Arc 1 Chapter 7 Surprise Attack
NOTE: This chapter is a little long but brief on the narration. It is the beginning of the great turf war. Blake and Cuttlefish will soon realize how they and the other inklings unprepared they are as they witness the destruction of their peaceful society. Let's hope and Cuttlefish will survive as tensions have boiled over to the point of no return.
The sun had not quite risen yet as birds started to sing and the crickets were still chirping. Everything seemed calm compared to the past few months. Hours pass as Blake and Cuttlefish were still sleeping as well as all the inklings in the village that trained yesterday. It was getting later and Blake had finally woken up, heading to the kitchen as to not disturb Cuttlefish.
Blake sat on the couch with the Krabby cake he didn't finish last night. Thoughts were still stewing in his mind as to where things would go between the two races. Just then...
BOOM! an explosion is heard in the distance. A moment passes BOOM! another explosion, they sounded like they were coming from the village.
"What The!" shouted Blake in surprise as he jumped off the couch. He shortly rushes to the bedroom to wake Cuttlefish.
"Captain! Captain! Wake Up!" yelled Blake shaking Cuttlefish.
"just one more minute," mumbled Cuttlefish.
"Captain you have to get up! I think we're under attack!" shouted Blake to wake Cuttlefish.
"uhh...what's going on Bucko," asked Cuttlefish still groggy.
"Captain, I think we're being attacked!" explained Blake as another explosion can be heard.
"WHAT! We have to gather up everybody, We have to head down to the village now!" shouted Cuttlefish as he recollected himself grabbing Blake and the Bamboozlers and running out the door.
Cuttlefish and Blake ran down to the village as fast as they can. They notice the destruction from some of the explosions. An inkling runs up to Cuttlefish and Blake. "Captain! It's the octarians they've started the attack! we have to do something!" shouted the inkling in panic.
"Calm down! Is anyone injured?" asked Cuttlefish.
"We have some people hurt, but thankfully no one's been killed," answered the inkling.
"OK!" said Cuttlefish to the inkling then turned towards Blake. "Blake, I'm going with him to help the injured and get them to safety. Go down that street and check for any survivors and get them out of harm's way," commanded Cuttlefish.
Blake just nodded and ran towards the marketplace.
Some of the buildings in the village were on fire or destroyed from the surprise attack. Inklings could either be frantically running down the streets shouting for anyone that needed help or carrying people out of the buildings waiting for help. Blake was rushing down the street to look for any signs of life, but to no avail, as he made his way towards his old job.
Blake shouted as he got near the market. "Hello! is anyone hurt!" yelled Blake. Blake continued shouting for any help when he then turned back towards Mimi's clothes store. The store had partially collapsed and was on fire. Blake looked at the store horrified and rushed towards it.
"No...no...no, please be okay," said Blake in a panic to himself as he made his way inside.
The smoke filled the air as Blake was covering his mouth and coughing. Blake looked around to see if anyone was trapped in the building, so far there was no one, hoping that no one was in the building during the attack, but then all of a sudden he heard someone cough and mumble behind the counter. It was Mimi laying on the floor half-consciense.
"Mimi!" screamed Blake. Blake walked over and kneeled down checking on her. "Mimi, are you ok!" Blake asked in a panicked tone.
"B...B...Blake...Is that you," said Mimi weakly as she turned over to face him.
"Mimi, thank god you're alright. I'm gonna get you outta here," said Blake with relief.
He picked up Mimi, bridal style and carried her towards the door fighting the smoke and crumbling ceiling. Blake and Mimi barely made it out as the building finally collapsed behind them. Looking back thankful he got her out in the nick of time.
Blake placed Mimi down trying to keep her awake. "Mimi, stay with me, you're gonna be ok," said a stressed Blake.
Mimi finally opened her eyes. her sight slowly cleared up and saw Blake over her with a relieved expression and a smile on his face.
"Blake? Did...you save me?" asked Mimi still in shock.
"yes and I'm glad you're ok," replied Blake.
Mimi just froze in realization and rushed to hug Blake. "Thank you, Blake!" she cried as tears were falling.
after their embrace, Blake pulled Mimi off and looked at her in the eyes. "Mimi, I'm so sorry about the other day in the garden, it's just that I didn't want..." said Blake as he was cut off by Mimi pressing her finger against his mouth.
"It's...alright, Blake. You were just looking out for me, I understand," replied Mimi.
Blake downed his head in regret, but Mimi picked his head back up and kissed him on the cheek. "My hero," is all that Mimi said. grateful for being saved by the human she was infatuated with. The two soon leave the area and try to make it back to Cuttlefish and any survivors.
