Squid Academy's starters reach the sidelines wearing stone faces, their minds still on the battlefield as they receive bottles from Dustin and the others, who are trying to cheer them up, but with the aura they're carrying, it wasn't necessary. Fuchsia looks to be in pain while watching them, aware that they had to be feeling some mental strain after dropping such an important and close game and that there is nothing she can really do to help them other than steer them in the right direction. Having them take a seat for a moment, Fuchsia advised them to rehydrate themselves before listening to what she had to say-formulating her thoughts about the next round. The next game mode is Last One Standing, a game mode where participants are eliminated from participation for the rest of the round the moment they are splatted. A game mode that could either end in an instant or get dragged into overtime through a battle of attrition, it all came down to a matter of strategy when what must be factored in is the rounds beyond. Would a team like to drag it out and tire their opponents, or save their strength for the later rounds by ending it swiftly? After receiving some refreshments from Kosami and the others, who handed them towels to wipe off the pouring sweat, Fuchsia goes over what she expects for the next round as the preview for the next round appears on the big screen.
"The third round will be a Last One Standing game on the rooftop of Hafaf Hotel, so expect more vents and units to stand in your way. Since we lost that round, we can expect them to come at us more aggressively and build off of their victory. Good thing for us is that we're looking great out there despite them being some big bad team with a dangerous superstar, which means we can use this opening to our advantage and disrupt their rhythm. Whenever they look like they're about to hit their stride, interrupt them." Fuchsia said in a tone similar to a teacher informing her students, her players nodding respectfully as an answer.
Jory lifts a finger, "Should we play in groups or go iso?"
Pastelle holds a towel over her mouth to control her breathing, "Kalebrough is a problem when they play in team battles, but in isolation it's a different story. I believe we have better individuals than them and can use that to our advantage."
"Not a bad mindset, but I would advise against that." Cobalt said with a shake of the head; "They indirectly manipulated our play in that previous round knowing we were anxious to win another round and create some comfort. As these results show, they got their wish and evened it up. We were too sloppy when it mattered and rushed unnecessarily, which needs to be corrected moving forward."
"I understand what you mean, but she does bring up a good point…" Reice said after taking a huge gulp from his bottle; "Kippy got bodied by Azule in their iso battles and I know for a fact that she's gotta be shaken a little bit mentally. Up until this point she's been praised as this super talent that would become unstoppable and now she's getting shut down by the last person she'd ever want." he said holding up his index finger, turning to all of them with some confidence; "Aside from the wonder girl, the only other troublesome people to keep tabs on are the brother and the captain."
"Glad to see none of you are affected by that little hiccup, but isolating our opponents won't be a wise move. Last One Standing is a mode that can end at any given moment, each participant a crucial piece on the battlefield. When teams find themselves in disadvantageous numbers they tend to panic and go into damage control with the intent of surviving at all costs, which I want to avoid."
Her leader-like tone commanding their attention, the players listened to her attentively as she laid out the plan afterwards. On the Kalebrough sidelines, they're more lively than they would've been if they lost but they still aren't satisfied with the tied series, fueled more by their head coach who gave them their due recognition for accomplishing the task but reminding them that their victory was too close for comfort and they still had more games to play; if they're having trouble against Squid Academy, they can't expect it to get easier against the tougher ranked opponents awaiting them. Sitting his starters down to get their rest, he gathers the bench players into the huddle to surround him, going over their approach moving forward. To start things off, he noticed that though it is rather early in the match to make substitutions, from a strategic standpoint it was a necessity. The starters holding their breath on his hesitation, he announced that in the fourth round he would swap out Pascal and Tiffany to conserve their strength, warning them that they will need to prepare for a long battle if they don't sway momentum in their corner completely with the next round; Though the starters understood his intentions, Pascal didn't like the idea of getting benched so early in the match, especially when they are up against an opponent that can prove troublesome. The coach understood Pascal's feelings but reminded everyone that they have a mission that is much bigger than them, and if they could live to fight another day, then they must take it. Up in the stands, and on social media, opinions and reactions are still flooding in as people unboxed the performance. Some people wondered if the game might go all the way to a competitive series or event in a gentleman's sweep of five games for either side, both people stating their case for why the teams could pull it off. Kalebrough were looking good in that second round and could really build their momentum by taking consecutive victories following the first round defeat, but Squid Academy made strong cases after an impressive victory in the first round and hard fought battle in the second round. Break time over for both sides, the teams were spawned to the next location: Hafaf Hotel Rooftop. A complex map where the only thing visible were ramps and pathways created by the placement of vents and other structures, the two team spawns were at the apex platforms that lead to a significant drop, open to several pathways that will lead to the main roof where there was some open space. The night backdrop behind them with city lights decorating the skyline along the starry overhead with a calm breeze present, both teams felt more at ease in the outdoors compared to the confinement of indoors or the pressure under the stadium lights; out here, they had some peace and tranquility and could hear themselves think.
