Arc 1 Chapter 13
Ammoses, Mimi and the inklings had followed the floating landmass all the way back to the ruins of the ancient human city. Still stunned at the sight of the giant floating rock that was once part of the valley. Mimi, Ammoses and everyone stopped at the plaza of the ruins looking up contemplating what to do.
"We can't squid jump up there, it's still too high," exclaimed Mimi.
"I wish there was a way to get up there," said Ammoses.
Just then Ammoses and Mimi heard meowing. The looked and saw that it was Judd.
Judd had stayed back at Ammoses tent at one of Ammoses's dig sites with food. Ammoses didn't want Judd to get hurt while they made their way to the village to fight the octarians. Judd saw the octarian's floating territory when it flew over and wondered what was going and followed it to the city ruins like the inklings.
"Ammoses, what's going on? why is that land floating and where are Cuttlefish and Blake?" asked Judd telepathically while meowing.
"Judd you were supposed to stay back at my tent, but (sigh)... it's the octarians doings," said Ammoses.
"Cuttlefish and Blake are up there!" exclaimed Mimi pointing up towards the floating giant rock.
Judd looked up and after a moment he could sense Blake on the giant landmass. "Wait! I can sense him," said Judd.
"You can?" asked a questioned Ammoses.
"Blake is fighting the octarians, he's trying to unplug something," said Judd trying to connect to Blake's thoughts.
"Unplug something?" said a confused Ammoses.
"Yeah, I believe it's the octarians power source," explained Judd.
Ammoses and the others looked back up at the floating landmass wondering what was going on, hoping Blake and Cuttlefish were stopping the octarians.
"Their's nothing we can do right now but pray that Blake and Cuttlefish defeat Octavio and the octarians," said Ammoses as he looked back at Mimi and Judd.
Cuttlefish was battling with Octavio while Blake was dealing with the giant zapfish, the source of the octarians power. As Blake got close to the plugin, the octarians fired at Blake stopping him from unplugging the power source. Blake took cover behind some computers while the octarians shot ink towards him.
"Don't let him unplug the power emitter!" shouted an Octoling.
Blake leaned over his cover and shot at the octolings, splatting a few of them before they found cover. Blake had to make each shot count since Cuttlefish could not refill his tank.
Meanwhile, Cuttlefish was squid forming in ink puddles he made evading Octavio's attacks.
"Come on! Is that the best you got! Can't hit a tiny squid?" taunted Cuttlefish.
Octavio roared on his floating DJ booth as he shoots ink missiles towards Cuttlefish. For a while, Cuttlefish had managed to avoid all of Octavio's attacks easily. Octavio was getting frustrated as his army sat back and watched the two fight.
"Hold still hipster! While I remix your face!" yelled Octavio.
Blake was still shooting at the octarians as the octotroopers made their move towards him. He splatted them as they got closer. Blake was running low on ink and he had hurry up and unplug the octarians energy source. Blake took an opportunity while the octolings were hiding behind cover and made a beeline towards the plug.
"Stop Him!" shouted an octoling.
Blake was almost at the plug when a stream of ink flew towards him. He ducked and slid, turning towards the octolings and shot at the octoling that fired at him, splatting them. Octavio soon noticed that Blake was defeating the octolings and was almost at the plug.
"If you want something done right, then you gotta do it yourself!" shouted Octavio and fired an ink missile towards Blake.
Cuttlefish popped out the ink and watched the missile head towards Blake.
"Blake! Look out!" yelled Cuttlefish.
But it was too late the missile impacted in front of Blake and he flew backward, lying on his stomach motionless covered in ink.
"Bucko!" shouted Cuttlefish horrified at the sight of Blake's motionless body.
"One hipster down, one to go," gloated Octavio as he looked at Blake's body and then back towards Cuttlefish.
Cuttlefish was fighting back his tears and he turned back toward Octavio. Cuttlefish was enraged and gave a death glare towards the floating DJ clinching his fist and baring his teeth.
"Octavio! You're going to pay dearly for that! He was your friend and you KILLED HIM!" roared Cuttlefish with tears in his eyes.
"I don't need friends when I have an army and the great zapfish. Now where were we?" responded an emotionless Octavio.
Cuttlefish charged at Octavio and Octavio prepared for another attack.
Judd had a horrified look on his face as he stood in silence.