It was early in the morning. The octarian army was getting into their battle stations. the tentacle creatures with bugged green eyes and big lips had hopped on platforms that carried them around. Large fat creatures with a tentacle for arms and small legs had a helmet placed on their heads with a propeller attached to it. this gave them the ability to fly and they carried bombs on them. There were multiple different types of octarian type creatures that were modified for the coming battle.
Octolings had gathered up, these were the octarian counterparts of inklings and they were wearing armor and carrying what looked like squirt guns filled with ink.
"All right! Is everyone in position!" yelled a black tentacled octoling to the masses of octarians and octolings. They all yelled "Yes, Ma'am!"
"We attack now! while they are still asleep from the exhaustion of training!" yelled the black tentacle octoling.
"lazy inkstains," the black tentacle octoling muttered to herself as she sneered.
The army moved out of the underground base and pushed forward into the valley. The octobombers flew ahead of everyone and set their sights on the village below. They picked targets to bomb as they swooped down. As they dropped bombs on the village the octarians waited until they got done, preparing to charge in during the panic and may lay.
Octavio soon appeared looking down on the village. He narrowed his eyes and took a hard look at the bomb runs conducted by the octobombers. "This ends now inklings, its time for the rise of the octarians and to take what belongs to us, there's not enough room for the both of us," said Octavio.
"Sir! the octobombers have stopped, do we proceed," asked the black tentacle octoling.
Octavio looked at the octoling coldly. "commence with the ground attack," commanded Octavio.
"yes, sir!" saluted the black tentacled octoling. She then looked back at the army and yelled "CHARGE!" soon the octarian army pushed through the valley towards the village. ready to attack.
"Bucko! There you are! What can you report," asked Cuttlefish.
"I managed to rescue Mimi and the both us have helped as many inklings as we can and got them to safety," replied Blake.
"what's happening Cuttlefish!?" asked a distressed Mimi.
"The Octarians have begun the attack, we have to get everyone out of the village ASAP, I'm sure they plan on staging a ground attack anytime now," replied Cuttlefish.
"Me and some of the squidbeak will stay back and keep them occupied while you get the rest of the inklings to safety," said Cuttlefish to Blake.
"Not gonna happen Captain, If you're staying back then I am too," protested Blake.
"No, Bucko! I need someone to lead the inklings out of the valley, your agent zero, that's an order!" commanded Cuttlefish.
"Agent zero?" questioned Mimi.
"It's a long story," said Blake to Mimi. "But I don't care about the agent title, I'm not leaving you and the others behind!" protested Blake again to Cuttlefish.
Cuttlefish was getting agitated and just took a long sigh. "Bucko, I'm not gonna argue with you, please think about those inklings that need you to get them out of the valley, just...do it Blake, I'm begging you, pleaded Cuttlefish as he calmed down and gave Blake a compassionate look.
Blake took a long sigh with his head bowed and looked back up. "Alright, Captain...but promise me you'll make it back, ok," said Blake.
"I promise, this is Cuttlefish you're talking about, lad, now go," said Cuttlefish with confidence.
Blake nodded. "I'll hold you to that," said Blake as he and Mimi left to get the other inklings to safety.
Cuttlefish then had positioned the squidbeak for battle and readied themselves to fight the octarians.
The octarian army pushed further in the valley until they reached the village. The Octarian forces spread out through the village looking for any survivors. As the Octarians moved through the streets they were unaware they were being watched.
As some octarian octotroopers on platforms were scanning the streets, the first one was splatted by an squidbeak with a bamboozler on top of a building. Soon two more were picked off unsure what had happened. "Yeah, we got'em!" celebrated one of the squidbeak.
They soon moved on to pick off more targets. Many octotroopers were splatted by surprise attacks carried out by the squidbeak platoon. "this is too easy," said one of the squidbeak, but their pride was crushed when they saw the octobombers returning. As they got close one of the squidbeak yelled, "Take Over!"
The inklings took cover out of sight of the octobombers, hoping not to get caught. When the octobombers finally left, the inklings pushed out to find better vantage points.
As more and more Octotroopers were picked off, one of squidbeaks was being zeroed in on. A red lighted dot appeared on his chest, unsure what it was, he was splatted instantly. "Sam!" one of the inklings screamed. "What happened!" yelled another inkling.
Soon the red dot appeared on another squidbeak, but the inkling jumped down before a beam of ink flew over him. "Bill, are you okay!?" shouted an inkling to the one that almost got splatted. "I'm alright, where did that shot come from?" asked Bill.
"I don't know," said a female squidbeak. "Keep your eyes peeled said a male squidbeak.
The inklings were being mindful and watching for any movement, just then the bright red dot appeared on the female squidbeak. "Yoko, watch out!" said a male inkling grabbing her down just in time. "Yoko, you ok," asked the male inkling.
"I'm fine," said Yoko.
"There!" shouted an inkling.
