculate the desired angle that they needed for the crate to go into the thickest part of the inkling puppet tower, and slow them down enough so that they didn't meet an untimely end.
"Now!" Alex shouted. He sent a surge of aura to cut through the ropes, and they were sent flying into the inkling puppets, smashing right through the tower.
The inkling puppets didn't act as a cushion as well as Alex thought. The crate that they were on, kept going, hit the ground, and continued to slide, until it crashed into the wall.
When the smoke cleared, all of them crawled out away from the wreckage. Around each of them was a bubble like barrier known as the Bubbler. However even with it, it still hurt, and was unable to cushion all of the impact.
"Okay, note to self, don't do that again." Alex muttered.
He looked up at the path that they had created. The many inkling puppets that had just become roadkill. Unfortunately, almost instantly the inkling puppets began to reform.
"Oh damn it." Alex muttered.
Suddenly several ink strikes rained down upon a large group of inkling puppets, destroying them, and making sure that they didn't reform.
They just looked up at the stage, and jumping down were a bunch of inklings. Kelp just rushed straight to them. "Are you guys okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, mostly." Ink muttered. They struggled to get up.
"We've got the stage cleared up, but it seems that they were sneaky and made their way down here." Kelp explained.
"They already made it outside." Ika said.
"That's not good." Kelp muttered. "Listen, to beat them, you have to ink the ink that they spread after they're splatted, otherwise they'll reform."
"Got it." Levi cried out on pain. "Not that we'll be much use right now..."
Sora just rushed over and looked at the four inklings. He looked around rather nervously and just held his inkbrush in front of him before lifting it into the air above his head. "Heal!" He said.
Suddenly around them were several translucent leaves and flower petals. They all just felt much better.
"Thanks, squid, I don't know how you did that, but I'm not complaining." Alex said getting up.
Sora just looked rather dumbfounded. "Aren't you going to-"
"This isn't the time or place." Alex replied. "We need to stop Final! If you're up for talking we can discuss it later."
Sora nodded. "Right." He managed to say.
Many of the inklings had jumped down from the arena, and now were dealing with the rest of the inkling puppets in the warehouse.
Ty just rushed over to the recovering group.
"We need to start chasing him now." Alex began.
"You do that." Kelp said. "I'll lead the group here after we clean up all of these things
Alex nodded. "Right."
"Sora and I will go with you!" Ty said.
"All right!" Alex replied.
The six of them just began to rush out of Walleye Warehouse to Inkopolis. Only 50 minutes remained to find Final.
Five minutes ago, when the inkling puppets began to escape from Walleye Warehouse, they wasted no time in spreading their chaos. From the ink that they spread, more and more came out. Even if they were in the abandoned warehouse district of Inkopolis, that five minutes until anyone else came out of walleye warehouse was more than enough time to spread fairly deep into Inkopolis, and reach the more populated areas.
All ready Inklings were fighting back against the strange assailants. Those who didn't have turf war weapons on them just began to flee, looking for anywhere that could be a shelter.
And above it all, looking down at the chaos he created, was none other than Final.
He just stood on the top of a tower, looking down at Inkopolis. "Soon, this entire world will be destroyed, and you'll have your fair share of spirits to consume."
"I can hardly wait." A cold voice said. Appearing beside Final was a strange eye. "All these spirits to devour, peppered and seasoned with fear… you did well 'Final'."
"Thank you."
"That's such a strange thing you want to be called though..." The voice said.
Final just laughed. "I just want this trash to know that their end is inevitable. That I will be the last thing that they see. Now let us enjoy the show for the hour, and watch as they try and fight back against this world ending... Now, let us enjoy this slaughter Dharkon."
"Yes, let's."
Realizing that the mob of inkling puppets on the streets were just an endless blockade, Alex, Ty, Sora, Ink, Ika, and Levi, super jumped up onto the roofs.
For the time being, it seemed like the inkling puppets had yet to discover that ability and were unable to follow. They didn't dwell on it, and just hoped for the best.
"How are we going to find Final?" Ink asked.
"I don't know." Alex replied.
"Don't you have some ability to sense Squids?" Ika wondered.
"I do, but I think he took that into consideration as well when he chose his hiding spot." Alex replied. "I think he's out in the open..."
"And how would you be unable to sense him in that case?" Levi questioned.
"I sense aura." Alex replied. "It's like a life force, everyone or anything that is alive, can emit it. However he oddly can't. He's just a void for some strange reason. He's just like a building, he's there, but I can't sense him. He only stands out in a crowd."
"So that's why you think he's up in the air." Ika said.
"Yes!" Alex replied. "That should be the only thing that makes sense. The top of a building, away from anything else that could give off aura."
They all just nodded.
"So, if they plan for you, it's pointless." Ink said. "But what about inside a building?"
"His lack of aura would still stand out." Alex replied. "Buildings have electricity going through them. And that leaves off a faint glow of aura. That would be enough for him to stand out."
"Okay, so how do we find him..." Ty wondered.
Ika just looked around at all of the tall buildings she could see. Eventually, she saw one with a long tip that reached into the sky, that would easily be the highest point of Inkopolis. "There!" Ika said pointing towards it. "I don't think his ego would allow for anything else! It's the highest point, and he'd be able to observe and watch all the chaos unfold."
Alex just nodded. "Right! Let's try there!"
They began jumping from rooftop to rooftop, trying to approach. However approaching them, were several inklings dressed in suits. It wasn't long until they were intercepted and quickly surrounded by a group of about 8. "We're going to have to stop you." One said. "Final's orders."
Alex just glared at them. "I suggest you let us through." He said.
"Hah! What are a bunch of you inklings going to do?" One laughed.
Alex just gave them the finger.
"Oh, I'm surprised these things know what that means."
"You dumb asses, I'm Nugai's cousin. And a member of the Smashers." Alex replied. "Come at me!" He just glanced at the other inklings. "Leave them to me, I need to blow off a lot of steam."
The 8 zenith members just grabbed some concealed weapons and rushed in.
Zero was continuing to sit at the cafe with their squad. During a few minutes ago a message appeared on their phone.
Attention all Zenith members currently here in Inkopolis, you are hereby ordered to evacuate this world, it will be destroyed in an hour. The creatures I've unleashed will not discriminate. This is your first and only warning.
They were just rather shocked. "What's going on?"
"Hey, Zero, you okay?" Max asked. "You keep glancing at your phone."
"Not really." Zero replied. "It's about the tournament..."
"Yeah... you know, if this was a prank, you'd think that they'd announce it was over or something." Lexi said.
