Squid Party

Chapter 30: Highway to Hell


Orange bit her lip in apprehension as her eyes darted around the stage. In every corner of the roof was a Sanitized Octoling, the cacophony of growls and snarls drowning out her thoughts as they gnashed their teeth and clawed at the air in anticipation. The girls' disjointed bodies were hunched over like animals ready to pounce as sanitized goop poured endlessly from their noses and mouths.

Both circles of turfers started to panic, each one threatening to break apart as some X Rankers began losing their nerve. Orange could see a few of them start looking for a possible escape route, some in the front lowering their weapons as they shrank into the back, and others inwardly wrestling with themselves on what to do.

"X RANKERS!" she shouted, making some of them flinch. "STAND YOUR GROUND! DON'T BACK DOWN!"

"Yes, stand your ground," oozed Tartar, a dark grin splitting his face. "All the more subjects for me to take control of. Go on. Show me what you can do, and I'll show you what they can do."

His threats were reinforced as a wave of haunting howls rose from his followers. They were ravenous and pained, striking fear into the already-shaken turfers. Over in Ness's circle, Pearl's coughing suddenly became desperate wheezing and retching.

"Pearlie?" exclaimed Marina. "Pearlie, what's wrong?!"

Octavia stooped down to assess the situation. "She is having difficulty breathing! Quick, turn her over onto her side before she asphyxiates!"

The idol was about to do so when Pearl sharply gasped, throwing herself from Marina's hold and onto the ground to spew up a puddle of neon green ink.

Marina screamed in horror. "Pearlie!"

"What is this?!" wailed Callie. "And why is it happening again?!"

The commotion was enough to catch Magenta's attention, causing her to turn around and shriek at the horrifying scene. Those alerted by her screams also turned towards the source, but immediately regretted it, as they were met with Pearl projectile vomiting sanitized sludge.

There was a sudden ripple effect as the startled turfers began desperately scrambling around, both trying to avoid stepping in the quickly-widening puddle of ink while still staying together. Their efforts failed almost immediately as panic and disgust proved too much for them, many inadvertently flinging themselves and others out of the protective circle and finally destroying it.

"NO!" screamed Orange. "GET BACK IN FORMATION! NOW, NOW, NOW!"

Her orders fell on deaf ears as the scattered X Rankers scrambled around to go somewhere or do something. Orange watched in frustrated disbelief as some hightailed it out of there, others ran towards Lucas' group for new protection, and a few brave stragglers still tried defending Ness and the idols.

Behind them, things had unraveled even more. By now, Pearl had collapsed into a frothing mess of a seizure as Marina yelled at her to hold on, Magenta had gone into hysterics, and Callie was weeping bitterly at the circumstances. The only girl with her wits still about her was Octavia, the Octoling bravely siding with what little remained of Ness' group.

Tartar chuckled at the turmoil. "Well, that wasn't too impressive. Now it's my turn." He threw out an arm out as he belted his commands. "Subjects, attack! Show them the true superiority of the new master race!"

Rabid snarls erupted from the deranged test subjects as they charged for the remaining troops. With little time to think, Orange quickly barked her orders.

"LONG-RANGERS, FOCUS ON THE BACK! MID-RANGERS AND SHORT-RANGERS, GET READY TO TAKE DOWN ANYONE THAT SLIPS THROUGH!"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" they thundered.

Shots and blasts of all shapes and sizes exploded out from the group, painting the surrounding area in an obnoxious display of colors. Thanks to the turfers' tight coordination, the Sanitized Octolings fell in droves. While initially pleased, Orange's joy turned to fear as she noticed something was wrong. While the splat count was definitely increasing, their foes' numbers weren't decreasing...

Looking skyward, she realized with horror that more girls were being summoned to the roof. For each one on the ground splatted, two more Super Jumped over to take her place. The once-thinning herd began to grow in size as turfers with more ink-consuming weapons had to step back and refill, weakening their forces.