"Oh? Next round is about to start soon. Hey, Romaine!" a girl calls out to the Vulerby captain while trapped under the head of a sleeping teammate on her lap; her name is Jane Fonsa, but she preferred to go by her surname.
"I'm coming~! I'll tell the others to come join us since this looks to be an exciting one." the captain sang, bringing over some food and calling everyone else over.
A few seconds later a guy walks over wearing a Vulerby shirt wearing a stern face, "Is this the game that has everyone making a ruckus? My phone was blowing up earlier from all the notifications."
"Ah, Rashid! Come join us!" Romaine welcomes, patting the cushion.
"Kalebrough is tied with them?" another girl scoffs, following behind Rashid.
Romaine sprouts a smile, "It looks as though we might be seeing a team evolve before our very eyes. They put up good fights in their previous matches, but to go ahead and have Kalebrough tied...albeit it's only been a couple rounds and anything can happen, I think we might be in for a treat."
"How is their captain? I heard he was supposed to be some big deal that everyone was ignoring for some reason." Rashid said taking a seat beside Fonsa instead of the captain, who begged him not to wake Mirai since she fell asleep in her lap and wouldn't budge.
"Everyone is ignoring him because he seems like a one trick pony with that weird ability of his. He's only used it once this entire tournament and it was briefly against the Moreno girl in the early moments of the second round. Oh-Adel, you can sit by me." Romaine said tapping on the cushion, to which she accepted. "Hey, is Nadi joining us? I know she'd like to watch this type of game unfold."
"No, she said she'll be hanging out with the others. Who knows, they're probably just slacking off anyways." Fonsa answered.
"More like Dhaman and Samir were bugging her again to spend time with the rest of the team. She's like the lifeline of the bench warmers so I can understand why they all have such an affinity with her." Rashid said, recalling the sixth member of the starting roster.
Vulerby's starters were like the many other teams and viewers watching the game and following the reactions on social media, interested in whether they would witness a shocking upset or the emergence of a true threat to the challengers at the top; the people on the surface weren't the only ones watching the game as Queen Shiva and her retainers and all of Octaria were watching with pride as they saw their princess out on the frontlines representing them. Shiva was especially proud seeing her little sister up on the big stage shining brightly as a leader, glad to see that though she can't fight on the turf with her team, she's battling right beside them. Currently in transit somewhere, she wishes her sister and her friends the best of luck. Also hoping for their success is the octoling man responsible for the team being there to begin with, this time his shades hanging from his shirt pocket to show his discerning hazel eyes under his wrinkling forehead. Even though he was obligated to watch how well Squid Academy performed, he felt uneasy watching this match unfold since it was the first time in the tournament thus far that he genuinely had no clue who would win, the unpredictability of Squid Academy throwing him off since they played far different from the team he saw just a couple days ago. Curious to see if they can continue to surprise him, he gives in to the temptation of hope, placing his trust on seeing them not only win this match, but continue onwards into the knockout stage.
The stage set and the players ready out on the rooftop, the third round starts.