"Yeah this weird..." Xavier said. "I'm not liking this..."
Perhaps it was just luck, but at that exact moment several inklings began to run past, screaming in terror. They were being pursued by numerous inkling puppets.
"What the?!" Max said rather surprised.
They just quickly equipped their weapons, and began to attack the crowd of puppets.
"What the hell?!" Xavier said. "What's going on?!"
Zero just quickly began to attack the inkling puppets. "It looks like Final wasn't bluffing!"
Zero just looked over at their squad, and at the large amount of inkling puppets that were approaching. They just rushed forwards into the crowd and a moment later the inkling puppets were sent flying. They seemed to just dissolve in the air, unable to reform.
"Just who is Final? No one should have enough clearance in Zenith to dance around protocol and do this!" Zero muttered.
"What did you just do?" Xavier asked.
"That's not important!" Zero said. "Right now, we need to lead the evacuation! I'll hold them off!"
"Can you?"
"It's fine, trust me!" Zero replied. Several inkling puppets began to step on where the others used to be. The ink that was now there just caused an immediate violent reaction when they stepped on it, causing the inkling puppets to explode, and form more of this strange ink, causing the reaction to happen again spreading it further and further away.
"Right!" Xavier said.
The other three members of Zero's squad just ran away to lead the evacuation. Zero just breathed a sigh of relief, rather glad that Xavier hadn't seen what they did. Currently being obscured by their body and heavy armor was a giant axe that they had summoned out of nowhere.
"I guess it's a good thing Final is just amateur hour." Zero sighed. During the split second that they had lunged into the crowd of ink puppets, Zero had edited the source code for a single one to create the ink that would destroy all of these ink puppets.
Unfortunately the new ink was extremely volatile. The initial puddles were already disappearing. And they imagined it would only be a matter of time before the inkling puppets would be able to rampage freely again.
"Final... I guess I need to figure out who you are myself!" Zero said.
Alex was just standing over 8 defeated inklings, just currently stretching after his fight. Levi, Ink, Ika, Ty and Sora were just looking in shock.
"He fight's so dirty!" Ink said.
"Ah, that felt so good!" Alex said, letting off a sigh of relief. "Sorry about that, I really needed to get rid of some pent up frustration. And these guys just volunteered to stand there and take my beatings."
"Right..." Everyone replied.
"Anyways, the path to Final is now clear! Let's go!" He super jumped to the next building. Ink and Ika followed.
Ty and Sora however held back. "He is our ally, right?" Ty questioned.
"He doesn't exactly seem to be pressing the issue..." Sora replied. "Especially after I used magic..."
"I don't know your exact circumstances." Levi suddenly chimed in. The two of them jumped up rather surprised, not noticing that he hadn't gone with the rest of his squad. "It might just be the situation, and he's only got his eyes on beating the crap out of Final, but, if you're wondering if you can trust him from my week of knowing him, I consider him trustworthy."
"I hope so." Ty replied, before super jumping to the next building.
Inside Walleye Warehouse, they had finished taking out the last of the inkling puppets.
15 minutes of intense, continuous, physical activity had taken it's toll. Normal turf wars were 3 minutes long to avoid situations like this, and allow for the inklings to make sure that they had a few minutes to rest between.
Kelp just fell down, face forwards, gasping for air. Many other inklings had done the same thing, or they were resting against the wall. Some even disconnected their tanks to get some extra weight off of them.
If any inkling puppets had survived, it would probably have been extremely easy to take out the exhausted inklings.
"Everyone, take a five minute break!" Kelp managed to say. "Then we'll go out and continue."
Up on the stage of Walleye Warehouse, Callie, Marrie, Cap'n Cuttlefish, Pearl and Marina were sitting up there, keeping an eye out while everyone rested.
"This tournament has gotten pretty crazy, hasn't it Rina?" Pearl laughed.
"Yeah..." Marina replied. "I'm just hoping this is the end of it..."
"Agreed." Callie said. "But something is telling me it's not..."
"It might be time we bring in the big guns." Marie said. "Isn't that right, MC Princess?"
Pearl just looked at Marie rather shocked. "You knew?"
"Yeah." Callie said. "Gramps let it slip, think you can get us those helicopters?"
"Of course! But they're going to need to clean a spot for them to land and extract us!" Pearl said.
"Got it!" Marie replied. "We can explain the plan to them while you get that arranged."
Up above, Final was growing frustrated. "What's going on?!" He sneered. "Why do they resist!"
"How amusing, they haven't lost hope yet." Dharkon laughed. "They're even fighting back..."
"This shouldn't be happening..." Final muttered.
He just looked down and saw a group of inklings rushing right towards them. "This person, he's definitely a threat that has to be eliminated no matter what!"
He just froze and looked at the other inklings approaching with him. "And then there's him..."
"I've never sensed so much hate from you..." Dharkon said. "Who is that person to elicit such an emotion?"
"Hopefully soon, nobody. Just another mark across the ground." Final replied.
As they approached the building, they had to stop. They could clearly see Final waiting for them, and glaring down at them, however surrounding him was a barrier that expanded a good 200 feet around him.
Alex just placed his hand on the barrier and sighed. "I should have expected this. He didn't plan on letting anyone find him."
"Yeah, that much was obvious." Ika muttered. "The cheating bastard was just going to continue making things worse."
Alex just quickly attacked the barrier, however he didn't even cause it to flicker.
"Struggle, and despair!" Final laughed. "This is the end! How long will it take for you to scratch against the barrier until you give up!"
Alex just began to throw several attacks at the barrier. However each was rather ineffective. At most it would cause a small spark from the friction. Even just punching the barrier he was getting rather exhausted and had to pause to breath.
Off in the distance they heard a loud deafening roar. Alex just instinctively turned to look at the source of the sound.
A large giant catfish like creature was just flying in the sky towards them. It had two long curly whiskers, and it seemed like there was suddenly electricity in the air. "What is that?" Alex asked.
"It's the Great Zapfish!" Levi replied. "It powers the entirety of Inkopolis, and is kind of a guardian Deity of our fair city!"
The Great Zapfish just began to bash itself against the barrier, and discharge electricity. It just let out a roar.
Final just looked at the Great Zapfish rather annoyed. "You're such a nuisance." He muttered. "Just die with everyone else!" He raised his hand and suddenly sent a beam of energy right for The Great Zapfish.
Alex was unable to move and cover the large amount of distance to block the attack. However The Great Zapfish was discharging electricity which acted as a shield against Final's attack.
Final just looked rather shocked that his attack have been blocked.
