Arc 1 Chapter 9
The ruins were quiet, not a sound was heard, nothing was stirring. Inside a two-story building located near the plaza of the ancient city were two figures still fast asleep. An orange headed inkling laying with her new human boyfriend. Blake and Mimi were facing each other still asleep until Mimi started to blink her eyes and raised her head. She finally sat up and stretched her arms to yawn. She turned and looked at Blake with a smile.
she eyed the teeth marks she put on Blake's neck sometime during the night when he was still asleep. It was a way that inkling's marked their mates so no one else would make a move on an inkling that was already in a relationship with someone. It was usually on the ears, but his were too small, so she settled for his neck.
Blake started to stur and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and turned towards Mimi. "morning, Mimi," said Blake with a slight smile.
"morning Blake, how did you, sleep," asked Mimi.
"pretty good, though I felt something bite me in the neck," said Blake rubbing his neck.
Mimi turned her head hiding her red face. "I guess we should head back to the camp, I'm sure everyone is wondering where we were at," said Mimi.
"Yeah, we better leave, come on let's get going," said Blake leading Mimi out of the old studio.
Blake and Mimi left the plaza and made their way back to the camp. But they were greeted by an agitated and worried Ammoses.
"Where have you two been! We've all been worried that something happened to you two! Explain yourselves!" demanded Ammoses looking at them hard with his arms bent propped on his sides.
"Sorry Ammoses, I just needed some time to myself, but Mimi wanted to come check on me and made sure I was ok," explained Blake rubbing the back of his head.
"I'm sorry too, Ammoses. It got too dark for us to make it back and we had to find a place to sleep for the night," said Mimi defending Blake.
"I... guess that's understandable, what you've been through and those dreams you were talking about," said Ammoses as he sighed and forgave the two of them. "well Blake, there is someone awake that wants to see you," guided Ammoses to a large tent.
Blake, Ammoses, and Mimi walk in the tent to see Cuttlefish sitting on his bed.
"Cuttlefish!," shouted Mimi rushing over and hugging him.
"Ok, Lass...you're...hurting my arm," said Cuttlefish trying to get his words out.
Mimi pulled off, "sorry," she said as Blake walked over to Cuttlefish.
"Captain, I'm glad to see your ok," said Blake as he hugged Cuttlefish without binding him.
"Good to see you too bucko," said Cuttlefish holding his bandaged arm.
After a while Cuttlefish explained to the Blake, Ammoses, and Mimi about the battle they had with octarians. How squidbeak was killed off and the octarians capturing the village. Cuttlefish downed his head feeling he didn't do enough to stop the octarians or save his friends. Blake stepped up and placed his hand on Cuttlefish and assured him that he gave it his all and that he was glad he made it back and kept his promise. Cuttlefish smiled and hugged Blake with tears forming to see his human friend again.
Minutes passed as the four of them walked out of the tent in front of the large crowd of inklings. Cuttlefish stepped in front of his friends to deliver an energizing speech. "Today we take back the valley from Octavio and his army! We will avenge our fallen squid brethren who gave their lives to keep you safe from the octo-menace! Prepare for war my fellow squids we train today!" shouted Cuttlefish with zealousness.
The inklings yelled and cheered, eager to reclaim back their homes from the octarians. Ammoses built as many bamboozlers as much as he could as well as crafted ink-bombs with what material he had.
After a while, the inklings trained to shoot the bamboozlers. shooting at cars and other objects lying around. Mimi had also decided to arm herself and train with Blake helping her. Mimi blushed as Blake was behind her showing how to shoot and position herself.
Mimi with Blake practiced until she got efficient enough to hit targets. Cuttlefish walked over and congratulated the two.
Cuttlefish watched the inklings train hoping they had a fighting chance, but with confidence, he thinks they would.
Octavio made his way to the domes. He had a hatch built like a tea kettle near Cuttlefish's after Cuttlefish fled and used his cabin as an observation post. He opened the top of the kettle going into octo form. The kettle closed and steamed and Octavio shot down a pipe towards the domes.