As the horde of girls grew ever closer, some X Rankers began to lose focus. Shots started missing and judgments became clouded as panic kicked in, eventually culminating to one of the Sanitized Octolings reaching Lucas' circle. Fortunately, she was splatted by a quick-thinking Roller, but Orange grimaced, knowing they were fighting a losing battle.

Ness' remaining group was swarmed by the zombified Octolings almost immediately. Octavia and the last of his group tried taking them on, but were only able to hold off a dozen or so before being overwhelmed. One of the sanitized got close enough to lunge at Octavia, giving her only a second to freeze in terror at her fallen sister's disgusting array of teeth.

"SHEILD Ω!"

The rabid subject's attack was cut short as she slammed into a veil of some sort, otherworldly colors flickering in the shape of a dome as they encased the small, bewildered group. More sanitized tried attacking, only to also be met with an impenetrable force of enigmatic proportions.

Ness stepped forward in front of the awestruck turfers and smiled. "I think you guys've done enough tonight. How's about you let me handle things from here?"

"You..." managed Octavia. "Did you do this...?"

"I was hoping things wouldn't get to this point, but yeah. I think we need to step in here. The shield won't last forever, but it'll give you enough time to meet up with the others." Ness set his sights on the horde. "Don't worry about me. I got ya covered."

Magenta and the remaining turfers didn't need to be told twice. As brave as they'd been, being ordered off by a Smasher was the perfect excuse to give up on being heroes. The shield allowed them to run through it from the inside, the turfers in Lucas' group taking down several sanitized who pursued them as they scrambled for safety inside the reinforced circle.

Seeing their escape, Octavia hurriedly looked to the remaining Octoling. "Marina, come! We must make haste and flee!"

"But Pearlie!" Marina hovered worriedly over Pearl. "She's—!"

By now, Pearl had stop seizing, expression glazed over as shaky rasps forced their way from her throat. Sprawled out on her back amid a sanitized mess, she looked crazed, as if stricken with both a fit of madness and realization at her dire situation.

"...Pearlie?" tried Marina.

Pearl's blank eyes suddenly became those of the sanitized as she leapt forward and pounced with a snarl. Marina yelped and recoiled in surprise, falling out of the shield's protection as Pearl dove for her. Ness saw this and reacted in shock, but before he could do anything to help, Callie had finally had enough.

"NO MORE!" she bellowed. Brandishing her Hero Roller, she jumped from the safety of Ness's shield and swung it down with all her might onto Pearl's midsection, violently slamming her to the ground.

Despite being pinned down, Pearl's small stature flailed about wildly. She yowled like a crazed animal, madly clawing and scraping at the floorboards to get loose, but was unable to wriggle out from beneath the roller. Sanitized froth bubbled up from her throat as she snapped mindlessly at the air, her furious and unfocused eyes glaring through Marina.

"Pearlie..." murmured the mortified Octoling, eyes wide with inky tears. "You... Y-you're..."

"Marina! We must flee! NOW!" angrily snapped Octavia. Hooking an arm around hers, she whisked the stunned idol away and over to Lucas' circle.

Seeing the Octolings make their escape enraged Pearl even more. With a devilish snarl, her flailing became more frantic as her strength grew exceptionally. Her claws, which had been making slight marks on the wood floor, were now starting to tear into the foundation.

"No!" sobbed the teary Callie, bearing more weight into her weapon. "Stay down! Just... stay down! Please...! I don't want to do this, Pearl, so just... Just stop...!"

Despite her pleas, Pearl's newfound strength finally proved too much for the struggling Squid Sister. With a gargling roar, her back suddenly arched upward as she slammed her hands into the ravaged floorboards, using the leverage to hoist herself up and fling Callie off her back.

Now free, Pearl charged headlong at the fleeing Octolings. Her head was lowered and her body remained hunched over, arms and claws outstretched like a hungry, beastly creature. The commotion attracted some Sanitized Octolings, who quickly gave chase.

"Nooooooo!" Callie charged along behind with her Hero Roller, trying to vain to catch up and stop the madness once and for all. "Just stop already! Stop, stop, stooooop!"