"The Great Zapfish provides electricity for all of Inkopolis. And has for a hundred years!" Levi shouted. "Don't take it lightly!"
"It's no threat to me." Final laughed. "I just have to wait out the clock, don't I? And then this whole world will be nothing more... and the spirits will be all there for you to consume."
The floating eye however was fixated on Alex, Ink, Ika, Levi, Ty, and Sora. "Are you sure about that?"
"Positive. I've used a spirit to augment this barrier and make it perfect, nothing can break through it..."
The floating eye just looked over Final. "It might hold up, but you won't... Your body is reaching its human limit... You must be exhausted constantly projecting this out..."
"What are you waiting for then? Supply me with more power!" Final ordered
"You might destroy your body like this. And if you survive, your recovery time might be too great..."
"Shut up! None of that will matter if we get rid of them!" Final snapped.
"So be it... But don't say I didn't warn you!"
Alex punched the barrier once again, however nothing happened. He just stood there rather frustrated. Whatever they tried to do, nothing would work, any ink they sprayed on it would just drip off. Nothing would pierce through the barrier. It was just a perfectly protective glass ball.
Even as Ink and Levi had lugged out a killer wail from somewhere, it couldn't even crack through the barrier.
They turned to see The Great Zapfish tackling the barrier but it didn't seem to do much.
Final however began to suddenly scream in pain. Everyone just looked up to see him clutching his head. Wherever there was skin that was visible, there were now thick black lines that could be seen crawling up it, and around him was a thick dark aura.
The Great Zapfish tackled the shield once again. This time it actually began to flicker with the impact.
"He can't concentrate!" Alex shouted. "Now!" He attacked the shield once again, punching and kicking it, with each impact it was now shaking.
Ink and Levi fired up the killer wail once again. It hit, and now was causing intense ripples all over the barrier.
"Don't give him the chance to stabilize it!" Alex shouted. "This is our chance to break through!" He placed his hands on the barrier and just tried to force aura through it to create a rift. Slowly cracks were beginning to appear.
Several seconds later the barrier completely shattered, just leaving Final floating in the air. He looked down at the group of inklings rather frustrated.
"It's over, Final." Alex said.
"Over? It's over?" Final laughed. "Who's the one to decide that? I'll tell you, me! That's who!"
"We found you, and finished this game of hide and seek." Ika shouted, having her charger aimed right at him. "Admit defeat."
"Never." Final replied. "This isn't over, it hasn't even begun! You fools are all going to die here! I was going to obliterate this entire world, and there's nothing you can do about it!"
"Why?!" Ty shouted.
Final just glared down at him. "Because I can! I have the power to do so! That's why! Do I need another reason to do what I want?"
"You're going to kill billions of inklings!" Ty protested.
"And why should I care? They're just data! I could just press a single button and it would have the same effect!" He said. "It's a mercy that I'm giving them hope."
"Mercy?!" Alex shouted. "It's clear as day that you have no intention of following through! You're just going to destroy this world!"
"Exactly. Their despair will make it so much tastier..."
"Let's just end this right now." Levi sighed.
Alex just nodded
They fired their killer wails, but even though they hit Final, nothing happened. When the attack ended, he just continued to float there. Ika rushed to get closer and have him within range. She aimed up, and shot. However, as soon as the ink from her charger hit the barrier, it just vanished, even though it should have continued for a bit longer.
The Great Zapfish let out a large amount of electricity at Final, however it also didn't seem to hit him.
She fired several more times, observing what had happened. As far as she could tell, the aura that was visibly around him was also protecting him.
"Looks like he has another barrier!" Ika shouted out.
"Great, how are we reaching him up there?" Ink wondered.
"Just leave that to me!" Alex replied. He just super jumped up into the air, and was soon face to face with Final. He just pulled back his fist and threw a punch directly at his face.
But as soon as he hit the aura, it felt like he was punching through a strange mist. Space itself seemed to bend, and his arm couldn't reach Final, even though it looked like they were less than a foot apart.
As gravity took over, and Alex fell down, he just quickly recovered and looked at Final, and then at his fist rather confused.
"What's wrong?" Ty asked, having caught up.
"I'm not quite sure... what did it look like from down here?" Alex asked.
"Like your arm just completely disappeared when it touched that black aura." Sora replied.
Alex just nodded. "It was as though there was still a large amount of distance was between us. I threw my punch, but I only really felt air..."
Final just continued to float there, with a rather cocky grin across his face. "Look at how pathetic you all are, you can't even reach me..." He laughed.
Alex just glared, he focused his aura into his feet. Suddenly he felt several hands just slapping his back.
"You can do it!" Ink said.
"Yeah! That's right!" Ty said.
Ika just pumped her fist up into the air, and Levi let out a hearty "Booyah!"
Alex was unsure why but with their cheers, he was suddenly feeling energized.
He just looked at Final, and the darkness that surrounded him.
"I don't know how, but this will pierce through you! This will end it!"
"How?!" Final shouted. "How you cheating bastard!?"
"I don't want to hear that accusation from you!" Alex shouted. He cracked his knuckles and launched himself right for Final.
Instantly, his fist cut through the dark aura around Final. His fist collided directly with Finals face and a large crack was heard through the sky of Inkopolis, followed by a shock wave.
Alex just felt like he was being pulled into Final some way as though their thoughts were merging.
Suddenly, Alex was pushed away. He just landed safely on a building, and looked a bit dazed. For a brief moment he was able to see some dark creature with a single eye, and long dark tentacles just looking at him.
"You're far too dangerous!" Final shouted. "You can't be left alive! I'll make sure you'll never be able to bother Zenith again!"
Final shot an energy blast right towards Alex. However, a figure rushed in front of the attack, and blocked it. Alex just looked up at the figure in shock. "What?!"
"You?! This is an act of treason!"
Zero was floating there, their armor was chipping away, and falling off from the attack. As the helmet fell off, it revealed two long hair tentacles. Zero looked back at Alex.
"Wait, you're a girl?!" Alex said rather shocked.
"Forget about that right now!" Zero shouted. "You have other things you need to worry about! Like finishing him off!"
Final was just glaring at Zero. "Why do you care about him? You traitor!"
"I don't!" Final replied. "But I can't stand for your treatment and trying to destroy this world!"
"Well, who cares what you think!" Final snapped. "I can't wait to see your mangled corpse!" Dark energy just began to radiate off of Final once again. Strange red and black veins were appearing and crawling up his revealed skin, up his neck and across his face. Across his arms, and down his legs. He just raised his hand up into the air and floated out of reach.