When Octavio made it to the other end also looking like a tea kettle, he got out and reverted back to his bipedal form. Octavio was nauseated and was trying not to vomit. "There has got to be a better way to get down here, than that," said an aggravated Octavio to himself.
The inside of the dome was huge and filled with giant tv screens that were lining the walls. The octolings managed to power the domes with zapfish causing the screens to come on and platforms to float in the air around them. The screens showed a simulated sky depending on the time of the day it was. A large light above simulated sunlight for the dome.
Octavio made his way further into the dome and found the octolings fiddling with some old computers.
"what have you found out?" asked Octavio.
"Octavio, Sir, we are still trying to tap into these computers but we can't understand the language on the screens," explained an octoling.
Octavio looked at the screen and noticed that it was human lettering like on Blake's ID card he had seen two years ago. He had also noticed an emblem on the corner of the screen that he recognized. It was the Namabo icon from the back of Blake's ID card. "huh...Namabo?" Octavio muttered.
"Sir?" asked a baffled octoling.
"It's nothing, Keep working on it until you find something," commanded Octavio as he walked away.
Octavio looked around in astonishment wondering what the domes were for. octotroopers made their way up the platforms scouting and looking around for anything. Octolings were pushing their way further into the domes with a transport system like the kettles used for getting back to the surface.
It had done reached noon and the inklings were finishing their training to take a break and eat. Cuttlefish sat down holding his arm waiting for it to heal.
"Cuttlefish go easy, I know you're stubborn, but you need to let that arm heal," scolded Blake approaching him.
"Inklings heal pretty fast bucko, I'm not gonna let a clipped tentacle keep me from doing my job," responded Cuttlefish.
Blake sighed and looked back at his wounded mentor. "you'll never change, will you Captain," said Blake shaking his head.
Their talk was cut short as they felt stomping coming from the direction of the village. The inklings cut their break short and grabbed their bamboozlers fearing another octarian surprise attack.
Cuttlefish jumped up with Blake trying to brace him. "prepare for anything squids!" shouted Cuttlefish.
They waited and got into fighting positions listening to the stomping that was getting louder. The stomping soon stopped and as a moment passed a giant square figure leaped and landed near the camp and gave a gargled roar.
"What is that thing!" screamed Mimi holding her bamboozler.
"Everyone, disperse, its one of the great octoweapons! " commanded Cuttlefish to the inklings.
The crowd panics and frantically runs around while others shoot at the octoweapon. It's no use the ink has little effect on the giant beast. It gives another roar and jumps up and lands down on the ground face down kicking its legs. The inklings that didn't get out of the way in time are splatted under the giant creature. The octostomp manages to get up and repeats the process two more times splatting more inklings.
"Captain! what do we do! We're no match for that thing!" yelled a male inkling.
"There's gotta be a way to stop that thing," says Cuttlefish to himself.
"Cuttlefish!" yelled Ammoses running towards them.
"yes, Ammoses, what is it!" asked Cuttlefish distressed.
"I noticed when it landed down it had a tentacle moving around on top of it, It could possibly be its weak point since its body is armored," explained Ammoses.
"I guess we'll have to see then," said Cuttlefish.
Cuttlefish started to bend down to squid form when he was stopped by Blake. "Captain you're still wounded, I won't let you fight that thing," protested Blake.
"Bucko, I have to! this is Cuttlefish you're talking to, besides my arm is starting to feel better," responded Cuttlefish.
"Fine, but I'll distract it!" said Blake.
"No, you can't squid form to avoid its movements, I won't let you put yourself in danger," demanded Cuttlefish.
"I'll be ok Captain, this is agent zero you're talking to!" Blake whipped back.
Cuttlefish just gave a slight smile and accepted his defeat to the argument. "Ok, Bucko, then let's do this!" shouted Cuttlefish.
Blake was moving around getting the hulking creature's attention while Cuttlefish looked for the opportunity to climb on the beast. The octostomp chased Blake around and landed its face forward attempting to squish him. As soon the octostomp got up is was dazed and gave Cuttlefish a chance to shoot ink at its side allowing him to swim in the ink and get on top of it.