Under the lunar glow and starry night, the colorless rooftop of Hafaf Hotel turns pink and green as the players disperse like a repulsion of magnets. Scouring the various paths and ramps, it's a matter of time before the teams make contact with one another after bombs are detonating and weapons are firing, the two teams locating one another immediately before they can build up their specials. Kalebrough's front line of Kappa and Pascal push forward with the help of Tiffany while Kippy stays towards the center-on Zepp's orders since he wanted to keep away from harm's way for as long as possible. Virgil supports them all from the rear and does callouts on Squid Academy; the front five of Azule, Reice, Jory, Todd, and Pastelle catches Kalebrough's attention. Virgil's gaze wanders until he spots a sparkle out the corner of his eye that sets off his alarm, yelling out the coordinates just before a pink shot fires in his direction that nearly reaches his feet-lucky to avoid the shot when he could. Kippy goes on the attack, locating the last member of Squid Academy and taking upon herself to eliminate them. An attempt to split up the ace from her team, Kippy fell right into Squid Academy's trap as the pink ink began to overwhelm the green side. Zepp shouts out his commands and calls Kippy back, picking up on what they were planning by separating the main damage dealers from their lone sniper. Zepp told Kippy not to worry about the looming presence of Violet and instead turn attention to the opponents in front of them that are encroaching aggressively. A green shot met by a pink bomb followed by a green barrier protecting an ally from the swarm of pink, the ink armor of Kalebrough arrives at the right moment as they have a chance to counterattack. Azule gives his commands, sending Reice, Jory and Todd in while he and Pastelle go around the herd of green to attack at their blind side. Kalebrough knows what they are planning, noticing that Violet's presence was meant to pick them off while the main unit will work to damage them as much as necessary to make is an easier task for her; essentially trapped, Kalebrough need to hold on for a few more seconds as Kippy's special meter is nearly filled, able to launch her tenta missiles the moment she can. To protect her at all costs meant to die trying, and as Zepp gave yet another command, the formation of Kalebrough constricts as they protect their ace. The pink gets stronger, swallowing up the green turf while also pounding against the defensive shields of Kalebrough-unable to last much longer.
"Now…!" Kappa shouts desperately, the first one to lose his shield.
In an instant, Kippy's green hair glows with matching embers and a pair of launchers in her hands. Targets locked on four, she fires her tenta missiles and descends into the ink. Azule is able to roll away in time and Pastelle pulls out before it gets too dangerous, but the trio of Reice, Jory, and Todd are in too deep. Unable to retreat since it would end in their demise and the likely result would occur if they pressed forward with any hint of reluctance, the boys committed to at least taking down their opponents with them at the very least. On the outside looking in, Violet watches the commotion in disbelief at Kippy's move. A move that not only trapped Squid Academy mid attack, she noticed that Kippy's tenta missiles helped as a smokescreen for Kalebrough and allowed them to escape the watchful eyes of Violet. A bad feeling welling up in her gut, Violet closes one and peers through the reticle, looking for the perfect opening to strike. A second passes, then two seconds pass, and finally a third that is followed by a terrifying presence to her right. Immediately on the retreat, Violet sensed a hostile presence, retreating at the right moment as a few shots of green ink landed at her feet followed by the appearance of another, revealed to be Tiffany who broke away from her group. Down below, Reice and Todd are lost to the tenta missile strike, but Jory luckily got out during the commotion and was currently healing himself in the meanwhile. An encounter that was only a few seconds, Squid Academy found themselves in trouble trailing behind as they already lost a pair of their players. Fuchsia grits her teeth nervously since this was the worst case scenario, the time remaining on the clock still enough but not if it ends like this; in the case that neither side is able to completely eliminate the other, the team with more players left over will win, and in the case that a scenario arrives where both sides are even when time expires, they go into overtime with the sudden death rule in effect, in which the first one to splat their opponent wins the game for their team.
"Talk about a nightmarish start." Kary muttered under her breath, feeling some pity for her rivals after seeing how easily they fell into that trap.
18 rubs the back of his neck, "They got too aggressive too early. In these games it's much better to establish your own flow than get swept up like that, but I guess they couldn't help themselves given the situation."