"What now?!" Alex shouted.
"I think we're about to find out." Ink muttered.
"You need to be finished off, no matter what!" Final shouted.
On the ground the ink puppets just froze. They looked up at the sky, and then immediately the ink that they had placed began to disappear as though it was being drawn into the nearest ink puppet. After they had drawn in all of the ink that they could, they themselves just began to dry out and crack. A moment later all that was left was a small red orb that just floated up into the sky where Final was waiting.
"What the?!" Kelp said.
"Is it over, did we win?" Ace questioned.
"I don't think so." Another inkling said.
"This doesn't feel right." Tako muttered. "Like a calm before the storm..."
Kelp just nodded.
Alex, Ink, Ika, Levi, Ty, Sora and Zero could only watch as more and more red spheres of energy rushed towards Final. He lifted his hand up into the air, and suddenly a large ball of ink just appeared. It was black and red, and to Alex it seemed like he was just staring into a giant abyss.
"What the?!" Ika muttered. "It's like a giant, evil booyah bomb!"
"We can't let that hit Inkopolis!" Zero said.
"Right... but what can we do? How can we counter something like that?" Ink asked.
"I don't know." Zero replied.
"You can't!" Final replied. "You just have to struggle, and watch as everything is destroyed!" he let off a chuckle. "Oh you tried so hard, but it was pointless. It always was!"
"Was this the plan the whole time?!" Alex wondered.
"Yes!" Final replied. "Watch you struggle, grow more and more desperate, and even if you won, end every miserable life here on this planet!"
"And why would you do that?!" Alex snapped.
"How many times must I repeat myself?" Final sighed. "Because, that idiot who calls himself the boss of Zenith only sees Nugai as a threat! You, you're just some kid! The Smashers, pawns that can be taken out at any moment. He doesn't see you for the threat you are! So I'll do that, I'll make sure you're gone! And then, and then... then finally Zenith will win! We'll be able to achieve the world we want!"
"And what sort of world is that?" Alex asked.
"Oh, so for all you've talked you haven't explained that?" Final laughed looking at Zero. "Imagine a world where all diseases had cures! Where there was no war! Zenith wants to make a utopia!"
"And you're going to get that through the destruction of this world?" Alex questioned.
"Isn't blood occasionally spilled for the greater good? What is one world when compared to trillions?" Final wondered.
"This world was perfectly fine before you got here!" Zero shouted. "What gives you the right to decide this?!"
"I don't expect a traitor such as yourself to understand." Final sighed. "But those who fight against our ideal world... you will be stopped."
"Is this what Zenith truly does?" Zero wondered. "Just annihilating innocent worlds such as this?"
"There is no innocence here." Final replied. "After all, it's housing him and a Smasher. For the greater good, it will be destroyed."
"There's nothing good about this." Zero replied. "A world that sacrifices the lives of billions, just for their sake? There's nothing good about it!"
"You're a fool! All civilizations have blood on their hands!" Final replied. "It is the way forwards!"
"I can't accept that! I won't!" Zero shouted.
"Then your brother died for nothing!"
"How cruel the world is... Your father and brother didn't have to die." A voice said. "Your father was murdered by a man named Andrew. As for your brother, I guess he was murdered by Andrew as well. He fights to stop us from creating a cure to diseases such as that. He's rather cruel, and wants to see others suffer. Join me and we can stop diseases such as this from killing others."
Zero just looked up at Final shocked. "What did you say?!" She snapped.
"Oh? Didn't hear me!? I told you he died for nothing!" Final replied.
"And what do you know about his death?!" Zero growled. She had summoned her giant axe and just readied it.
"He chose to die, so that idiot you're now defending would live!" Final replied.
"What?!" Alex said rather shocked.
"But he was long dead before then anyways." Final said. "He died and your father cut a deal with Zenith. We had cloning technology, and could create a replica. Zenith wanted his mind to work for them. We created a little replacement goldfish for him. But you see, the thing about clones is that they have a very short shelf life. Back then, it amounted to about a year or two before they suffered rapid cell degradation and they kicked the bucket... That's when he met that idiot in the hospital."
"What?" Alex repeated. He had no recollection of meeting anyone in the hospital.
"They were both going to die." Final said. "However, it seems Nugai wanted to save his stupid cousin's life. But it required another life... He just took his room mate's instead. That person you now defend, he might as well just be the corpse of your brother!"
Alex just looked at Zero who was glaring at him.
"How cruel. Nugai killed her father, and killed her brother, all so his cousin could live." Final laughed. "He just wants to see you suffer."
Zero just gripped onto her axe tightly and approached Alex. She was looking at him rather intently. "Give him back."
"What?!"
"Give him back!" She repeated, more desperate. "Give me back my brother!" she swung the axe right for Alex who had to jump aside.
"Hey this really isn't the time for this!" Ink shouted staring at the giant, ominous ball that hung over inkopolis.
However she didn't hear him. Zero just charged right for Alex, however in trying to back up and dodge, Alex tripped and fell backwards. Ika, Levi and Ink just all lunged for Zero and held her back. "Let go of me!" She shouted, rather crazed.
"Listen to yourself!" Ika shouted. "Are you actually going to believe anything that guy says!"
But their cries were falling on deaf ears. Final just sat back and enjoyed his view as Zero got more and more frustrated, and struggling with swinging her axe down and ending Alex's life.
"Let go of me!" She shouted once again. "Let go of me so I can get my brother back!"
"No!" All three of them shouted struggling to hold her back. A surge of energy just knocked them all away and she approached closer and closer to Alex.
"Do you really think Asher would want this?!" Alex shouted. "Killing me in cold blood? Besides it's not going to bring him back!"
Zero seemed to pause and stop her approach.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any memories of that time." Alex said. "I don't know why, but, I don't even remember him or if he really was my roommate at the hospital or what... But I'm sure he wouldn't want this!"
She regained her senses. She just looked down at Alex and her axe disappeared. "You're right." Zero sighed. "I'm sorry."
Final just looked rather disappointed. "Oh? You didn't kill him. I might of spared this world if you did..."
"Oh come on! We all know that's a lie!" Alex said.
"True, I want to see this world burn!" Final laughed. "Now then... I grow tired of this." He laughed as he stretched up his arm. "Now say goodbye to Inkopolis!"
The giant ink ball began to slowly move downwards.
They could only just stare at the giant ball of ink. They could feel the force that it was letting out.
"What can we do to beat it?" Levi asked.
"If we could only repel it someway..." Zero muttered.