"Judd? Judd what is it! what's going on!" asked Ammoses frantically.
"It's Blake... I can't sense him anymore," said a shocked Judd
"What? what do you mean? wait... that doesn't mean he's" said a scared Ammoses.
Judd nodded and told Mimi and Ammoses about seeing a missile head towards Blake and seeing nothing but an explosion of ink.
"No...he can't be" exclaimed Mimi as she started to cry.
"No, I won't believe it either... Blake's stronger than that, I know he made it!" exclaimed Ammoses.
The three looked back up that the floating landmass fearing what was happening up there.
"Blake...you can't be dead, like Ammoses said, your stronger than that, and I know you and Cuttlefish will defeat Octavio," said Mimi as she held her hands together.
The battle between Octavio and Cuttlefish was heated as Cuttlefish evaded attacks and was shooting at Octavio with his bamboozler. Octavio like Cuttlefish also avoided the attacks and shot sound blasts and ink missiles towards his former friend. Octavio shot a missile towards Cuttlefish and he dove in ink. after the missile exploded, he dove out and shot at the DJ. He managed to hit the booth and knock it out of balance for a bit. Octavio got back on his feet and glared at Cuttlefish.
"UUHHGG... It's time to lay down this hipster with some wasabi beats!" yelled Octavio angrily.
Octavio pulled out some wasabi stalks and rubbed them on his turntables. He rammed his DJ booth towards Cuttlefish, knocking him back. Cuttlefish was laying on his back while trying to tilt his head up. Octavio approached him lording over his body.
"Any last words ink stain?!" asked Octavio in a smug tone.
"Yeah, This!" yelled Cuttlefish as he rolled towards his bamboozler taking aim and shooting Octavio in the chest. Octavio jumped back and yelped.
Cuttlefish stood up slowly shaking off the impact from the DJ booth and prepared to finish Octavio when movement caught the corner of his eye and turned toward the direction of the great zap fish.
Judd perked up and gave a meow.
"Judd, what is it now?" asked Ammoses anxiously.
"It's Blake...He's alive," exclaimed Judd.
"Blake? He's alive," repeated Mimi with hope.
"I knew he'd make it," said Ammoses in relief.
The three of them were relieved to find out that Blake was not dead and hoped that Cuttlefish and Blake would defeat Octavio.
After a few minutes the giant landmass shook and was making all kinds of noise, then suddenly they noticed that it was descending down towards the shoreline south of the ruins.
"Wha...wha...what's going on? why is it falling?!" asked Mimi in great concern.
"I don't know, but we got to follow it! Come on!" commanded Ammoses.
Ammoses and the others followed the landmass out of the city ruins and toward the shoreline worried for Blake and Cuttlefish as it was getting closer and closer to the ground.
While Cuttlefish and Octavio were battling. Blake's body was stirring and started to move. Blake moaned and slowly picked himself up. He was kneeled down spitting ink out of his mouth and wiped his face turning towards the battle. After a moment he turned back toward the pad and plugin. He finally stood up and stumbled toward the plugin as he got close he was grabbed from behind and slung backward away from the plugin. It was a wounded octoling partially covered in ink.
"Oh no you don't fossil!" shouted the octoling baring its teeth.
Blake rose back up and looked at the octoling that was clinching its fist and getting into a fighting stance. Blake then bent down and tackled the octoling onto the computer console by the powered pad holding the giant zapfish.
The octoling closed its hands together and swung down on Blake's back as he had the octoling pinned against the computer. He yelped and the octoling uppercut Blake knocking him back. The octoling then lunged at Blake pinning him down on the floor. Blake kicked the octoling off and made his way back toward the plugin before he was grabbed by the octoling again.
The octoling held on to his back as Blake tried to shove them off. The octoling released and Blake and he turned towards them.
"Is that the best you got human?!" sneered the octoling.
"not even close," sneered Blake.
The octoling gritted its teeth and charged at Blake who was standing in front of the computer console. When octoling got close enough, Blake grabbed their head and rammed it on the computer screen knocking the octoling out. The octoling laid on the floor motionless while the computer screen flashed red saying ERROR!
Blake felt the large facility shake and shift. The malfunctioned computer was causing the landmass to move away toward the shoreline. Blake looked around and then turned back to the plugin. He tugged and tugged until he unplugged the power source. soon everything was powered down and the landmass was descending.