"Don't speak too soon, everyone." Jin said, his gaze cold as he analyzes the floor. "Squid Academy is up to something…"
Kalebrough are up by a score 6-4, their team now playing with more aggression after drawing first blood. Now on the prowl, they split up their forces and hunt down the remaining members: Tiffany focusing on Violet, Zepp and Virgil focusing on Pastelle, Pascal on Jory, and the Moreno sibling hunting down Azule. All doesn't look too well for Squid Academy as they are spending their time simply surviving the attacks of the others, unable to create a counterattack of their own as their energy is spent on staying alive. True especially for Violet as she's forced to maintain some distance from Tiffany, she's unable to even turn around and launch a prayer shot of her own since doing so gave Tiffany an opening to go in for the kill, something she couldn't allow under any circumstances. Her eyes darting from left to right, Violet tracks the number of steps it'll take before Tiffany reaches her, arriving at the conclusion that she can't run around endlessly since there will likely be a possibility she runs into another enemy and gets stomped, but she can't just do the obvious and stop in her tracks to turn around, and even if did the method of losing Tiffany by going around in circles, there was the chance that Tiffany could just cut her off rather than give chase and confront her right then. A peculiar situation, she notices some of the taller structures approaching her-she only has one chance to pull this off. Tiffany's eyes are on her, carefully watching her every move and attacking at the same time in hopes she could slow her down and trap her, but unfortunately Violet was just a little quicker even with the charger weapon equipped.
She can't keep running forever. Tiffany thought, throwing out a curling bomb to catch her; "If you won't come to me, I'll just come to you!" she shouts, firing away following the speeding curling bomb.
Danger looms. Violet's aware that she needs to think quickly or else she'll get trapped and eliminated-as the main snipers, she couldn't afford to get taken out now of all times as her elimination meant their chances for victory would dwindle greatly. Her gun aiming high as she stops in her tracks, Violet counts the precious seconds until the enemy approaches. Tiffany recognizes what Violet is up to, noticing that she's going to try and reach a vantage point to flip the script on her, but luckily she's been around to know how to counter those crafty moves. The curling bomb doing well to block off her exit, Violet's forced to only climb as nothing but green awaits her below. Tiffany arrives and takes aim at the surface above Violet, trapping her in between a sandwich of green. Closed in with nowhere to run, Violet can see Tiffany prepared to aim for her next.
"You're mine!" Violet shouts, jumping out of her pink spot and locking her aim on Tiffany, who's stunned by the crazy stunt. An instantaneous shot, Tiffany's eliminated as a pink shot splatters her.
A shocking surprise that has the audience cheering wildly, Violet Sororia trims away at the lead to make it 5-4 and give the Squid Academy supporters something to get rowdy about. Around that same time, Pastelle is doing her best to keep Zepp and Virgil at bay-only surviving this far since the duo's composition favors her being able to create some breathing space, but the numbers are the problem for her. If she tries to carry out a counterattack, she'll likely get taken down thanks to the unfair extra body, but if she could even up the numbers, it would be much easier. Question is, who should she strike down first? The appealing option would be to take down Zepp first since he is on shooter duty and would make the following battle much easier, but he is an experienced captain who would likely give her trouble if she failed to deal with him swiftly after attacking first. Then there was Virgil, the charger user who would be an easy opponent in an isolated one on one battle but prove problematic in these scenarios where he can stay dormant and let Zepp handle the mobility, if she took him down first, that made her battle with Zepp more manageable. A decision needed to be made, Pastelle went with her gut instinct and turned her runaway into a counterattack. Her calf muscles flexing on the immediate shift in direction, Pastelle leaves a cloud of dust in her wake as she starts firing at Zepp on the run, looking to draw him away from Virgil who would be hot on their trail. The easier decision would've been to go after Virgil, but Pastelle knew that if she thought that, then so did they. In these situations, it helped to think outside the box and show some unpredictability-even at a risk. Zepp trails her as expected, but Virgil takes the opposite way, looking to enforce a pincer attack and trap her. A left turn, followed by a right and then another right, Pastelle is doing her best to lead them on while at the same time buying time for her attack, unsure of what will follow now that she went and made a gamble. With Zepp hot on her trail, Pastelle rounds another corner where she finds a ton of green bubbles floating toward her-the special of Virgil who stood opposite of her, sending out more bubbles. A perilous situation for the trapped Pastelle, the audience concludes that she'll get taken down whether by Virgil's bubbles or by the trailing Zepp who was closing in on her.