"Wait, that's it! Do a booyah bomb to counter it!" Ink suggested.
Alex just nodded. "Right, okay." He lifted his hand up into the air and suddenly began to gather energy.
"Booyah!" Ink, Levi, and Ika shouted back. Suddenly it swelled. But Alex knew it wasn't enough. It would just be consumed by the much bigger ball of ink.
"It's like a spirit bomb." Alex muttered. "All right! 7People of Inkopolis, lend me your power!" He shouted. However nothing happened. "If only there was someway to broadcast my voice to the whole city..."
"Did somebody say they needed a broadcast?!" A voice suddenly shouted, over what sounded like a speaker. Right beside them was a helicpoter that was currently housing Callie, Marie, Pearl, and Marina. "Although no offense, I don't think you've got the right voice for it."
Alex just immediately tensed up, noticing that there were some cameras on him.
"All right, it looks like the match is still going!" Pearl shouted. "But it seems that Final has done yet another dirty trick... We're going to need some booyahs to fight back! So what do you say to that Inkopolis?!"
Almost instantly, there was just a deafening roar of Booyahs coming from every corner of Inkopolis. Feeling the power of the all of the inkling's booyahs coming into him, Alex felt a surge of power. His hair began to spark and stand on end.
Despite that power though, Alex could tell that it wasn't enough to destroy the ink ball. It would only be consumed by what appeared to be an infinite darkness.
"What are you waiting for?! Throw it!" Ty shouted.
"It's not enough!" Alex replied.
"You heard him Inkopolis! Keep those Booyahs coming!" Pearl shouted.
More and more came, and Alex just felt the large surge of power. And through all of that, he could feel everyone's hopes, their dreams.
Feeling content that the booyah's he had gained were enough, Alex just threw the booyah bomb he amassed, it hit the giant glob of ink and began to force itself inside. A few seconds later it was completely consumed.
Ty just looked horrified. "No way..." He muttered, just falling to his knees rather defeated. "It's over..."
"It's not over, not yet..." Alex replied. "It can't be..."
"But it is." Final replied, his voice booming throughout the sky. "You pathetic inklings can't do anything... All that's left is to just accept that your death will be soon... You won't be able to stop my attack at all... Make peace with your fate..."
Alex just glared at the giant ball of ink. "No." He replied. "I'm not going to stop fighting! I'm going to stop you and Zenith!"
"Then perish."
The giant ink glob began to move faster towards Inkopolis. Ink, and Levi qucikly fired up their killer wails once again to hit the ball. And much to everyone's shock, it began to slow it down.
"That's it!" Zero shouted.
"I've only got 10 seconds before this overheats and shuts down!" Ink shouted.
Zero just rushed over and looked at it. "That's not good... if we had a heat sync or something to cool it and keep it continuous... Leave that to me!" She said.
"No, leave it to me!" Sora said. Suddenly they were encased in ice. For the most part, it did the trick, the two killer wails were cooling down and not overheating.
But it was only going to be temporary. However suddenly rushing past them from the streets of Inkopolis were more killer wails. They began to hit the giant ball of ink, and now began to at least hold it at a standstill.
"We can't keep this up forever." Ink said.
"We have to finish Final off then." Alex replied.
"But can you do that while defending Inkopolis?" Final wondered.
From ball of ink, globs of ink began to fall. When it hit the ground, they began to form into inklings with a purple aura around them and glowing purple eyes.
Alex just looked on in horror, as several of these inklings began to attack onlookers.
"What are you doing!?" Alex shouted. "Leave them out of this!"
"I told you, didn't I?" Final laughed. "That the entire stage was Inkopolis itself! Everyone's involved!"
"This psychopath!" Ink growled.
"If those things break the killer wails down there, his attack will start moving again." Ika muttered. "We can't let that happen!"
"Right!" Zero said. "I'll go down and handle it!"
"By yourself?" Levi wondered.
"Well, it's not like I have much of a choice!" Zero replied. "Everyone else is busy."
"I can go!" Ty said.
Zero however just looked at him rather coldly. "I'm sorry to say this, but I don't trust you."
"Hey, wait, why?!" Sora shouted.
"His face." Zero replied. "He has the same face as Final."
"What?!"
"When we met..." Ty muttered. "It was like I was looking into a mirror, but I don't know why..."
"He did attack me posing as you..." Alex added on. "But... we don't have time for this."
"Right!" Zero said. "We'll worry about it later, if there is a connection to you and Final. But right now, we have other things to worry about." She just ran and jumped off of the building to the streets below.
Alex just looked at the ball of ink. "Final is probably behind it." He said. "But I don't know how we're going to get past it." He glanced over at the helicopter.
"Don't look at us!" Pearl said. "Unfortunately, this is only a rental! And I'm not into paying to have it replaced."
"Not to mention, the helicopter won't be able to maneuver around it in a satisfactory way." Marina pointed out. "Plus Pearlie here was going to help out with the killer wail barrage."
"I'm done warming up, and ready to go whenever!" She laughed.
"Still I have no idea how we're supposed to get up there..." Alex sighed.
The Great Zapfish just began flying around, it stopped right in front of Alex. "It looks like it want's you to get on." Ika said.
"Right." Alex said.
"I'm coming too." Ty said rushing up. "Is that okay? You trust me, right?" He questioned. Alex just looked him over, in a way he seemed like he was on the verge of tears.
Alex just smiled. "With my life." He said extending his hand.
Ty just looked rather shocked and shook it.
"You're going to need some help in the air." Ika said. "I can defend you, and make sure nothing gets too close to the Great Zapfish."
"If anything manages to get on, I'll help protect you." Sora said.
"All right!" Alex shouted. "Let's go!"
The four of them just got on top of the Great Zapfish's head and it took off into the sky, flying towards the giant ink ball.
"You have a plan, any ideas?" Sora wondered.
"Not at all." Alex admitted.
"Well I do." Ty replied. "We're going to use splashdown on that ink ball, and go right through it to punch that guy right in the face."
Alex just cracked a smile. "I like the way you think."
As they got close, several strange flying creatures seemed to emerge from it. Ika was quick to aim her charger and just start firing. As they got closer to the surface of the ink ball, tentacles seemed to come out and reach for them. Sora was quick to just dash across the Great Zapfish and slash away at the tentacles.
"We have to get higher Great Zapfish!" Alex said. "Can you fly above it?!"
The Great Zapfish let out a roar, that seemed to be a confirmation. It just began to pick up speed.
Ty just approached Alex. "Hey, why do you trust me..." He asked.
"You haven't given me any reason not to." Alex replied.
