Ch.70

"It's time…" Sky whispered to herself as she stared at her feet; today was the final day of the preliminaries. The week was spent with nothing but plenty of practice and studies for this day; the four of them knew if they could win this game, they'd be in one very sweet position to make some noise in the winter tournament.

Sky notices a shadow that stood behind her, feeling someone's hand on her shoulder; it was warm and familiar. Aaron smiled at her as she turned around to meet his eyes, "Ready for this?" he asked.

Sky nodded, "We did tons of homework on them, and we'll definitely handle them with the skills we have."

Aaron's smile faded, "I'm not talking about that…"

Sky's eyebrows shot up, "What do you mean?"

"Look, I know our styles can clash at times…you like to rush in and attack, and I like to play in an organized team effort. But this game is way different from the others…I know you must be fired up about finally playing Shiva."

Sky chuckled, "Of course I am…we've been looking forward to a day like this for a long time…"

"Think you'll go all-out? I know Shiva will probably outplay usual performances."

"I have no choice, if I don't bring my best performance to help you guys…we'll lose."

"Well, you're not wrong…"

Sky crossed her arms, "the other three on that team, all three of them have the talent necessary to be captains of their own squad if they could. Shiva won't be our only worry…that whole team is a nightmare to be reckoned with…"

Aaron smiled again at the focused Sky, "I love it when you take your games seriously; it makes you look cuter than you already do."

Sky blushed-turning around with a smile, "D-don't say those kinds of things before a game, dummy."

Afterwards they joined up with their team and proceeded to the battleground for the finals, seeing a massive audience in attendance from pockets of Octarians, to floods of students from Squid Academy. The competition committee had decided that the venue for today's match would be the Kelp Dome, mainly since it was the only location of the three available for the tournament that was enclosed and didn't possess an out-of-bounds, allowing the best opportunity for a full 4-on-4 without any careless mistakes being a factor.

Both teams spawned at their starting location; Octo Valley would be staring from the Southwest while the Elites would start from the Northeast. Members from both teams had their eyes locked on their opponent, knowing well that the other were probably going to go at full force from the start.

3…2…1! The match begins as both teams burst out the spawn point-inking everything in sight from left to right. Vaairie and Reluna take the left route-Vaairie heads up the ramp to the grated pathway while Reluna took the left bottom route, inking the turf in Magenta while at it-although slowly since her weapon took a while to charge since it used up quite a lot of ink. Ciri and Shiva headed to the right with Shiva taking the ramp to the other entrance of the grated pathway while Ciri would try the next ramp to steal some turf from the Elite's side. On the other side, the Elites moved surprisingly in an organized unit instead of spreading out, flanking from the grated pathway on their left and then dropping at the tower before Shiva and Reluna to disperse-yellow soon enveloped around the tower as the four began their defensive attack; this continued for another thirty seconds.

"Ah, they're plan is to defend the central area and secure as much of the surrounding turf as they possibly can; I can't say I agree with that tactic." Machi said, sitting next to the AV club of Squid Academy.

"Why don't you agree with it? It's an optimal plan in the way that it secures most of the turf that'll be fought for." Apollo said.

Machi held up a finger, "It isn't a bad plan by any means, but I wouldn't run a plan like this against this team of all teams; those Octarians are slippery devils, and their captain isn't a dunce-she'll pick up on it and adjust the attack on the spot…that's why she's crafted this team into one of the best in the nation, maybe even the continent."

Sweat drops trickled down Cannola's face, "I did notice that Octo Valley is seeming to avoid a direct battle with us up until this point, and since this is a finals match, the minute is up to five instead of the usual three minutes."

"Usually the first two minutes of the finals matches are always about feeling out the other team before engaging in a fierce turf war, and right now with Octo Valley being as experience as they are in these types of events definitely are using that approach by observing the Elites play; I'm shocked that the Elites aren't playing so aggressively…they're losing…"

For the past thirty seconds, the game had been much in the Elites favor with them dominating the central tower and surrounding area of the map, securing tightly and preventing any of the Octolings from successfully attacking; no one had gotten splatted since neither team fully engaged with the other. The girls of Octo Valley continued to lurk near but didn't attack, and slowly the game was beginning to drag out.

So, it's a test of patience…Aaron thought as he looked up at the scoreboard seeing the time left in the match and the score; the score was 35-64 to Octo Valley, who were winning since they surrounded the yellow central area with Magenta ink. We'll need to start playing more aggressive, or else we'll be getting nowhere!

Aaron exchanges a quick glance with Austin and the two of them swim off in opposite direction to begin the push; Sky and Pearl tightened their defense with Pearl moving to the top of the tower while Sky let loose and splatted Vaairie, tailing after Shiva-who drew back to avoid getting splatted; the audience cheered rapidly once they saw what was about to go down: the famous best friends were about to have a fierce showdown! Aaron and Austin lock down Ciri and splat her in a pincer attack, grabbing some of the turf to make the match leveled; It's now a 4 on 2 with two returning to spawn with a minute passing by: the score was now 55-45, but still in Octo Valley's favor.

"Go get em!" Gileslie yelled at the top of her lungs, shaking her fist; she had on all the Elites gear and was attracting a lot of attention with her ruckus, embarrassing her friends.

Sky smiled, as did Shiva-both found a nice little area in the far west side away from everyone else to do this; the two aces, the two predators, the two close friends were about to settle the score.

"I've been waiting for this day for a long time…" Shiva said with a shine in her eye.