"Mid-rangers, attack!" called Orange. "All sights set on Pearl! ATTACK!"

The turfers stiffened with the intent to fire, but stopped upon hearing the target was Pearl. Hurt glances were cast with hesitant ones.

"NOW, NOW! DO IT NOOOW!" hurriedly shrieked Orange.

"Grr, take that!" From out of the group, Jeremy threw out a Splat Bomb.

Orange had to do a double take, clueless as to how such a greenhorn had ended up in her troop. Sadly, Jeremy's efforts were in vain as Pearl skidded to a halt and swiped his Splat Bomb away with startling precision. The still-sobbing Callie, who'd been running too fast to stop, was about to crash into with her Hero Roller when Pearl whipped around and grabbed the handle of her weapon.

Callie had been going so fast, the force of her rolling coming to an abrupt stop sent her careening forward as her Hero Roller was seized. She crashed into Lucas' group like a bowling ball, scattering some X Rankers like pins.

"SHEILD Ω!"

Another shield of enigmatic veil encased Lucas' group just as Octavia and Marina ducked inside. Pearl crashed into the shield and scraped at it, howling wildly at being stopped again. Everyone inside recoiled in shock and confusion.

"Excuse me, please."

Looking inwards, the group obediently parted, just enough to let Lucas through to the front. Orange watched him go in silent awe, unaware of what he was doing, but still proud of him for it.

"It's okay," he gently soothed the others. "You're safe in here. You've been protecting us all this time. Now it's time for us to protect you."

His face became a stern, yet sad expression as he looked over the infected Pearl, her fury dying down at his presence. Beyond her, the crazed horde of Sanitized Octolings also seemed to relax, if only a little.

Amid them, Tartar stood amused. "Ah, yes. The Smashers. Here to save the day, I presume?"

"Hey, weirdo!" barked Ness. "I dunno who you are or what you want, but you'd best take your other weirdos and beat it before I get pissed!"

His shield vanished as his hands flared to life with PSI, going from a defensive stance to an offensive one in the blink of an eye.

"Temper, temper." Tartar wagged a finger in warning. "Have we learned nothing from before?"

As if to punctate his point, Marie, who'd been idling by his side, took a defensive pose in front of him. Her head was still lulled slightly to the side, sanitized eyes hollow and dead as she wielded her Hero Shot. Her body was turned askew as she rigidly aimed at Ness, her mannerisms clearly being controlled by Tartar.

"Who are you and what do you want?" called Lucas. It was meant to sound demanding, but the blonde was too soft-spoken for it to carry as strongly as Ness' voice.

"Call me Tartar. Commander Tartar." The fake Green bowed. "And I am here on official business to eradicate the creatures of this world to make way for the future it truly deserves."

"In other words, your standard textbook baddie." Ness smirked. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this isn't part of the activities, right?"

"I have siphoned this..." Tartar frowned down at his form as he said the name with disgust, "'Green's' mental bank and can confirm as such." He facing Ness again. "You needn't worry, though. I may be out for the complete extermination of these lowly cephalopods, but you are quite safe. At my core, I am still an AI and I must abide by the Laws of Robotics: I cannot injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."

Ness studied him carefully. He recalled learning in passing from Mega Man that robots had to obey a set of rules. While not too clear on what they all were, he did recall at least one of them.

"If were speaking robot rules here, then I, as a human, order you to leave these guys alone."

"Clever rebuttal, but I'm afraid the Second Law has no power here," flatly responded Tartar. "My creator programmed me to find the ultimate lifeform to carry on a society long lost to the sea of time. Seeing as there is none to be found, I shall make one."

"Then Luke and I are gonna hafta do something about that!" challenged Ness.

The fake Green shrugged. "And with that, you invoke the Third Law: a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Now, if we're done chit-chatting, I have a society to destroy."

Tartar threw his hand out as if to command his subjects, but before he could give orders, Ness threw his hands up.

"PK FLASH Ω!"