"But Final..."
"Who cares about him." Alex replied. "You're you. He's someone else."
"But, I'm from-"
"Hey hold on!" Alex shouted. The great Zapfish suddenly took a steep dive to avoid several tentacles that were reaching for it. Sora, Ika, Ty and Alex just all dropped down to hold onto the Great Zapfish.
The Great Zapfish followed up it's steep dive with shooting up into the air, letting out another ferocious roar. As they were about to start their ascent up and around it several more ink tentacles shot out, this time acting as a barrier to stop them from climbing higher. It didn't matter how far out from the ink ball they flew, the tentacles would just stretch further and further.
"Damn it! He's not going to let us get up there." Alex muttered.
"If we can't go around, maybe we have to go through it!" Ty said.
Alex just looked over at Ty. "But we can't jump that high, and even if we were launched into it, our momentum won't carry us all the way through. Plus we don't know how thick it is..."
"Your special was the Bubbler, right?" Ty asked.
Alex just nodded. "Yeah..."
"Then I have an idea... But the question is do you trust me?" Ty wondered.
Alex just nodded. "Of course."
"Then, there's a way!" Ty replied. "We're going to use the killer wails to push us through the ink ball!"
"I see.." Alex replied. "Great Zapfish, can you fly us back to the spot with the biggest concentration of Killer Wails?"
The Great Zapfish just let out a quick roar. It turned around and began flying back towards where they had come from.
"The problem is though, how long the barrier will last..." Ty muttered. "If it's only a few seconds we'll be crushed by the ink..."
"We'll be fine." Alex replied.
"Are you sure?" Ty wondered.
"Positive."
Ty just nodded.
Several inkling copies just fell onto the Great Zapfish. Sora was quick to just slash through them with his inkbrush. Ika was also quick to shoot down any approaching aerial ink monsters.
Alex and Ty however were just trying to ready themselves as they approached the large concentration of killer wails. Suddenly, they felt a bit of electricity from the Great Zapfish just rush through them. Alex just looked at his tank and saw a flashing light.
"It looks like the Great Zapfish fully charged up your bubbler." Ty said.
"Right!" Alex said.
"And here, put this on." Ty said, tossing over a glove. Alex just looked at it for a few seconds trying to decipher the meaning of it. "It's a splashdown glove."
"Oh, okay." Alex replied, putting it on.
Ty just cracked his knuckles. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, I think so." Alex replied, gathering energy into his fist.
The two just jumped into the air and then the Great Zapfish flicked them with it's tail sending them flying up into the air towards the giant ink ball.
The two of them just activated their splashdown as they threw their punch allowing them to pierce through the giant ink ball. However, the thick ink suddenly began to halt their momentum. This ink that they had just gotten into had a consistently like molasses.
While the ink that they had surrounded themselves with was acting like a bit of protection, there was no telling how long it would last.
"Why do you bother?" Final's voice began to ring in Alex's head. "What's the point? You're going to lose, you should just accept it..."
Quickly Alex activated the bubbler, using aura to strengthen it. stopping the ink for a few seconds. The two of them just began to gasp for air.
"So you persist." Final's voice rang out. "You struggle despite how futile it is. How long will that barrier last?" All ready it was cracking underneath the intense amount of pressure that the ink was putting on it.
Alex just looked up and shouted. "It will last as long as I need it too!" He stretched out his arms and placed his hands on the barrier and just put more aura into it. "We can't do this alone. We need help, we need everyone to push us through the ink!"
They could suddenly feel vibrations. The ink began to shake, and inside the barrier they were trembling. At the bottom of the barrier they could see the ink being pushed away by numerous non-stop killer wails. Several sting rays were also hitting the barrier, just pushing it forwards, and then a strange beam of light just shot through the barrier and the ink carving a way forwards, sending Alex and Ty rocketing through the ink and through the other side.
They were just sent flying and as the barrier broke the two of them just looked right at Final and pulled back their fists. They passed him in midair and then immediately turned around both of them punching him with everything they got and sending him crashing down onto his giant ink ball.
The two of them just immediately went through the ink, however they had broken the surface and allowed the constant shots of killer wails and stingers to finally break through and hit Final.
Alex and Ty just fell, quickly being caught by the Great Zapfish, and pretty much just instantly collapsing.
Alex just looked up at the giant ink ball, the dark purple color was disappearing being replaced by a radiant golden light before eventually it disappeared for good.
Feeling that the battle was over, all attacks subsided.
"Hey are you alright?!" Sora asked rushing over to Alex and Ty.
"I think so." Alex muttered. "I feel like I could eat so much though."
"Sora, stay on guard!" Ika shouted. She was looking through her scope. "What is that?!"
Floating in front of Final was what appeared to be this strange pink glowing tentacle surrounded by strands of hair. Behind Final was what appeared to be a giant eye.
"You didn't have to protect me." Final said.
"Did you really think that you would have been able to fully defend against that?"
"Yes." Final replied.
"Had I not interfered, you would have died." The eye just focused on Alex. "Now, do you see why he's considered so dangerous?"
"He's nothing." Final replied.
"Nothing wouldn't have been able to repel you, and protect this world. He's dangerous and needs to die now!"
Several more of the tentacles of the creature just suddenly rushed for Alex. However, the tentacles suddenly hit against a barrier of radiant golden light that had surrounded Inkopolis.
The tentacles just immediately retreated back towards the giant eyeball, and Final began to scream out in pain.
"You are a fool, in your effort to destroy this place, you gave them the means to protect against me. All the power I gave you was meaningless... You will be punished. I don't want this failure to happen again!"
"What?!" Final said rather shocked. He just looked rather terrified.
The two of them just disappeared.
Sora just breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on his knees. "Is it over?" He muttered.
"I think so." Ika replied.
The Great Zapfish just began to fly down below, where eventually Alex was carried off of it.
At some point he had blacked out.
Sometime later, Alex woke up. Ink, Ika and Levi were at his side, he just looked around a bit confused.
"Don't rush." Ika said. "Take your time. The tournament has been temporarily halted."
"Is that so." Alex muttered. "Good... I didn't miss anything..."
"Yeah..." Ink sighed. "Well, we'll see if it's been canceled soon enough. Callie and Marie said that they were announcing something within the hour."
But for Alex, that was the furthest thing on his mind right now.
"So, you said you fight things like that all the time?" Ink asked.
Alex just groaned. "Well, that was a new one, and I'm relatively new to all of this, but yeah. That's what the group I'm apart of, the Smashers does."