Pastelle flashes a grin.
The opening she'd been hoping for, there is no hesitation in her step as she nears one of the walls, creating a path on the wall to swim around the bubbles in time; Zepp realizes immediately what she's up to and shouts for Virgil to prepare for something crazy, but Virgil sends more bubbles her way, this time aiming for the wall. Pastelle drops from the wall and continues her attack on the ground yet again, weaving in between the green bubbles with a twinkle in her stare as she marks her target. Virgil's charger returns and he takes aim, but by then it's too late. Everyone in the audience gasps watching the game on the big screen, amazed by the stunt Pastelle pulled. A puddle of pink left behind where Virgil was, Pastelle wears heavy damage in green ink from the shot Virgil led out just before getting splatted, her feet trapped in green. A last attempt by Virgil to protect the lead and salvage something from his failure, he sacrificed himself to let his captain avenge him. As Pastelle struggles to lift her feet from the green ink, she can feel the captain's presence close in like a wraith in the dead of night, aware that it's futile to try and run away at this rate. Standing her ground, she fires at Zepp with the last of her ink in the tank, disappointed to see him get grazed with an impressive dodge as he lines up his shot-no ink in the tank for her. A furious splat to once again take the lead, Kalebrough are up 4-3 following the elimination of Pastelle. Things aren't looking good for Squid Academy as they have lost their strongest defensive tank and one of their best players, left with only the trio of Azule, Violet, and Jory to carry on against the unfavorable numbers with Kalebrough still having their ace, captain and shadow ace still in play.
"Stop running!" Pascal shouts, chasing the back of Jory, who couldn't break free from Pascal and had no choice but to engage in brief battles to protect himself. In a troublesome position, Jory only knew he was nearby a fellow ally on the map, but the fear of getting splatted hindered his concentration as he scraped by for survival. After some odd seconds of running, Jory knew there's only one thing left to do.
"Hrahhh!" Jory cries, tossing his fear of elimination aside to take down Pascal.
Pascal wears a smirk the moment Jory starts firing away, "That's more like it!"
A quick duel of dancing around the other's ink with some sub weapons thrown, Jory realizes he is running low on ink, but if he stops now, he'll surely get splatted. A tough spot to be in, Jory knew it was now or never and that the winner of this duel will likely be under heavy damage. "If I'm going down…" Jory closes in on Pascal, his resolve settling in his determined gaze; "I'll take you with me...!"
Desperate. Reckless. Hasty. Jory's decision to attack Pascal backfires. The experience of the Kalebrough player coming into effect, Pascal was able to read his intentions and took the necessary step to avoid his critical strike and get an open aim on him, unloading a tank of green on the octoling. In an instant, Jory's taken down as his body dissolves in green. Pascal breathes a sigh of relief, but it's cut short as a splat bomb rests right at the feet ready to detonate. Every nerve in the body screaming in horror, Pascal escapes just in time to avoid getting splatted-but barely, drenched in pink. An unfortunate development, Pascal felt lucky that there wasn't anybody nearby and all that needed to be done was clean away the pink gunk. Her mind turning to how she'll help her allies, she takes a look at the board and notices that there are a pair of enemy inklings remaining. Her heart sunk at that moment, identifying that her teammates were fighting one of them, but the other one was nowhere to be found. A shot that cracks through the night like lighting, Pascal is popped like a balloon and taken out in an instant. The barrel of her gun smoking as her purple irises twinkle with life, Violet avenges Jory's sacrifice and brings the game to a 3-2 battle. Elsewhere on the map, Azule's covered by Kippy and Kappa and nearby in the area was Zepp, who was on his way to join them after concluding his business. A dangerous situation for Azule, he was barely staying alive thanks to his skillful maneuvers with the dualies that allowed him to weave and roll out of harm's way. But even then, Kippy and Kappa's marksmanship were nothing to take lightly as each green shot they fired was ever closer to reaching its pink target. Azule hated this feeling of chase, his continuous running like a metaphor for his life where he's running away from all of his challenges, from the obstacles that stand in his way. He felt that if he doesn't escape this pressure will meet failure was enough to make his stomach quiver and his heart appear in his mouth, nauseous at the thought of such an error. If anyone would be running, it wouldn't be him. Doing a cartwheel and flip, Azule sends out his sprinkler to push them back for a moment-using that time to discern his surroundings, locating Zepp just a little bit behind the pair. Sticking the landing, he's in Midnight mode.