The octostomp bucked Cuttlefish off of it as soon as it came to its senses. Cuttlefish landed back down clutching his arm. "Captain you ok!" shouted Blake. "yeah, I'm fine, we need to try that plan again," said Cuttlefish. "OK!" shouted Blake.
Blake moved around but the octostomp was tracking his movements and Blake came very close to getting smashed by the giant octoweapon. "Shit! that was close!" Blake shouted in panic. He decided to stop and lobbed an ink bomb at the creature's legs. The octostomp dropped backwards and was struggling to get back on its feet. The octostomp soon got up and was dazed like it was before exposing the tentacle coming out of its head.
Cuttlefish rushed to the side of it and inked a path like before and swam up to shoot the tentacle. Cuttlefish succeded and the tentacle burst and spewed ink out of it. Just then the hulking beast was toppling over. Cuttlefish squid jumped off the octoweapon. The creature started to fall towards Blake as he was frozen in fear and just slowly backed up and fell as the octostomp landed face down on the on top of him.
"BLAKE!" screamed Mimi as she watched in horror, her boyfriend getting squished by the hulking octoweapon.
Oh no, BUCKO!" shouted Cuttlefish.
The octolings had been trying to access the computer for hours until they finally got it running. The screen of the console changed and different windows had popped up. It appeared to be information on the domes and rosters of individuals though the octolings couldn't read it.
Each of the domes were different, housing structures to even plant life. The octarians were salvaging as much as they can and fixed anything they could.
The octolings were frustrated that they could not read the language on the screen and moved on. They decided to report back to Octavio and inform him about the computer and being unable to decipher the language.
The information on the screen revealed that the domes were to be a resettling habitation for when the humans returned on the Ark Polaris. Unfortunately, the Ark never made it back and the domes weren't finished. The computer had a roster of all the individuals on the Ark and their personal information. The roster was to give them occupations of what they were to do when they returned. It's a wonder how the computer systems are still working even though they were over 2000 years old.
The octolings made it back to Octavio about the news, but Octavio just shrugged it aside and ordered for the octarians to explore some more and report anything else they may find. the octolings saluted and left.
Octavio then started furthering his work on his big floating DJ booth making more improvements. Octavio after a while stopped and thought about when he, Cuttlefish and Blake were friends. Before the sea waters rose and the war. Octavio shook his head and continued work.
"What's in the past is in the past, I must put my people first," Octavio said to himself.
Octavio grew more callous and oppressive as he focused on his work and the war. Octavio repressed any thoughts of Cuttlefish and Blake as his friends.
After a while Octavio was done and left to meet back with the black tentacled octoling for any assessments on the status of the inklings.
The camp had gone quiet as the inklings stared at the slain octoweapon that had squashed the human under it. Ammoses was speechless as well as Judd. Mimi had kneeled down balling with tears flowing out of her eyes, "no...no, it can't be...Blake, you can't be gone," cried Mimi. Cuttlefish was punching the octostomp in anguish wishing that it was him that had gotten killed instead of Blake. The inklings were heartbroken with some of them crying over their human savior's death.
Minutes passed and the octostomp started to stir. Its legs were spinning and the crowd backed up fearing the octostomp was not defeated after all. The creature then lifted itself up and tumbled back still dazed from the fall. The octostomp moved away dizzy, trying to get its balance when all of a sudden in the pool of ink it left behind a figure slowly rose up.
"uuuhhh... " the figure moaned. It struggled to wipe it's face off until it revealed to be Blake.
"What? Bucko?" said a shocked Cuttlefish.
"BLAAAKKKE!" shrieked Mimi as she rushed over to him, hugging and squeezing him, making him cough up ink.
The crowd of inklings gathered around in joy to see Blake alive and stunned that he survived getting squished by the giant creature.
Blake pointed at a crevice that he fell in as the octostomp landed on the ground above him.
"Bucko! you're ok! I thought you were a goner!" said Cuttlefish surprised but relieved to see his friend alive.