"Seems pretty crazy." Ink laughed. "That battle was intense! I can't imagine doing that constantly."
Alex just laughed.
There was a knock at the door, and Ty and Sora entered in.
"Hey you alright?" Ty asked.
"I think." Alex laughed. "Just need a bit of rest."
"Have they determined anything yet?" Levi wondered. He had previously just been leaning against the wall, barely saying a word.
"Not really." Ty sighed. "At this point I wouldn't be surprised if it was canceled, considering the majority of the turf war council was arrested."
"Serves them right." Levi said.
"You don't seem that surprised by the news." Sora pointed out.
"With you two seeing the hideout, you might as well know that we were investigating a bunch of them." Levi replied. "The flagrant cheating that they supported too from Final."
"Anyways, what's next?"
"Well, I guess just the waiting game." Ink muttered.
Alex just poked his head up, and began to move so that he was sitting up. "If, the tournament is delayed, I can't participate any more. I need to get back home."
"This was a temporary arrangement, wasn't it." Levi sighed. "Even if we get a bye for the first round of the tournament, we'll be right back where we started. Only 3 people on the team."
"Well, I don't think you have to worry too much about that." A voice said. Walking into the room was Callie. "We managed to pull some strings, let's just say that our schedules are busy and we couldn't reschedule. Plus those cancellation fees in the contract. Well, let's just say in show business we have a saying."
"'The show must go on.' right?" Alex wondered.
"Yeah." Callie replied. "So you guys better recover. To accommodate for the lack of time available, it's only one round right now until the semi-finals and finals tomorrow."
Alex just nodded.
"And well, you only got a bye for this round. So you better rest up." Callie laughed. "Now you two, you've still got a match in this round."
"Right!" Ty said suddenly energized. "Please watch my match, Callie!"
"Of course." Callie smiled.
"Let's go tell our team the good news, Sora!" Ty shouted. He began to run towards the door however stopped. "And Alex, don't get knocked out until we face each other in the semis, okay?"
"Right." Alex replied. "You better stay in as well."
"Right!" Ty replied. With that Ty and Sora walked out of the changing room.
Callie just let off a heavy sigh. "I thought they'd never leave." She said dropping the sweet pop star act. She just sat down and looked at Levi, Ink and Ika rather seriously. "Something is stirring, and I'm not sure what. But I don't know how long those inklings are going to remain behind bars."
"I can't imagine too long." Levi replied. "Anyways, we can worry about that later."
"Yeah." Callie replied. "Good luck you guys."
She just left. And it was just a matter of time before the tournament started up once again.
There were a few teams that dropped out due to injuries sustained during Final's attack, and the rioting beforehand. But for the most part, most understood the reasoning and were rather accepting of the rules change.
Turf Wars raged on, until there were only 4 teams left.
Alex just breathed a sigh of relief after they had made it. There were a few rather close matches. To help him recover, Ink, Ika and Levi would leave him in charge of inking the base and they'd just rush right to the center to do their best to hold it and push the other team back until the last 30 seconds where they would hopefully all meet up and do their final push.
When the day was done, and the turf wars were all finally over, they just made their way back to the apartment. They were about ready to just fall asleep and recharge after all of the excitement from the day as soon as they could.
However as soon as they opened the door...
"Surprise!" Voices shouted out as they entered. Standing inside the room was a group of inklings and octolings.
"Why the hell are you all in my apartment!" Ink shouted. "Tako did you do this?!"
"It was Kelp's idea."
"What?!" Kelp shouted, "don't throw me under the bus like that?!"
"I swear if we get a noise complaint..." Ika grumbled.
"Oh come on, that isn't going to happen!" Kelp laughed. "I got some pizza on your table back there, grab a slice and enjoy!"
Alex just looked rather bewildered at the crowd. He just nodded and made his way in. Cheers erupted at the group.
"Hey, Ink what's the Wifi password?!" Someone shouted.
"We actually have a large group here, maybe we should play Squidbox!"
As Alex grabbed his food he just sat down at a suspiciously empty chair.
"And here's the squid of the hour." A voice said. Alex just looked up at the source of the voice, and saw it was Ty.
"Can I just eat in peace?" Alex wondered.
"Nope." Ty laughed.
"Curses."
"I realized you've only really met Sora, but these are the other two inklings in my squad." Ty laughed. "This is Soda." There was a dark skinned female inkling with pink tentacles, wearing a Tentatek shirt, and a red truckers hat.
"Hey!"
"And this is Berry." There was a blue haired inkling currently wearing some thick sport glasses, and wearing a button up dress shirt with a pattern of jelly fish. He was noticeably a lot paler than some other inklings that Alex had seen.
"Yo!"
"Nice to meet you, Soda, and Berry." Alex said.
"So your the famous Alex." Soda laughed. "Well, we're your opponents tomorrow, so we're not going to go easy on you."
"I wouldn't have it any other way!"
"That's good!" Ty said.
"Three of the four teams in the semi finals are here in this apartment." Kelp said. "It'd almost be the perfect time for some foul play."
"Are you saying the pizza is poisoned?" Ink wondered.
"It could be."
Alex just continued eating, not even flinching.
"Wow, nothing." Kelp said a bit shocked.
"It's not poisoned." Alex replied. "Might be a bit cold from staying out for a bit, but it's not poisoned."
"Well, once you're done eating that pizza, then we can get the party started!" Kelp shouted.
Perhaps against their better judgment, they just celebrated irresponsibly for both making it to the semi-finals, and the saving of inkopolis.
They weren't kidding when they said that Inklings liked to party. Alex was afraid that they were going to get noise complaints, but a quick glance outside showed that pretty much the whole city was partying as well. Several had taken to the streets and were dancing without a care in the world.
They partied the night away.
Alex woke up at some ungodly hours in the morning. He just looked over at the clock and saw it was about 4am. He just forced himself up, and out of the extremely crowded bedroom, since nearly everyone had decided to crash there for the night.
After finishing his business in the washroom, he just made his way up to the roof of the apartment and looked up at the stars.
"That was a good show." A voice said.
Alex just turned to see Zero standing on the roof, leaning against the wall.
"I heard that you were injured, and your team had to quit the tournament." Alex said.
"Yeah." Zero replied.
"I guess I have to ask, was he, Final, really apart of Zenith?" Alex asked.
"I don't know." Zero replied.
Alex just looked up at them rather surprised. "You don't know? Aren't you their enforcer, aren't you supposed to know things like this?"