"He brought it out again!" The commentator shouts excitedly back in the stadium with a fist pump, prompting cheers from the audience who were hungry to see Midnight Azule; Sky looks uncomfortable with her arms crossed and her gaze away from the big screen, refusing to see her brother go back into that form. Out of the thousands of people in attendance and the millions viewing the game, she was the only one who understood the agony of being in that form, the toll it takes on the body with every second it is utilized. When she saw him playing in that form, she could only remember the struggles she underwent and only imagine how painful it is for him, aware that his body must feel like it's being pressed against heated pins and needles that smother him on all sides.
Kippy and Kappa brace themselves, catching his glowing blue irises and the flash in hair wavering between the team color of pink and his natural royal blue, resembling flames that burn violently. Azule's expression turns fierce with slanted brows, and his teeth show like fangs. He's ready. Kappa steps ahead to take him on, Kippy goes around to encircle him, and Zepp takes the opposite direction of Kippy-arriving in time. An attempt to surround the beastly player, Kalebrough's got their three strongest players handling the lone inkling, but just by being in his presence alone, they felt something cold and vicious radiating from the boy as he watched them closely. Kappa fires, but Azule dodges so with ease and fires his own shots to swim through. A fast paced battle that proves difficult to keep track of thanks to the blistering speed of Azule's movement, in an instant, he went from being surrounded to disappearing; Kalebrough's trio felt their hearts sink in disbelief. In a flash, all three of them are tagged by some pink, though it isn't enough to take them out. Their vision impaired as pink ink covers their eyes, they can only hear the sound of the wind swishing by them that had to belong to them followed by what sounds like swimming sounds. Another shot is fired, but this time it's a thunderous one that sounds different from Azule's. Violet joins the battle! A troublesome development for the trio who instinctively disappeared into their green ink and retreat, Violet keeps her high ground and marks the trio. The nearest one is Zepp, the center one in Kappa, and Kippy is the furthest one.
"Don't let them escape!" Azule yells angrily.
"We have no intention!" Zepp responds in an equally intense tone, breaking away from the pair and heading in Violet's direction; "You're mine!" he shouts, quickly turfing the vertical surface and swimming towards Violet, who could only wait in anticipation for his attack.
Kappa also turned around, instructing Kippy to maintain some distance between them for safety measures; Midnight Azule was as unpredictable as it gets, his speed unmatched and his craftiness heightened-who knew what stunts he'd pull off in the form. His big chance to take on Azule head to head, Kappa lets out his battle cry as he approaches the player who at the moment felt like the proxy of fear, triggering the deepest of emotions within whoever dares challenge him. Azule does a couple rolls to distance himself, but Kappa has no intention of stopping there, prepared to bring Azule down with him if that will be the cost. No matter what, Kippy must survive. Zepp pops up and fires at the floor quickly, already under fire from Violet who gets part of him but not enough to eliminate him-which is good enough for him. Violet fires another shot, once again just barely missing him as he does well to hop about in his squid form and fire at the same time. Violet's irises sharpen as he approaches, sensing the moment of truth come closer as his green figure emerges from the ink, the next few seconds likely to decide the game. Zepp enters her range. Violet locks her aim. Kappa closes in on Azule, his senses screaming for him to turn around and save himself, but his resolve is much stronger than that. Aware that this is the end of the line for himself, he only cares about taking Azule with him. A violent pair of splashing green and pink, three bodies are erased from the battlefield simultaneously with everyone in the stadium up on their feet with their attention glued to the big screen projecting the match. For all the teams watching this match, they couldn't help but get entertained by what the next few moments would entail. Kippy remains for Kalebrough. Azule remains for Squid Academy.
