Yuri's PoV
Yuri hated to see his friends in distress. When that was the case, he always tried to cheer them up, often by showing silly pictures, reciting funny stories, or saying to look on the bright side of things. But this...? He didn't think there was a way he could cheer them up this time. The Rainbow Squids were confident all of them would make it to the final round, so the Cool Rainbow Squids' lost took a hard hit on them.
But we'll win, right? To make up for it, he told himself. Unlike other times, however, he was unsure. If Octa Prisma beat one half of the team, then there's no saying they couldn't beat the other, either. We'll just have to try our best, then.
"Welcome to the final round!" Pearl exclaimed. Everyone's attention turned towards the pop duo. "Hope y'all are ready!"
"This round's mode is Splat Zones," continued Marina. "And the map?"
A drumroll sounded before the giant screen behind them displayed a supermarket. "MakoMart!" the pale-skinned idol announced.
"Splat Zones on MakoMart, huh?" Yuri commented to his friends. "Not bad at all."
"We don't know what Octa Prisma's capable of," noted Alexis. "We have to be careful."
"Do we have a plan?" asked Octavia.
"My plan? Push ahead, so they'll have a hard time leaving their base," Roy suggested, folding his arms. He chuckled. "We'll beat them, I promise."
"There will be a launchpad for both teams to jump on when they're ready," explained Marina.
"Y'all can watch it live, or stay back here and watch it on the screen!" continued Pearl. "It's your choice!"
"We'll be commentating it live, too," added the dark-haired idol. "As a bonus, of course!"
"And remember: Don't get cooked... Stay off the hook!" concluded both of them. The crowd cheered, eager for the match to start. Off the Hook stepped up to the launchpad on the center of the stage, transformed into squids, and super-jumped away.
"Well, you heard her!" exclaimed the red-haired inkling. "Let's get moving!"
Before they departed, the yellow-haired boy turned to his friend. "Don't ya worry, Perry," he assured, "we'll win this match. And then we can split the money."
"I sure hope so," the other boy murmured.
The Warm Rainbow Squids walked up the stage, to the swirling circle that would take them to their next destination. Yuri eyed their opponents, who were approaching the stage as well. We can win, he repeated to himself. The spiky-haired inkling himself turned into a squid and super-jumped with his teammates.
Moments later, he emerged from a spawn point with his team, and once the match started, they immediately cleared a path of green ink to the center of the stage. They managed to arrive at the same time as the other team, who aggressively pushed, too. The dark-skinned boy climbed up one of the central boxes, giving him a vantage point. He threw out a splash wall in front of him and charged up his Heavy Splatling Deco, aiming at the attackers. Within seconds, he fired, splatting Oscar with his Inkbrush and all. When his current charge finished, he had to stop and refill his ink tank. The splash wall broke as he was doing so.
Meanwhile, the splat zone was still contested. Everyone battled fiercely, purple and green ink flinging around. In the distance, he could hear a faint cheer, likely from the spectators. When his ink tank filled up, Yuri emerged from his little spot on the crate and charged up his splatling again. Before he could fire, he was splatted with a face full of deep purple ink. With the shot resembling a roller's vertical swing, it had to have been Iris that splatted him.
He would not let that faze him in the slightest. He swam back to the middle, just in time to watch Octa Prisma claim the splat zone. The jumbotron overhead displayed the counter, with the enemy's team score counting down by the second. He frowned, but they had to keep pushing forward. He charged up his weapon and approached them. He started to fire it, but then Oscar popped out of the ink to attack him with his own weapon. They splatted at the same time, much to Yuri's dismay.
The next time he respawned, Yuri decided to take a different route. He inked a path towards the sponge on their side, swam by it, and then inked the side of the stack of boxes to reach the zone once more. Climbing on top of the box, he noticed Giovanni, shooting the area below with his Octo Shot Replica. Once his splatling was charged up, he fired at him and quickly splatted him without him ever noticing. Next, he pulled out Bubble Blower and swung it around, creating three large spheres containing green ink. Though useful for inking, it unfortunately caused the attention to be turned to him now.
Iris scowled and ran towards the spiky-haired inkling with her Krak-On Splat Roller, preparing to swing it. He stepped out of the way of the splatter, and before she could land another hit, Via popped up behind her and splatted her with a few strikes of her Octobrush Nouveau. Yuri charged up his weapon and fired at the shrinking bubbles. Huh? With help from the others, they burst, though he heard a girl cry out following the explosions. Yvonne? Nonetheless, they managed to claim the zone for themselves.
"Booyah!" they cheered. On the screen above them, their team's counter now went down, while Octa Prisma's counter had a penalty added to it.
"We need to push ahead," Alexis demanded.
"No, we need to hold our ground," Octavia argued. "We can't afford any of us splatting."
"I gotta agree with Alexis," Roy spoke up, running next to her. "Better stop Gio and friends at the source."
"Well, if anything goes awry here, hopefully I'll have my bubbles," Yuri assured. Though he could play more offensively, he much preferred playing defensively. Besides, since Via was so adamant on staying, he might as well back her up.
The short-haired inkling looked between her friends and nodded with a smile. "Got it." Roy and Alexis ran towards the battlefield directly in front of the enemy team's base, while Yuri and Octavia remained on the splat zone, like they said. The spiky-haired boy prepared his splatling, just in case anyone decided to jump out in front of him. He heard something land behind him, and he looked over his shoulder to see what it was. He could barely see a splat bomb, but it exploded and splatted him before he could register it.
