"Welcome everybody to the second match of our double header for the day here at the Kelp Dome. Today we'll be having an exciting match featuring two very strong teams: the fourth ranked Squidops facing off against the twenty-fifth ranked Squid Academy, who're represented by the Elites once again." the Commentator said in his booth, holding a microphone with enthusiasm for this match. "Both teams are looking to improve their odds of success at the winter championship by starting a good campaign here; for Squidops, they were the runner ups at last year's winter championship, losing to Beacon Hills in a very unforgettable final. Squid Academy's Elites will be looking to get revenge for their defeat in last year's semi finals where they once again came up short against Beacon Hills, blowing the lead late in the match."
"Talk about rubbing salt into the wounds…" Corey said rubbing the back of his neck; he-along with the other members of the Rebels-was in attendance to watch their senior's match.
"Exactly why did we have to come along Todd?" whined Dustin, who'd rather be at home watch TV or sleeping.
Todd's intimidating glare silenced Dustin, "I was originally planning to go myself, but after I gave it thought, I decided it was better if we went as a team to scout our senior's performance against tougher opponents and see what improvements we could make after seeing a better sample of teams…and I'm curious to see how our seniors will perform on a bigger stage…"-staring at the Elite's captain, Aaron.
Todd had been a huge follower of the Elites since their first year in high school, watching them compete in the winter championship and spring invitational that year; they captivated him with their high octane and very flashy offense, advancing to the quarterfinals and semifinals before being eliminated by the eventual winners. He became infatuated with the team when they once again shocked the sporting community by making it even farther their second year, advancing to the semifinals in both events. I want to see if the team that inspired me to come here has grown strong enough to correct the errors of their past. Todd thought as he recalled their vivid memory of their heartbreaking defeat from last year's winter championship.
"Well, I'm glad you brought us along. Surely we can scout our future competition here too, like Squidops." Phillip said, understanding the opportunity. "I did some studying on them…they're quite the scary team."
Todd narrowed his eyes, "How so?"
"Well, in the nation of Inkopolis lie four teams that reign-known as the four giants: Special Forces, Beacon Hills, Octo Valley, and Squidops. One thing I noticed from the playing style of all the teams on TV is that the Special Forces rely on their Incredible number of prodigal talent, Beacon Hills rely on their powerful defense, Octo Valley has the most explosive offense, and Squidops sits as the most complete team of the four; all four teams share some checks and balances on the other in power, so there isn't a clear best team in the country, but by the results it is Special Forces given their number of total titles. But looking at Squidops, their starting roster has a user in each weapon class-all four ranked in the top 5 in their classes…and all four on the same team…A Splatling, Roller, Slosher and Shooter."
Todd was impressed with Phillip's research, "So in other words, the Elites are facing the most complete team in the country?"
"Correct…and they'll need to be on their P's and Q's if they hope to get a better seed for the winter championship."
Corey pointed, "Hey, the match is about to begin!"
Two teams appear at their spawn gates, one team is dressed in all black-their hair too, while the other is wearing purple tops and yellow bottoms with matching yellow hair. In the audience, there was nothing but a sea of Black shirts and jackets of the Squidops fan base-overpowering the white and purple shirts that were representing Squid Academy and the Elites. "It seems like student section of Squidops is the entire audience." Pearl said, checking out her weapon before the match starts.
"Don't mind the crowd, silence them with our performance." Aaron responded, only focusing on the objective before him; Sky glanced at Aaron from her left, knowing his frustration with their defeat the last time they were in a knockout match, she was determined to never see him in that state again.
Meanwhile in the girl's locker room, Shiva and her team were undressing from their gear and into some comfortable clothing when one of Shiva's teammates caught a glimpse of the TV and saw that that the match was about to begin-calling Shiva over to take a look; she only had on her white tank top undershirt and black tights. Shiva had a big grin on her face once they did a close-up on Sky and Aaron, "Well if it isn't my favorite ship…I wonder how they'll do after seeing our performance. Knowing Sky, she'll take over this match and dominate like she always does whenever the matches become important…she's clutch."-she stared at Aaron as the camera zoomed out-"the captain will have to be the one to step up his game play though, because if there is one thing I know from our experiences against Squidops-it's their incredible speed of switching gears."
Squidops is known as the most complete team in the country with a great offense, defense, and balanced team of skilled individuals that each operate a different weapon class to contain complete balance…I can't go easy in this match and rely on Aaron to control the tempo-though he may be the captain, I am the ace!
Shiva notices the sudden change in expression on Sky's face, Show me that ferocity like you did last year…
The Elites were at the southwest spawn point while Squidops were at the Northeast spawn points, both teams appeared ready and set to begin! The clock counts down 3…2…1…go! Both teams jump out the spawn point and take immediately different tactics; Squidops stay bunched closed together-led by their roller-as they take the ramp up to the grated walkway heading in the direction of the central tower inking turf along the way. The Elites took a different method, spreading out to ink their turf separately and then rejoin at the central tower, reaching the central tower first with Pearl inking the area. A small path of black ink falls to the floor under the walkway and around it from each of their weapons.