"Ladies and gentleman, we have a battle on our hands!"
A rematch from the previous round, the battle destined to happen finally has the audience it deserves with no interruptions. A classic one on one with a final destination at the end, Kippy Moreno and Azule Royale finally come face to face, staring down the other for a few seconds. The breeze is lively with a chilly bite, the night all the more beautiful thanks to their glowing ink highlighting the environment. The moment feels surreal, as if it was everything she could've asked for as she not only got to play against her favorite team, but even get a personal battle against him of all people, with much more still left in the match. This is Azule's chance to see if he's become worthy of walking beside the stars of Inkopolis, if he had evolved to become a powerful presence like Kippy. A battle of destiny, Kippy's irises glow and Azule's irises glow-the glares they wear ferocious as they harden their spirits for the showdown. Ace of Kalebrough. Captain of Squid Academy. They understood what was on the line just from the pressure filling their lungs and the heaviness on their shoulders. Squid Academy's sideline is on their feet and so is Kalebrough, their eliminated teammates watching on from spawn, shouting their names and tossing all their luck to them. As the next second passes, the pair disappear in an instant leaving behind a splash of their ink. Azule is going counterclockwise, Kippy does the same, both of them making a trail and then changing direction to meet one another in the middle-the overhead view a portrait of a glowing pink semicircle and green semicircle joining together as the two finally collide. Azule throws out his sprinkler to deter her, but Kippy throws out her autobomb to put him off course instead and go on the attack. Azule does a double roll to get away and then a quick spin while firing his dualies to surround himself in pink; Kippy backs off, feeling it course through her body that one wrong misstep meant death. Azule refills. Kippy refills. Once again, Kippy launches an autobomb, but this time Azule does a roll forward to dodge the bomb, his dualies locked on her with some pink hitting the mark; Kippy moves to her right, away that going in squid form would take her out-firing at Azule in mid hop. Azule goes on the attack, refusing to let her slip away since she's already susceptible to damage with the extra pink decorating her, but Kippy uses her fancy footwork to her advantage and performs a quick juke, faking out Azule. The audience reacts to the ankle breaker as Azule nearly loses his balance-his focus on playing aggressive getting the better of him; Kippy uses that brief second to wash away the pink and resurface. A stare down once more as they catch their breath, they can feel their heads pounding them and their lungs gasping for air, unaware that back at Ravia stadium, the place is deafening.
"This is...fun!" Kippy chirps, forcing a smile through the exhaustion.
Azule's coldness melts a bit, "Why are you...like this?"
Kippy flashes a bright smile, "I've waited for this moment for so long, and finally...my end goal is in sight!"
He didn't understand exactly where she was coming from, but that radiance in her irises and the joy in her tone told him enough. There's no way he could hold back against this girl, not when she's been gambling on seeing this through to the end. Azule takes a deep breath and points one of his dualies at her, "I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, but I'm someone important to you, right? So…come at me with everything you got, Kippy Moreno!" he declares, his hair bursting into an inferno with every intention to utilize Midnight the the fullest.