"I still remember the conversation we had that night…" Sky smiled, closing her eyes.

"To think…"

"That after working with you for so long…"

They both prepared their weapons and rushed at the other, "That this would be our first meeting in a match!" yelled at the same time; myriads of Magenta and Yellow ink explode everywhere in that area, as bombs were detonating! Sky and Shiva moved at an incredible speed, moving so fast that the camera had trouble keeping track of the girls for the fans to see on the big screen. The fans marveled and cheered at the amazing effort the girls were exerting-this was the kind of excitement that there needed to be in a match, and this was only a preliminary final!

Reluna engaged in her own battle with Pearl at the central tower, stalling until her teammates could return. Ciri and Vaairie had their hands full with the pressuring Aaron and Austin who were now invading their turf; the match dramatically shifted in the Elites favor with the Elites taking the lead: 62-36.

"What a match!" Ollie said with amazement; never had he witnessed an intense match this up-close.

"You'll get used to it…" Machi said indifferently, crossing her arms with analysis in her eyes.

"You don't find this entertaining, Machi?" Canolla asked.

Machi smiled, "Of course I do…"-she turned her attention back to the match-"But as a competitive spirit, what I'm seeing before me isn't a regular intense final match between two very good teams. No, what I'm seeing is something completely different."

Apollo frowned a little, "Well, what do you see?"

Machi laughed a little, "What I see is an expression of the deep emotions both teams have for each other. I see the enthusiasm in their hearts as they tyr their best to take ther other down and grab advantage in the match, I see two best friends who refuse to give the other any type over the other, I see royal retainers who are fighting for their princess to see her smile wholesomely, and I see nothing but the hearts of two champions battling to send a message to everyone in this arena: they'll be walking away as the winner of this event!"

The battle became more intense as the ending began to draw near with two minutes left in the match. Octo Valley had managed to cut the Elites lead back to a close one, but the Elites were making it very difficult for anything to work for the Octolings. So far, there were a total of twenty-seven splats: fourteen for the Elites and thirteen for Octo Valley. Sky led the way in team splats and turf inked with a whopping eight splats and over 1000 of the ink turfed in total.

Shiva and Octo Vally decide to make the big push and flank head-on and challenge the Elites; the Elites answered the bold challenge, and the two teams viciously went at it for the rest of the match, with the Elites lead slowly beginning to dwindle in the closing moments. With only ten seconds left, Octo Valley unleashed a quadruple special ult-piling on the Elites in the last-ditch effort with a inknado, inkzooka and many others quickly securing the tower for them, but little did they know that the Elites were expecting this-in which the Elites fired their weapons simultaneously to block off the last-gasp attempt.

The whistle blew, ink covered the camera from the max ult that each team unleashed, and both sides were exhausted with everyone fall to their knees and backs-awaiting the result. Sweat drips down Shiva's face as she stared up at the scoreboard, hoping to see victory for her team. Unfortunately, a different result appeared-the Elites had held off Octo Valley in impressive fashion, winning the match 52-48 and sealing their seeding as the number one seed.

Numbness radiated throughout the hearts of every Octarian in attendance, and through the players too; It was a bittersweet defeat. For the Octarians, a defeat like this hurt only so much since it meant they couldn't grab the first seed, but deep down it wasn't a loss at all for them. The team that defeated them were none other than the team that had been a close ally of them for years, a team who had built a strong relationship with their princess, a team who they could call…family.

Shiva and the other Octolings didn't shed any tears, but instead they rose to their feet and walked over to the Elites. Both teams stared at each other while the audience cheered "Thank you" out loud-echoing louder and louder.

Octo Valley held their hands out to thank the Elites for a good performance, but the Elites didn't just shake their hands; they grabbed them each by the hand and pulled them in for a hug. Sky passionately hugged her best friend, with tears running down her face-"I'm sorry we both couldn't win…"

"Oi now, the winner shouldn't be crying…" Shiva said rubbing Sky on the back.

"Your performance was brilliant…I can't wait for our rematch in the winter tournament!" Aaron said, hugging Ciri.

"That means we'll have to meet again in the finals…I look forward to it!"

The postgame festivities came as the Elites received their trophy to signify their victory; music played to celebrate as everyone in attendance got the chance to speak with the teams. Many of the teams who had been eliminated earlier were also in attendance, and many were impressed by what they saw, each feeling the need to express it to both teams. Once the glamor of victory finally faded for the night, the Elites and their friends in the AV club made their way to go and personally celebrate at dinner.

Later that week-in the evening, Azule and company returned from their mission in the islands; Tangie and Taylor had their hands full with tons of bags they got while shopping in the isles on the way back, Parker was still groggy from his nap, and Pastelle was busy admiring the new coat of paint she applied to her nails during the trip. Azule enthusiastic rushed out of the airport and raced to see what the others were up to.

"Hey Cobalt, do you know if the others reached back home yet?" Azule asked anxiously, wanting to see them as soon as possible.

"Uh…yeah, check the group chat. They landed about an hour ago, we just didn't have any connection during the trip to respond."

"So, we finally got some connection after all that time?" Tangie said interrupting the boys.

Cobalt narrowed his eyes, "All you did was snore during the flight…"

"Oh boohoo, deal with it."

Azule chuckled once he saw the two begin to catch up on their bickering; he stares forward at the large sight of the lit-up city skyline, seeing the many buildings colorful lights illuminating the already starry night sky, taking a deep breath to inhale the fresh aroma of the wind that blew under his nose-"It feels great to be back!"