Meanwhile, Octavio was about to deliver a final blow, the facility shook violently and the octarians that were watching the battle panicked and scattered.
"Hey! What's going on?!, shouted Octavio, then all of a sudden his DJ booth powered down and dropped on the floor.
"What The?" shouted Octavio as he fell off the booth. He looked over and saw that Blake had unplugged the zapfish from the power emitter.
"You?!" shouted Octavio utterly shocked that Blake was still alive.
Cuttlefish turned his head at what octavio had yelled at and saw that his best friend was alive and kicking. His eyes watered with tears of joy seeing Blake and that he unplugged the power from the machine.
"Bucko!" shouted Cuttlefish as he got up and punched Octavio while he was frozen in disbelief, knocking him out.
Blake and Cuttlefish ran to each other hugging one another then pulled away.
"Bucko! I thought you were dead for sure," exclaimed Cuttlefish in relief.
"It'll take a lot more than that to kill this squidbeak agent," replied Blake.
Cuttlefish gave a smile and chuckled at Blake, happy to see that he survived the ink missile.
"aaawww... I hate to break your little moment up but I'm not done with you Cuttlefish! I may not have my DJ booth, but this octopus has still some fight left in him!" glared Octavio as lept up and launched wasabi stalks at Cuttlefish and Blake.
"Bucko! watch out!" shouted Cuttlefish as he jumped in front of Blake twirling his bamboozler deflecting the wasabi stalks back at Octavio.
"You ok!" Cuttlefish asked Blake.
"Yeah, I'm fine captain," said Blake.
The two of them soon walked over toward Octavio who knocked out laying on the floor.
"I'm sorry old friend, but it's time for you to answer to all that you've done," said Cuttlefish as he looked at Octavio. All of a sudden Octavio opened his eyes and kicked over Cuttlefish. He then octo formed and swam over to a large lever.
"enjoy the fall hipsters!" yelled Octavio as he shifted forms and pulled the lever. The floor opened up and they could see the land beneath them. Blake grabbed cuttlefish before he fell out.
Both of them made their way to a walkway before they could fall on the ground hundreds of feet below them.
Back in the valley below the descending landmass, Ammoses and everyone else was rushing behind the falling hunk of rock as it got closer to shore.
"We have to think of something," said Mimi in her squid form.
"There's not too much we can do," said Ammoses.
Then all of a sudden a portion of the bottom of the landmass opened up above them. They could see figures on a walkway inside.
"Hey! Is that Cuttlefish and Blake?!" yelled Mimi.
"I'm not sure, I think it is, come on!" yelled Ammoses as they continued under the descending landmass.
The two figures can be seen running down the walkway out of sight.
"Blake, Cuttlefish, please be careful," said Mimi with concern in squid form.
Back on the descending landmass, Blake and Cuttlefish were catching up with Octavio. Octavio octo formed to the end of the large chamber. He changed back to his bipedal form and looked at Blake and Cuttlefish closing in on him.
"It's over Octavio!" shouted Cuttlefish.
"It's not over until I say it is!" shouted back Octavio.
Octavio pushed a button on the wall revealing a large compartment with Blake's cryostasis pod coming out of it.
"You've been a pain in my ass for the last time, Human!" he jeered at Blake. Octavio octo formed, tackling Cuttlefish and grabbing Blake, swinging him into the pod. Octavio rushed over and slammed the hatch with Blake in it.
"Bucko!" yelled Cuttlefish reaching his arm out as he was getting up from the tackle.
"Have a nice trip! It'll be your last!" yelled Octavio as he kicked the cryostasis pod. The pod fell and slide towards the ledge of the floor. Cuttlefish chased after it and didn't have time to reach it as it fell toward the ground below.
"CAAAPPTAAIN!" yelled blake inside the pod as it fell down to the ground below them.
"BLAAAAKKKE!" yelled Cuttlefish as he reached his arm out over the ledge of the open floor.
"Not even that fossil will survive that! That pod will be his tomb!" jeered Octavio.
Cuttlefish froze in horror as his best friend and battle partner descended toward the ground out of sight.
Cuttlefish's shoulder clinched as he turned and charged at Octavio with great speed and strength. Enraged he pinned Octavio down on the floor and pointed his bamboozler in Octavio's face. Cuttlefish's expression was menacing and he looked down at Octavio with rage in his eyes and the intent to kill.