That statement catching her off guard, Kippy can only blush with a heartfelt smile followed by a nod. Now I think I know what this emotion is that's had me nervous all this time, and who would've thought I'd been so obvious about it. How embarrassing…
A charge at one another, the two trade ink. Kippy gets in him the eye, Azule gets her in the legs-both of them descending for cover simultaneously and then resurfacing as well. A battle that felt like a mentor and their student, Azule led the flow of battle, and Kippy followed, coming at him with everything she had, her performance in battle a visual display of her feelings, one that only he could recognize as her opponents. Each time her shot connected, it was a punch that had a message attached that Azule loud and clear the more frequently he got hit. His rolls utilized to the fullest, Azule found himself having to go on the defensive the more aggressive Kippy got, finding that her speed and accuracy were starting to outpace his, as though her flooding of pent up emotions were heightening her senses now that she could express them to one person that mattered. To the audience, this looked like something that could only be found in a drama, the style of Kippy altering from one full of grace and delicacy to something passionate and untamed, the performance shown being the raw side of the wonder girl. Pink. Green. The turf gets covered in one these colors as moist footsteps tread all over paired with the guns firing. The moment of truth arrives with Kippy bringing out her tenta missiles, all of them locked on Azule for what she deemed to be her ultimate attack and goodbye to Azule, now at peace with herself for expressing her feelings to him through battle. The ballistic strikes are locked on Azule, the glowing green ink covering him like a shadow as he gets moving, still having his special weapon in play. Kippy doesn't sit idly, tracking him and looking to cut him off-either way, he'll be splatted, whether at her hands, or from the missiles, there is nowhere to run. Green surrounding him from three directions at high speeds, Azule's window is slim.
I understand your feelings, but I'm sorry. Azule closes his eyes.
The soaring missiles crash into the ground, but there's no report of Azule getting splat and no hint of pink anywhere. This can't be she thought, sure that she overwhelmed him enough into a precarious situation that all he could do was accept his defeat, but the moment she spotted a silhouette out the corner of her eyes, she once again was reminded why she admired him so greatly. Kippy's mouth drops as her head turns to the right seeing a barrage of pink autobombs heading her way. Doing something he rarely ever attempted, Azule dodge rolled four times in a row and unleashed his autobomb launcher at the last moment before running out of ink. Kippy desperately makes her escape as they chase her and detonate, escaping the several pink menaces just barely until…
Azule splats her.
The round coming to an end as the whistle blew, Azule looked full of sorrow after pulling the trigger-the glow in his irises gone and his hair back to normal salmon pink. The third round completed, he's summoned to spawn to link up with his teammates who will return to Ravia stadium. What awaits them is a rumbling stage with cheers and praise pouring in from their supporters, a feeling of lightness overcoming Squid Academy as they see for themselves firsthand that their first round victory wasn't a fluke-they're capable of going head to head against the best. All the players who were the game were stunned by what they just witnessed, none of them foreseeing such an end to the round. Within the unconscious minds of the top players on the continent, there is an impenetrable fortress that houses them-only allowing those considered worthy to join, which included the likes of Kippy and Janice as new members. The iron door shutting on Squid Academy, it was at this moment that they all heard creaks in the door, the banging of a drum from the outside as a boisterous crew announced their arrival. Led by a captain who didn't care what the rest of the world thought, he forces the door open and shows his face to the others. At last, Azule and Squid Academy have been acknowledged. On social media, messages piled up under the top trending page of #KB-SA with people were announcing the arrival of another phenomenal talent, one that flew under the radar of most but little by little was making headway. With a single victory over one of the best players on the continent, the rest of the top could hear it. The foreign footsteps of a problematic inkling approaching their impenetrable door. It wouldn't be long before he breaks his way through, this victory a confirmation of that. It was only a matter of when. A shocking 2-1 lead that once again shifts the conversation, viewers were wondering if the game might go the distance, or if Kalebrough were in danger of seeing an early defeat in the group stage, sure that Kippy's spirit had to have been crushed after such a battle, the weight of failing her team in that round burdensome heading into the next round. Some were jumping to conclusions and calling for her to get swapped out and others were predicting her team's demise. A massive difference a round makes as Kalebrough trails Squid Academy in every regard, the swift ambush proving effective as they swing the momentum in their favor. The pivotal fourth round to begin following a well needed break for both sides, the contest heats up between the two young rivals from Inkopolis.