It was an Octarian trooper but he was bigger and had a long spout hooked up to his mouth and was wearing goggles. He was perched on the roof of a tall building overlooking the inkling's positions. He tried to line up another shot on the squidbeak when SPLAT! the octosniper was put out of commission for good.
The squidbeak was looking around for who killed the octarian. they all shrugged as they looked at each other. Then a figure appeared on the opposite side of the overlook from the octosniper. It was no other than Cuttlefish holding up his bamboozler.
"Captain?!" yelled Yoko. "Nice shot!" said the male inkling that saved Yoko.
"Alright squidbeak! We have a lot of ground to cover. The octarians are slowly advancing and they'll soon be on top of us. I just hope we bought Blake and the others enough time," said Cuttlefish.
"Cuttlefish we lost Sam," said Bill
"Yeah, and there's too many of them, we can't match to those gadgets their using, we have to fall back," said a male inkling.
"I wanna be sure that Blake and the inklings have gotten far enough away to safety, we need to hold out a little longer," said Cuttlefish to the group.
"If we can make it that long," said the Male inkling snidely.
"We're the squidbeak platoon we took an oath to protect this valley from all threats, don't forget that!" said Cuttlefish sternly surprising everyone.
"He's right!" said Bill
"Yeah!," followed by Yoko.
Cuttlefish and the rest of squidbeak held up their bamboozlers and tapped them together. They all shouted, "for all the inklings!" yelled the group in unison as the octarians moved in closer.
Blake, Mimi, and the rest of the inklings finally made it out of the valley and up the foothills. The inklings looked back at the village saddened that they had to leave their homes from the octarian attack. Blake was worrying about Cuttlefish hoping that he'll survive and make his way back. Mimi tried to comfort and reassure that Cuttlefish is tough and would return when he could, hugging Blake.
Blake was pained at the situation. He thought about the inklings, how they got attacked and being driven out of their homes. Blake clutched his bamboozler and gave a deep sigh. "I can't believe Octavio would do this," muttered to himself as he felt a hand rest on his shoulder from behind.
It was Mimi. "Blake... things...will get better, I'm so glad that you got us all to safety," Mimi said trying to lift his spirits.
Blake turned towards Mimi then placed his head down. "yeah, but I hated that the inklings got attacked, I guess now peace is out of the question, " Blake said in distress.
Blake gave a sigh and picked his head back up, facing Mimi. "I'd hope it would have never come to this," said Blake.
Mimi placed her hand under Blake's chin. "You got us all to safety, that's all that matters right now," said a supportive Mimi.
Mimi then gave Blake a hug and Blake returned wrapping his arms around her as well.
A voice soon caught their attention and they looked towards the direction of the voice and saw a figure waving at them. It was Ammoses looking over them up the hill with Judd standing beside him.
"Ammoses?" said a surprised, but relieved Blake.
The two, run up to him. "Ammoses, what are doing up here!?" asked Blake.
"I come up this way to my archeological sites to dig and find more and more human artifacts," replied Sheldon. Sheldon's expression soon changes as he sees the whole village down the hill behind Blake and Mimi, then the village itself.
"Oh no, I'd hope this wouldn't happen sooner, " said a grieving Ammoses.
Ammoses looked and saw Cuttlefish wasn't with them. "Wait, where's Cuttlefish!" shouted a panicked" Ammoses.
"He...had to stay back and by us some time... I wanted to stay back with him, but he...ordered me to take the village to safety," explained Blake putting his head down while Mimi comforted him.
"I...see, " said Ammoses distressed turning his head and lowering it. after a moment he picked his head back up. "I know Cuttlefish will make it," said Ammoses reassuring himself.
"I know he will," responded Blake. Blake hesitated for a moment and looked back at Ammoses. "Ammoses, is there a place that the village could stay at up here," asked Blake.
"Yeah, there is, I haven't been there yet, but I've seen it from the camp. There is what a believe to be the remnants of an ancient human city, southwest of here, but it's a good walk though," exclaimed Ammoses.
"We have no choice, We'll rest up here for an hour and make our way to those ruins," said Blake.
"Alright, then I'll gather up all my things," said Ammoses as he walked away with Judd.
Blake turned back to the village with a pained expression. "Blake...are you ok? " asked Mimi with concern.
"Yeah, let's just get everyone up the hill," said Blake.
"Please, make it back Captain," Blake thought to himself.
The octarian octobombers made another bombing run hoping to flush out the squidbeak platoon. two inklings were killed and one injured.
The inklings on the rooftops squid jumped as soon as it was clear and made their way down to the street level.
Cuttlefish ordered the squidbeak to pull back further into the village, as they made their way, they were taking fire from two octosnipers from on top of the buildings.