"I SHOULD SPLAT YOU RIGHT NOW! BLAKE WAS YOUR FRIEND! HE OFFERED TO TALK TO YOU AND SETTLE THINGS BETWEEN OUR RACES! HE NEVER WANTED THIS WAR! HE WANTED THINGS TO GO BACK TO THE WAY THEY WERE! AND YOU...PUSHED HIM TO HIS DEATH! YOU NEED TO DIE YOU BASTARD!" roared Cuttlefish in rage as he was fighting his tears pinning Octavio down with his foot.
Octavio laid there with no remorse and remained quiet.
"ANSWER ME!" yelled Cuttlefish with his finger on the trigger ready to kill Octavio.
"I did what I had to do, you inklings were going to take everything from us, its survival of the fittest," is all the Octavio could say.
"What?! SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST?! THAT'S WHAT YOU KILLED THE INKLINGS AND BLAKE FOR!" Yelled Cuttlefish.
Octavio showed no sign of emotion as he stared down the barrel of the bamboozler.
Cuttlefish's hands shook and tears ran down his face. In a split second. BOOOWWW! was all that could be heard.
The world seemed to stand still for a moment. There was a stillness in the air as the events that had been happening unfolded and had come to a climax. The great turf war had come to a close as the octarian leader was finally subdued and his scheme put to an end. The human Blake that had become good friends with the races had tried to stop them from going to war over the valley. He had failed to avert the battle between the races as lives were lost and spirits destroyed. He was pulled into the war to aid the inklings that were attacked by Octavio and his forces, still trying to settle things between them. He fought alongside Cuttlefish, his mentor and his friend to stop Octavio and put an end to the war, but when the fighting came to a closure, Blake paid the ultimate sacrifice at a last attempt to resolve things with Octavio between the races and fell to his death in the very pod that Octavio and Cuttlefish found him in when they were all friends.
Octavio's eyes were closed then he blinked after he heard the bamboozler go off, looking back at Cuttlefish. The bamboozler had ink dripping from the end of it. He turned his head and saw an ink splatter by his head on the floor.
Cuttlefish bit his lip and gave a deep breath closing his eyes.
Octavio was stunned and speechless at Cuttlefish's decision to show mercy after what he had done. Cuttlefish opened his eyes and stared back at Octavio.
"I...won't loose two friends," is all that Cuttlefish could say. He then grabbed his bamboozler and swung the handle end to strike Octavio in the face hard, knocking him out.
Cuttlefish took his foot off Octavio and gave a long sigh. Cuttlefish was starting to see seawater below them, he carried Octavio with his arm over his shoulder and made their way to the ledge. Before they got too far from the shoreline, Cuttlefish squid formed and grabbed Octavio. He squid jumped out of the opening and landed on the beach with Octavio hanging on. Cuttlefish watched the descending chunk of rock land in the ocean just a few miles off the shoreline. It stayed afloat with the top half of it still above the water looking like a large island.
Octavio was still knocked out and Cuttlefish could hear steps coming from behind him. He turned to look and saw that it was Ammoses, Mimi, Judd, and all the inklings. Mimi spotted and yelled "CUUUTTTLEFIIISH!" as she ran over to Cuttlefish hugging him.
"Cuttlefish! I so glad to see you again!" exclaimed a happy teary-eyed Mimi hugging Cuttlefish.
"Woah, easy lass!," said Cuttlefish prying Mimi off him.
"Cuttlefish! I see you finally stopped Octavio and the war, say where's Blake?" asked Ammoses with concern.
"Yeah! where is Blake?!" asked Mimi also with concern.
Cuttlefish just looked at Ammoses and Mimi sadly as he downed his head pulling out Blake's bamboozler in his arms.
"The lad...didn't make it," said Cuttlefish depressingly with a tear running down his face.
"(Gasp) no, it can't be, he's..." exclaimed Mimi before she covered her mouth and tears starting to form in her eyes.
"gone," is all that Cuttlefish could say.
Mimi broke down on the sand crying. Ammoses was in utter disbelief and saddened by what he heard. Judd was distressed and could no longer sense Blake anymore. The inklings were saddened and some crying hearing that Blake was no longer with them. A moment of silence and condolence went by and inklings eventually made their way back to the valley to rebuild their village.