It seems like it was smart for me to advise Pearl to switch out her charger weapon for a shooter! Now she adds more mobility to her side, which will prove to be very useful in a match like this. Gileslie thought as she recalled her conversation with pearl earlier that week; she had advised Pearl to change her weapon to better suit the tempo of the play style of of the team since it was well assumed that Sky would go into her usual zone whenever the games got important and boost the tempo with her incredible speed and precision. Moving Pearl to a weapon with more ability will restrict Sky from going all-out and exposing her abilities yet again like in the past…now she can dictate the match from her own turf and offer great support while still attacking.
Gileslie looked like the classic nerd with poindexter glasses and some cream suspenders with brown slacks and a beige top. Her tentacles were much shorter than the average inkling-too short-in fact. She pushed her glasses up-"This is your year!" she cheered.
Aaron inks away at the western area of the map without any opposition, Austin went straight down the middle under the grated pathway to support Pearl, and Sky remained at the spawn point-inking their own turf; the score is 80-20 to the Elites with 2:30 remaining.
The plan is that I stay here and guard our turf while providing support the others, Austin directly supports Pearl-our vanguard of attack. Aaron will also support them in attack while he balances defense; It's not a bad game plan…but I want to attack!
Pearl and Austin strike a battle against the Squidops as they invade, "Nachtia Madchen-user of the mini Splatling, Kuro Burakku- user of the black Custom Jet Squelcher, Ciel Nuit-user of the Tri Slosher, and their captain Carbon Smoke-user of the Carbon roller deco. The four of them always start off attacking in a pack…"-a sweat drop fell down her face as became concerned-"The first sign that they'll consume their opponents."
Pearl and Austin struggle to keep the central tower in the bright yellow, seeing the black ink begin to slither in and mix. Sky notices the momentum changing and tries to splat a couple as she stepped off the high platform to make the critical hit, but she fails as Carbon detects her intentions and deflects the shot with his roller; Sky is stunned, "What the hell!?"
Squidops begin to apply pressure, and Pearl and Austin stand their ground, refusing to give up the land.
"We can't allow Aaron's plan to fall to pieces so early…you saw how focused he looked earlier!" Austin said as he threw out his squid beacon in a last attempt to summon back-up from Aaron, but Aaron didn't come to their aid-choosing to swim all the way around to Sky's area and then try to sneak attack from the back by inking all their turf while they were busy.
As they break apart and surround the defenseless Pearl and Austin-splatting them and securing the central tower; Sky's face darkened once she realized the futile lead they had was sharply taken away, and knew exactly what Aaron was up to. This idiot is about cost us the match like he always does! Austin and Pearl respawn a moment later to see Sky standing before them, her head lowered to a point where they could see her face. She karate chops both of them, "You both overstepped your lines! You should've fallen back once they approached!"
"B-but Aaron's plan!" they cried, holding their heads in pain from the chops.
"To hell with his plan, follow my lead instead!" she demanded; Aaron sneezed.
Sky swims in her ink and sets up a sprinkler on the left route that led to the main pathway, letting the sprinkler spray some of the area; the Squidops begin to split apart to and take different assignments. "Eliminate them and leave no room for a comeback!" yelled the captain, heading in Sky's direction with his roller; Sky ordered for Austin and Pearl to take an alternate route, wanting to have a showdown with the captain of Squidops.
There's 1:50 left on the match clock with the score in favor of Squidops 67-33; Aaron began the sneak attack, inking the turf in front of the enemy spawn and working his way deeper and deeper into their territory to make the match nearly even. The audience begins to grow louder and louder as they reach closer to the end, anxious to see which team would pull out the victory in this critical match.
Aaron continues his objective when he suddenly saw a big spot of black ink fall from the sky, probably a burst bomb he thought. Next, an enemy Inkling swimming from the left of Aaron's side and emerged from the ink. The boy stared at Aaron, who did likewise-halting their actions.
"Kuro…" Aaron muttered.
"Aaron…" Kuro mumbled.
No other words needed to be said between the two, and they immediately resumed their objective. Black and Yellow ink covers the floor, resembling a distorted bumblebee by the time they step away from the other to cool off. Kuro throws some more splat bombs to hinder Aaron's vision on him, but Aaron threw out a Splash wall as his sub weapon. Gileslie said I should use a 96 Gal Deco for this match because it would favor me in certain scenarios…but how convient! Here I thought she wanted me to use it only because it was bedazzled. Gileslie sneezed, rubbing her nose; she was a huge lover of anything shiny.