"There's still things I don't know about." Zero replied. "There are people I have to answer to, and beyond them there are others. All things considered I'm pretty low on the chopping block. And honestly, if he is someone at Zenith, I don't expect to be there much longer. I expect him to talk about what happened. I don't think I can claim self defense for all of it."
"I see." Alex sighed.
"Have you mastered opening portals yet?" Zero asked.
"No." Alex replied. "But I don't need to now right, Zenith isn't going to try and apprehend me after the tournament now. They were taken care of."
Zero just laughed. "Is that what you think? Not all of the Zenith members were captured. And who's to say that you're their only target?"
"Well then..." Alex muttered. "So, if I do escape they have a back up plan. That's not good and really complicates things."
"What's your plan now?"
"If I let them capture me, I can at least get back to the real world." Alex replied. "But I'm thinking that would be a very bad idea. It seems to me like your strength would just be scratching the bottom of the barrel there."
"Hey!" Zero said rather offended. "But, you're right. You'd be giving them exactly what they'd want, a perfect opportunity to lure Nugai out. I'm sure he would rush right in to save you."
Alex just nodded. He closed his eyes and tried to visualize this. "I'm not seeing a way out." he admitted.
"Listen, if I may be frank with you, I don't think it was a coincidence that you came here."
"How so?" Alex wondered. "Aren't I supposed to know where a place is, or that it even exists."
"Yes, there should have been an anchor point or something for you to lock on." Zero replied. "But you came here without it. That leads me to believe one of two possibilities. The first, it was pure dumb luck and a fluke that you came here. When trying to create a portal you focused on a few components, like a city and some memory of fighting friends with water guns popped into your head. And it dropped you here."
"I don't even remember what I was thinking when I was trying to escape the bottleship beyond I don't want to die." Alex replied. "So maybe, I was seeing my whole life flash before my eyes, and some memories like that became the destination. What's the second?"
"Divine intervention." Zero replied. "You didn't come here by your own choice or any fluke, but were rather brought here because you were needed. To be honest, I don't know which one scares me more."
Alex just nodded. "I wish I had an answer for you." He said. "But I don't know."
"And that's why I'm letting you live." Zero replied. "I need to know that answer before I make any decision."
"Even if that costs you your position at Zenith?" Alex wondered.
"My position at Zenith is already in jeopardy." Zero sighed. "I don't know who Final is, but I suspect my life at Zenith is about to come to an end. I imagine they won't think I'm that useful any more, and my power would be better used in one of their hands."
Alex nodded, unsure of what else to do. He already knew that she wouldn't accept an invitation into the Smashers.
"You're walking right to your death..." Alex muttered. "It's unfair, Final was the one trying to destroy this world and you were stopping him, because you liked and cared for this world. And yet, you're the one who's going to be punished..."
"Life is really unfair." Zero sighed. "My whole life has been unfair."
"Your father and brother?" Alex questioned.
"Yeah."
"Was that a lie made up to manipulate you?" Alex wondered.
"Part of it, maybe," Zero replied. "But there was also truth to it. Nugai did kill my father. As for my brother..." she just looked over rather sorrowfully at Alex, taking in his various features. "When he got sick, his hair went white too."
"What?!" Alex said rather surprised.
"Or I guess that was his clone..." Zero sighed.
"Well, my hair went white because of aura, at least I'm assuming that." Alex replied. "It was just a change over night."
"I see." Zero replied. "His did as well. It was weird and it happened over night... After that he was soon admitted to the hospital."
"I see." Alex muttered.
"Did that janitor know about this?" Zero wondered. "Or did he plan on telling me everything when I got back... I guess there's only one way to find out."
"Well, if you are going back to Zenith, at least that janitor might be a valuable ally." Alex replied.
"Perhaps." Zero said. "Speaking of Allies, Ty."
"You said you didn't trust him."
"You know he's from-"
"Yeah..." Alex replied.
"Then why?" Zero questioned.
"I don't know." Alex replied. "But I'm interested in Sora... Why is he here? And why is he with Ty? They've been rather defensive about that subject."
"For good reason too..." Zero replied. "If Zenith had caught him, Sora would be eliminated."
"And that's why I think I can trust him." Alex sighed. "He's protecting Sora for some reason."
"I see." Zero replied. There was a brief moment of silence before she spoke again. "Alex, do you have any goals to call your own?" she asked.
He looked up at the stars. "I guess, protecting the worlds with the Smashers."
"But can you really call them your own?" she wondered. "Or is that just the path that someone else had chosen, and you were doing it to please them?"
Alex closed his eyes and thought about it. "I guess it's the latter."
"Do you have any goals to call your own?" she wondered.
"I don't know." Alex replied.
"It could be anything, like learning to play the piano. Or holding a world record."
Alex just shook his head. "I'm sorry, but, unfortunately I don't really think I have a goal for myself."
"You need to start living life for yourself Alex." Zero sighed.
"And what's your goal?" Alex wondered.
"Revenge, for my brother's death." she replied.
"That's such a dark goal." Alex said. "I don't think it suits you."
"Maybe it doesn't..." Zero replied. "My brother, Asher, his goal was something else."
"Oh?"
"He wanted to be the best pokemon trainer at his school." Zero laughed.
"That's cute." Alex replied. "You said we were at the hospital together and were friends? I'm sorry, but I don't recall that..."
"You were, you both were so close..." she recalled. "There's got to be something... a memory or proof that wasn't erased. He talked so much about you..."
"Maybe you have the wrong person." Alex sighed. "I mean there's how many Alexs out there?"
"No, it was you." she replied. "I'm positive."
"I'm sorry." Alex replied.
"I've said enough." Zero replied. "If we meet again, well don't expect the same hospitality. As far as I'm concerned, this was a situation brought on by Final trying to destroy this world."
"And the week before that?" Alex wondered.
Zero however disappeared. Alex just stood outside looking at the stars for a few more minutes before he made his way back inside, and eventually falling back asleep.
File 1
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Party 1: Alex, Ink, Ika, Tako
Notes: This was actually supposed to be at the end of the previous chapter, but it was really incomplete and needed a lot of edits/finishing.
Even after doing that, I'm not too happy with it. It feels choppy, but I want to actually get a chapter out and move forwards, and get back to the rest of the Smashers. Maybe I'll edit it a bit over the next few weeks and put out an updated chapter later.
Emperor's Road: Is allegedly a super powerful technique in the Splatoon manga. I say allegedly, because it can only work on completely flat stages. Which there is no completely flat stage in Splatoon. Also, one of them is a charger, which isn't the best weapon for covering area. It's just a technique kind of made up for narrative drama with a very heavy "Take our word for it, it just works."