"I'm fine, but still shooken up, the ink paralyzed me for a moment, but I think it's wearing off," said Blake as he could start to move his body again.
The crowd then turned to the still dazed octostomp stumbling around. "we still have an octoweapon to defeat," said Blake.
"You up to it bucko?" asked Cuttlefish as he turned to Blake in surprise.
"Yeah, let's do this," replied Blake with courage.
"you're not alone! We all got your back!" shouted Mimi with the inklings ready behind her. Cuttlefish and Blake shocked at her confidence. They all turned toward the octostomp.
The octostomp shook its body and finally got its senses back and looked at the crowd and gave a gargled roar. It charged at the inklings as they spread-out avoiding it. Mimi taunted it sticking her tongue out at it, "what? Is that the best you got? can't squish a little squid," teased Mimi as she squid formed away from the octostomp before it fell down.
"you couldn't even squish a puny human like me, some octoweapon you are," jeered Blake at the giant octostomp. It then started to chase him and leaped to squish him, but Blake managed to get out of the way in time.
A couple of inklings threw ink bombs under the beast and it stumbled back and into a building collapsing on the octoweapon. After a moment when the dust settled the debris started to shake as the octostomp got back up and it gave a roar.
It was agitated now. It gave a leap towards the center of the crowd. Mimi froze in fear as she couldn't move or squid form. "Mimi!" yelled Blake as he rushed towards her and grabbed her in the nick of time before the octostomp landed back down.
Blake put Mimi down, "you ok?" he asked her.
"oh, Blake, thank you!" as she hugged his neck.
The octostomp got back up dazed like the other times. Cuttlefish took no time to rush in and ink a path up the creature. He decided to drop an ink bomb in the creature where the tentacle was and squid jumped off before the ink bomb exploded.
The creature stumbled and fell on its face with its legs spinning. It was making all kinds of noise as it was preparing to destruct. "Everyone! get back!" yelled Blake.
The inklings, Blake, and Cuttlefish took cover as they watched the octostomp explode into ink and metal.
The octolings, that had been hiding out of sight, had watched the events transpire and the destruction of the octostomp, they looked in horror and utter shock.
"Th...Th...They destroyed the octostomp! yelled one of the octoling soldiers.
What do we do!" shouted another one.
"We...have to fall back, their's too many of them, plus that human survived and the ink didn't have much effect on him," exclaimed the leader.
"going somewhere?!" a voice in front of them asked as they turned to the figure. It was Blake holding a bamboozler at them as well as Cuttlefish and the rest of the inklings behind him also holding their bamboozlers.
"It's the human, RUN!" shouted the octoling leader.
The octoling detachment ran as fast as they could, even octo forming to get away as the inklings shot at them, splatting some of them as they headed back towards the village.
The inklings cheered in victory, defeating the octostomp and forcing the octolings to retreat. Cuttlefish turned around to see Ammoses picking up a chubby yellow fish out of the wreckage of the octoweapon. It had curled whiskers and was producing electricity. "fascinating," exclaimed Ammoses.
"What is that, Ammoses?" asked Cuttlefish.
"I believe these are zapfish, I've heard about them, but I've never seen one up close," explained Ammoses with the fish squirming in his hands.
"Is that what powered that thing?" asked Cuttlefish.
"yeah, you see zapfish produce electricity, if we had enough zapfish, we could convert the village to electricity and power it," said a joyous Ammoses.
"that's amazing," said Blake. "I wonder where the octarians have been getting them from?" asked Blake.
"I'm not sure, but I'm sure they have more," replied Ammoses.
"Then it's settled, we take back the valley from the octarians in the morning and take the zapfish from those octopi," said Cuttlefish. "but, let's train some more before we head to bed and clean up the camp, we have a rough day ahead of us," exclaimed Cuttlefish.
"you got it, captain!" Blake saluted as he prepared the inklings for battle.
Cuttlefish then turned towards the direction of the village. "I assure you, Octavio, your next and the rest of the octarians," jeered Cuttlefish as he walked back to the camp to help with preparations for the counter-attack in the morning.