Some of the inklings went to squid form and scurred down the street to avoid the enemy ink being shot at them, but some of the inklings didn't squid form in time and took some hits.
one inkling is shot and killed. another one is struck in the leg and falls down, two squidbeaks carry the inkling with them. They steadily run and run while taking fire while octotroopers were chasing them down the street, until they reached the garden where Blake and Mimi hung out.
They bend over catching their breath from trying to outrun the octarians.
"Captain, We (pant) can't take (pant) any more of this! We may have to surrender!" exclaimed a male inkling while catching his breath.
"Surrender is not an option soldier, We 're squidbeak and we'll keep fighting to the last squid," yelled a displeased Cuttlefish.
The group was battle-worn and weary. They tended to the injured hoping they could find another place to hide. Then all of a sudden.
"Cuttlefish!" a voice yelled out from outside the garden.
The squidbeak turn and look. On the street in front of the entrance of the garden was no other than Octavio himself with the black tentacled octoling beside him holding an ink gun and the octarian army behind him.
"Cuttlefish, you and your squidbeaks will be given a chance to surrender, I would heed this opportunity while you have it," said Octavio.
"what do we do?" asked an inkling
"we...may have no choice," said another inkling.
"Captain! what do you want us to do?" asked Bill to Cuttlefish.
Cuttlefish squatted down and pondered about their dilemma. A moment passes. "Cuttlefish! what will it be!" roared Octavio outside the garden.
Cuttlefish then thought of a plan. He looked over the squidbeak and let out a sigh. "squids, it's been a pleasure fighting alongside you, but I'm not gonna put you in harm's way anymore, I'm gonna face Octavio while you all make an escape," explained the Captain.
"No Captain! You can't!" cried Yoko who was shot in the arm from the fire.
"We won't let you do it!" protested a male inkling.
Cuttlefish faced the group again. "That's an order!" yelled Cuttlefish startling the inklings.
Cuttlefish made his way out of the garden and glared at Octavio and the octarians.
"Where's the rest of your squidbeak, Cuttlefish?" asked Octavio sternly.
"That's Captain Cuttlefish to you! and don't worry about them, this is between me and you, Octavio!" whipped Cuttlefish.
"Hmmm, still stubborn as usual and that's DJ Octavio to you! it's time you and the rest of those inkstains serve the octarians and maybe we'll go easy on you," said Octavio sneering.
"Screw you! Me and the inklings will never be placed under the thumb of the octarians," shouted Cuttlefish angrily at his former friend.
"So be it, Troops! take this hipster away until he learns some proper manners for his new rulers," ordered Cuttlefish.
As the octoling soldiers made their way to Cuttlefish with ink guns drawn, they notice the squidbeak charging from behind Cuttlefish shooting ink at them.
It had turned into the OK corral between the squidbeak and some of the octoling troops. Cuttlefish yelled, "WHAT! I told you to get out of here!"
"Like you said, we're squidbeak and we fight to the last squid," yelled Bill as he was shooting down the octolings.
Octolings were getting splatted and the black tentacled Octoling shielded Octavio from the fighting. "Splat those inkstains!" ordered the octoling.
an octoling lined a shot on Cuttlefish and pulled the trigger. Just then Bill jumped in front of Cuttlefish and had hit him and he was splatted instantly.
"NOOOO!" yelled Cuttlefish reaching his arm out kneeling. He held his head down seeing his friend get splatted in front of him.
When the dust settled all of the squidbeak were splatted with Cuttlefish still remaining. "You'll pay for that little ambush!" shouted Octavio to Cuttlefish. He looked at the black tentacled octoling. "Finish him!" barked Octavio.
The black tentacled octoling stepped forward and aimed her weapon at Cuttlefish.
Cuttlefish got up and clinched his fist. He held his head up and death stared at Octavio and the octarians. "Mark my words Ocatvio! I will avenge my comrades and all the inklings you've hurt and killed!" shouted Cuttlefish holding back his tears.
"hmpf, empty words, shoot him!" ordered Octavio to the black tentacled octoling with her gun still drawn.
Just then Cuttlefish squid formed and jumped as far as he could with the black tentacled octoling shooting at him. He took a hit on one of his tentacles and yelled in pain as he landed back down hard outside the village near the foothills. Cuttlefish went back to his bipedal form and laid on the ground in pain. After a moment his eyes began to blur as he was fighting to stay consciense.
Cuttlefish could hear footsteps approaching. He was fighting to move as he saw a figure look over him crouching down. He could not make the figure out but heard muffled talking unable to make it out as he finally closed his eyes and went unconsciense.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: The Octarians have destroyed and taken the inkling village causing a great exodus of inklings to flee to the foothills led by Blake and Mimi. Cuttlefish and the Squidbeak platoon stay back to bide time for Blake and village as well as fight of the Octarian invaders. Seems the odds are in Octavio's favor let's hope the tables turn soon and the inklings take back there home.