Ness' form sparked with psychic energy as he summoned several spheres of light around the stage. As suddenly as they appeared, the orbs just as suddenly exploded. Flickering booms like thunder and lightning danced around the area in an erratic spray of lights and noise, showering everything in chaos.

Everyone in Lucas' circle instinctively shielded their eyes as the Sanitized Octolings succumbed to the attack. All at once, they seized up and began going through various expressions of pain. Many of them passed out, more became painfully paralyzed, and the rest started acting out and attacking each other in a fit of confusion.

Despite his subjects falling prey to Ness' PSI, including Marie passing out and Pearl going after a random sanitized, Tartar seemed immune. He looked on passively, a hint of annoyance on his face.

"Quick, while he's distracted!" Ness yelled to the group as he ran to them. "GO! NOW!"

"YOU HEARD HIM!" Dashing out of the circle, Orange eagerly pointed to the roof's exit. "FALL BACK AND FOLLOW ME!"

Turning away from Ness' light show, the turfers quickly charged for the door. Due to the sheer amount of them, the circle fell in on itself to try and fit everyone through, becoming a chaotic crowd of partiers, idols, and Smashers.

"SMASHERS IN THE FRONT!" called Orange as she ran downstairs. "SMASHERS IN THE FRONT!"

"No, no!" shouted Lucas from somewhere. "Keep us in back so we can cover you!"

Orange stopped in her tracks, looking back in alarm as the others stampeded by. In all the confusion, she just realized she'd lost track of the blonde. She wanted him with her, not back there! Why couldn't Ness bring up the rear and Lucas be at the front?!

As much as she wanted to go back to him, Orange respected Lucas enough to honor his wishes. With a worried frown, she bit her lip and jogged back up to the front to resume leading the group. If Lucas was willing to stay and help the others, who was she to stop him? She just hoped he'd be okay...

"Smashers...!" Orange grimaced as she changed her commands. "SMASHERS IN THE BACK! FOLLOW ME AND KEEP RUNNING! WE GOTTA GET TO THE PLAZA! STAY TOGETHER AND COVER YOUR FELLOW TURFERS!"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!"

It was a race against time as everyone barreled downstairs and into the main hallway. Orange couldn't afford to stop and see how everyone was doing, hearing nothing but chaos behind her. An explosion went off in the back, almost making her stop to see what happened, but she forced herself to keep going. Not hearing Ness or Lucas call out an attack worried her, but she had to do her part while they did theirs.

Eventually, everyone reached the entrance of New Albacore Hotel, pouring out of the front double doors like an avalanche of panic. Now out in the streets, everyone spread out again to form a small mob closer to the front with Orange. Another explosion went off, making her wince. What was going on back there?!

Again, she fought to ignore it. The plaza was just a few blocks away, and they'd make it there in no time if they kept up the pace. Whipping out her phone, Orange quickly speed dialed a number, putting it on speaker.

"C'mon, c'mon...!" she begged as it rang.

After three rings, the other end picked up. "Agent 3!"

"Cap...! We need you!" exclaimed Orange, realizing just how out of breath she was after running for so long. "We're on... red alert right now and—!"

"I know! Just come on down! We're waiting for you!"

"'We'?" repeated the confused Inkling.

"I'll explain later! Just hurry!" The call abruptly ended.

There was no time to wonder about what he meant as Orange put away the phone and called out to the crowd. "EVERYONE, KEEP GOING! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!"

The turfers ran on down the last block, finally reaching the street leading to the plaza. With salvation in sight, Orange tore away from the others, reaching a grated manhole by the defunct Deca Tower.

Yanking the lid open, she eagerly motioned for the crowd. "GO, GO, GO! NOW, NOW, NOW!"

In quick succession, the horde of Inklings and Octolings became their cephalopods forms as they dove into the manhole one after the other. Orange panickily watched them pile in until she heard a commotion.

Squeals of terror erupted from the crowd as another explosion went off. Finally able to look back, Orange watched as some stragglers were flung into the air by a neon-colored Splashdown. Among them were Ness and Lucas, the pair landing in a painful heap among other victims of the blast. Once the torrent of ink subsided, the Inkling's eyes widened in disbelief at the culprit.