Two years have passed since Octavio was defeated along with the Octarians. Octavio and the octarians were banished to the new island that was once the floating octarian territory, now called Octo valley. Cuttlefish stayed at his shack which was still floating above the valley along with other platforms and land for some unknown reason. He vowed to watch over the valley and ensure that the octarians would never return to the inkling territory. After Losing his friend Blake, this caused him to isolate himself from the mainland and the inkling village, but every now and then would visit and buy Krabby cakes and other supplies.
The inkling valley now called Calamari county was thriving and growing as more and more inklings populated the valley, so much that they had to find other places to live. Ammoses sent an expedition to the human ruins they once hid, during the great turf war. Ammoses, the inklings, and other sea life showed up and helped build the ancient city and fed it power, the city was slowly restored and housed hundreds of inklings and other oceanic creatures and was named Inkopolis.
Mimi had her store rebuilt and continued her business. Still saddened over the death of her human lover, she didn't socialize with people as much as she did and would make frequent visits to the garden remembering when she revealed to Blake her admiration and love for him. She would also visit Cuttlefish when she got the chance, talking about different things and the good times when Blake was with them.
Judd stayed with Ammoses back at the village. Still sleeping and eating like he always does. Judd could be seen in a picture with Cuttlefish and Ammoses standing over the valley with Judd holding the flag of victory up. This gave Ammoses an idea to invent a sport called turf war where two sides cover the turf with different colored ink. Ammoses created weapons and rules and different arenas for the inklings to play. He invented a system in which when inklings got splatted and hit they would spawn back on these power pads. Ammoses passed this sport on from generation to generation as it was written down on the history books along with the great turf war itself.
As the valley and the city of Inkopolis grew, the memories of Blake started to fade. The memory of Blake soon disappeared like he did when he was shoved off the flying landmass in the pod he was found in. As time passed Inkopolis became the modernized bustling capital of inkling territory. Where turf wars are held as the main sport of the inklings in which their culture is centered around. The great zapfish wrapped itself around a tower that overlooked the busy plaza and powered the whole city.
One day Cuttlefish, now in his 30s watched Inkopolis grow from his floating island overlooking Octo Valley. "Well, it looks like things are changing (sigh)," said Cuttlefish indifferently. after a moment he walked back over toward a tree near his shack. He plopped down and pulled out a small book. He scrolled through the book reading what appeared to be a journal. Cuttlefish is recanting the events that took place during and before the great turf war and wrote them down overtime in his small book. He pulls out an old photo of Him, Octavio, and another figure. The figure didn't look like an inkling nor an octoling. Cuttlefish was baffled and didn't remember the strange figure between him and Octavio in the photo.
Another moment passes and something catches Cuttlefish's eye in front of him. A figure was standing in front of him. As he looked it was the strange figure from the photo looking at him. Cuttlefish looked back at the photo and then back toward the figure, but it was gone. "What? Where did it..." exclaimed Cuttlefish as he quickly got up with a stunned expression. A noise caught his attention from behind. "Cuttlefish?" asked a voice. He turned and saw Mimi and Ammoses looking at with concern. "Cuttlefish what's wrong? You ok? It looks like you saw a ghost," asked Ammoses.
"Oh it's...nothing," said Cuttlefish. Cuttlefish couldn't help but feel that he knew what the strange figure he saw was but couldn't put his finger on it.
"You wanna head down to Inkopolis for a spell?" asked Mimi.
"Sure, how's the hatchling doing?" asked Cuttlefish.
"She's doing fine, she takes after her dad," said Mimi.
"We'll let's get going, I gotta get back to my shop," said Ammoses.
The three of them leave for Inkopolis but Cuttlefish is still pondering who the figure was that appeared before him. After a while, he quit thinking about it and enjoyed his company with Mimi and Ammoses. Overtime Inkopolis grew and grew more to a bustling hub for the inkling race.
Over a hundred years have passed and the pod that Blake was in was buried under what appeared to be a quarry outside of Inkopolis. It was used as a turf war arena sometimes with inklings battling and covering the area with ink. The pod was inactive until a red light came on, soon an intercom inside the pod says. "Cryostasis complete, beginning thawing process, time of release: 100 years later from last activation.". A thawed figure could be seen sitting inside the pod. Its eyes were closed until the figure's face twitched and its eyes slowly opened.
Fade to Black...
End of the first Arc.