"Stop this nonsense Aaron! This isn't junior high anymore!" Kuro yelled, blasting through the splash wall; he destroys the splash wall, sending some of the ink further back and continued forward inking the turf black, but he couldn't find Aaron. Where did he go? He thought, looking around impatiently in search of his long time adversary. "I know I didn't splat you now…" he said looking around; he looks at a small yellow puddle that was a short distance from him. He grins, believing to have trapped Aaron. "I'm not surprised to see you resort to such tricks…"-aiming at the yellow puddle-"This will re-enforce why you're inferior…!"
He drowns out the yellow puddle with jet black ink, but he didn't hear any splat sound; Kuro was puzzled, there is no way he could've escaped so easily he thought. He let his guard down as he tried to figure out how Aaron could just disappear; a very small yellow puddle far to the right corner began to vibrate, but Kuro didn't notice. Aaron jumps out from the puddle and swiftly splats him! He immediately inks everywhere and traps Kuro as he respawned.
"You're my prey now!" Aaron concluded with a ravenous stare as Kuro, who was atop at the spawn point.
At the Central tower, Austin and Pearl struggled to seize the advantage from Nachtia and Ciel. Every attempt they made to press in, Nachtia fired her Mini Splatling to keep them away, and Ciel made sure to stand atop the central tower and assure that the black ink remained by covering up any yellow ink that fell with her Tri Slosher; right now, Pearl was on the ramp and grated pathway-looking to attack from one side while Austin take the main floor.
Why do they have to be so frustrating!? Pearl stomped her foot, splatting wildly again; they both dodge and proceed to gang up Austin, leaving room for Pearl to leave the grated walkway and jump onto the tower. Pearl jumps onto the tower to begin her counterattack and support for Austin, but little did she know it was only a trap. Both girls immediately turn around and swim towards her once she came within range; Pearl froze once she saw the disadvantageous position she was in. I can't swim away from them since everything in black ink, and I can't run…I'm stuck!
Austin does one big swing with his roller and covers Pearl and the surrounding area in yellow ink. Ciel and Nachtia are forced to regroup as they avoid the enemy ink; Austin joins Pearl and they take control of the tower, turning the tide of the battle as the score shifts to 57-43 still in favor of Squidops.
The crowd grew more excited after seeing the Elites mount a comeback, turning their attention to the one showdown that warranted the most attention: Sky and carbon. Shiva's hooked on the match after seeing Aaron outsmart Kuro, and seeing the powerful persistency of Austin and Pearl, only one last part was left before this match could get decided; under one minute remained.
Cmon Sky! Stop going easy on him! You guys are still down by a little, and that's because he has a great portion of the northwestern map covered in black.
As it stood, The Elites only had the Central, Southwestern, and a smaller portion of the Northeast. Since their minimal concessions, the other members of Squidops were still able to retain most of their turf and in turn contain the other members of the elites; Slowly, Aaron found himself beginning to fall back as Kuro applied more pressure and gained more mobility. Austin and Pearl tried to rally through and splat Ciel and Nachtia, but found that the two just refused to get splatted.
Ever since she began the assault, Sky found herself stuck in a stalemate with Carbon-avoiding his Carbon roller at all costs. The two had been dancing through the ink back and forth, constantly ducking for cover like they were in a trench war; this had been going on throughout the entire match, but now that it was coming to an end, both of them had the same mindset to finish business before it dragged on any further.
I definitely have a window for attack, albeit a small one…Sky recalled the movements she saw from him earlier, noticing that he had a brief window where he had to lift up the roller in order to launch his ink. She threw out her Squid Beakon and then she confirmed her decision, let's go!
She jumps from behind the wall and begins to ink turf, immediately spotting Carbon diagonally from her to the right. I'm almost completely charged…looking at her weapon's meter before she could use her Kraken.
"Too late!" he shouted with a supercilious grin appearing afterwards, activating his special weapon: the Inkzooka; Sky's eyes widened as her face turned purple with sudden fear.
Sky immediately keeps a distance, avoiding every single one of his strikes, and also losing more turf as he continued. "Damn…I need only another minute!"
Her exit was cut off, and all she could do was try to wait out the Inkzooka. She's stuck in a corner as she hears the wet footsteps approach, she thought to herself if this could really be it. Carbon appears before her with his Inkzooka ready to blast, but suddenly gets splatted from behind; A yellow kraken was before her after Carbon dissolved.
"A..Aaron!?"
"Yo!" He said putting up the "peace" sign.
"How? Weren't you dealing with Kuro?"
"I heard the Squid Beakon and came here as soon as I could…I already took care of Kuro; look at the scoreboard."
When she looked at the scoreboard, her jaw shopped in shock-"65 to 34…Elites of Squidcom!?"-She looks at Aaron-"We're winning?"
"No…we won!" he said right as the whistle blew to end the match.