Kneeling from the carnage, Blue slowly stood. Wearing his Hero Suit and carrying his Hero Shot, he stared her down with glowing, neon eyes. Sanitized ink pulsated from the right side of his headset, sludge also dribbling out of his nose and mouth. His left iris had partially rolled upwards, the right glaring at her in disgust. Despite all this, he looked to be in pain, hacking up some sanitized goop and shuddering as his body staggered towards her in a rigid march.

This confirmed Orange's worst fear that not only had his brain been hijacked, but his entire body. While he'd been sanitized before, the infection this time was considerably more aggressive. Blue wasn't just being controlled; his new infusion with Tartar had turned him into a host for a parasite.

Those fallen around Orange had since scrambled up and dove into the manhole as she found herself fixated on Blue. Only when she saw movement behind him was she able to tear her horrified gaze away.

As Blue made his way forward, three pairs of sanitized eyes gleamed behind him. For a split second, Orange thought it was Tartar's horde having caught up with them, but the truth was far worse.

Octavian and Marie shuffled up from the darkness, the pair also leaking the same sickly goop from their noses and mouths. Both had been fully sanitized, their entire bodies sporting the signature sickly-green skin and dark scleras with neon irises. They lumbered on like drunkards out of a club, dragging along their Octoshot and Hero Charger, respectively.

Bringing up the rear, a haggard Pearl limped into view. Neon gunk seeped from the neck wound Marie had given her, skin already splotching with sanitization. Seeing Orange, she stopped walking with the others. A twisted grin suddenly split across her face as her sanitized eyes flashed menacingly. With a snarl, she charged past the others in a mad dash for the Inkling.

Seeing her do this seemed to jolt Octavian and Marie out of their awkward staggering, the pair hissing and also bolting forward. They ran with unbelievable speed, teeth snapping, mouths frothing, and sanitized-infused claws eagerly swiping at the air in front of them.

"My cod..." fearfully whispered Orange.

"Orange!" She was snapped back into reality by Lucas pulling her arm. "What're you doing? Come on!"

Like cephalopods before her, Orange turned into a squid and dove into the manhole. Behind her, Lucas quickly followed. Finally, Ness, who'd been holding the lid open for them, hopped in last. He was able to slam the hatch closed and latch it shut just in time for Pearl to crash into it. She roared in frustration as she clawed wildly at the manhole, trying every way feasible to open it.

Inside, the Inkling and Smashers slowly backed away, looking over the rabid Inkling in horror. Across from her, Marie leaned over, coldly leering down at their missed prey with a quiet growl. Octavian peeked into view next, joining in with an array of shrieks and hisses. Finally, Blue loomed over them, his narrowed eyes not once breaking contact with his ex.

After a few tense moments of watching them, it was clear the infected lacked any sort of cognition. Despite Pearl's animalistic efforts to open the manhole, not one of them realized they'd be able to slip through the grating by becoming their cephalopod forms like the others did.

Once certain there was no way of them getting in, Ness relaxed with a tense sigh. He didn't realize how hard all of them had been breathing until he did. He sadly glanced at Lucas in the dim tunnel, the blonde sensing his gaze and turning towards him with the same saddened look.

Hearing footsteps behind them, they looked to see an Octoling, the last of the turfers, scramble down a winding tunnel. His bioluminescent purple ink served as a bright beacon down the corridor, which was otherwise barely lit by a sporadic string of dull, yellow lights along the ceiling.

The boys cast one last glance at the infected faces outside the manhole before turning and making their way down the tunnel. Orange heard their retreating steps and let her shoulders slump with a sigh. Knowing there was nothing else she could do, she took a few reluctant steps backwards before also leaving the scene to follow everyone else down the corridor.

She grew numb to Pearl's yowling and Octavian's screeching as she ventured further into the depths, their wailing eventually fading into distant echoes lost in the night.