When he respawned, he immediately super-jumped to Octavia, only to find that it was a bad idea. Immediately he was trudging in enemy ink. Oscar gasped as when he landed, taking a few steps back.
"Oscar!" he heard Giovanni yell. The octoling with the afro looked over at the boy with the mohawk, who was standing boldly on one pile of boxes. "Do attack him!"
"My apologies!" He started swinging his Inkbrush at Yuri, though he had already made a trail of ink for him to escape. He swam up an aisle, back towards his team's base. When he was safe, the dark-skinned inkling began inking the corner until his hair started glowing. Running back towards the splat zone with a Bubble Blower, he swung the wand to create three large bubbles once more. Once they were out in the air, he fell back to charge up the Heavy Splatling Deco. Once he released the charge, the bubbles popped and the Rainbow Squids claimed the zone once more. However, it was not without a penalty, as Octa Prisma managed to briefly claim the area.
The Rainbow Squids regrouped in the very middle of the splat zones, becoming more vigilant than ever. Alexis was quick to admit that her idea was a bad one, earning a 'I told you so' from her sister. They guarded each side of it, Yuri guarding the side closest to their base. Though, he had to admit, nothing much was happening. The others were doing a good job of preventing the opposing team from surrounding the splat zone with purple ink. He kept charging up and firing his splatling until there was no more turf left to cover. He set down the splatling and wiped the sweat off his forehead, but then he heard some whirring. Looking over his shoulder, an autobomb was approaching, so he panicked and fled the area.
Now, Yuri stood on rubber. He watched as a dark-skinned girl leaped into the air, a purple circle marking the area of impact appearing around her. The Splashdown created a whirlwind of ink, and he heard some of his friends scream. He winced at their screams, but now he charged up his splatling and ran towards Yvonne. However, by the time he got up the hill and fired, he found that she was gone, the only indicator of her presence being a shrill cackle.
"Alright, where are ya..." he muttered under his breath. He crossed the marker and into the now-purple splat zone. Suddenly, Yuri noticed ripples heading straight for him. He threw out a splash wall, and the attacker was splatted instantly, leaving a puddle of green ink behind. He cheered, but then a bullet of ink hit him right in his side. When he respawned, he noticed Roy was covering up some extra turf. He ran up to him, much to the tan-skinned boy's surprise.
"Woah!" Roy gasped. When he realized who it was, he relaxed. "Hey, Yuri."
"Hey," he greeted back. "Whatcha doing?"
"I'm trying to get my special," he explained. "A Baller should be enough to reclaim the splat zone."
"Got it."
He gave Yuri a light punch to his shoulder. "Can't give up now, can we?" The two laughed and went their separate ways.
The spiky-haired inkling decided to climb up the boxes that would lead him to the splat zone and camp out there. Since he was towards the enemy side, he would have to be careful. He watched two octolings swim around in the splat zone, ripples marking their presence. If he wasn't in the midst of a battle, he could have watched this all day long. Currently, they served as something to occupy his time while he waited for the chance to strike.
Suddenly, green markers appeared around the two. They immediately swam away, with green missiles chasing after them. Yuri popped out of the ink and started charging up his splatling. Its rapid fire allowed him to cover the splat zone right back up, allowing them to claim the splat zone once more. When Roy arrived, hair glowing, he noticed what had happened and grumbled. He still activated his Baller regardless and ran down the ramp, towards Octa Prisma's base.
What happened next regarding Roy was not good. The octolings jumped out at him and simultaneously attacked his Baller. It popped, and then he was splatted. The dark-skinned inkling gulped. That can't be good. All four of them started running back to the splat zone, weapons ready. He threw out a splash wall to hopefully give him time to gain just a few more points for his special. He covered up a few stray spots of purple and immediately pulled out the Bubble Blower. Before he could swing it even once, a wave of purple ink crashed down on him and splatted him.
Yuri respawned and ran back to the splat zone, where Octa Prisma had claimed it once more. More green markers appeared around the group, causing them to flee once more. Once the missiles had landed, however, they were back in the fray. Octa Prisma and the Rainbow Squids battled for control of the splat zone for what seemed like forever. Whenever someone splatted, it seemed like there was always someone to replace them. Yuri and Yvonne both proved the most resilient on their respective teams—long-ranged weapons were quite the advantage here.
Eventually, the Rainbow Squids managed to claim the splat zone. They all cheered, and the spiky-haired inkling jumped down from his vantage point to join his teammates.
"We did it!" he cheered. "We did it!"
"We actually did it," Alexis further elaborated.
"Time's not up just yet," Roy pointed out, glancing over at the clock on the jumbotron. Though the Rainbow Squids were in the lead right now, there was still at least a minute before the match ended.
"There's still a minute left?" Octavia marveled.
"We need to focus," the inkling with his hair swept to the side asserted. "Octa Prisma could still take the zone."
"And we gotta win!" Yuri added. "For the others. I promised we would win, and we'll do just that."
"Then what are we waiting for?" he challenged. "Let's go!" At that moment, a roller slammed down on him, and behind where he stood was Iris.
"You are talking too much," she said. The remaining inklings looked behind them, where they saw the other octolings inking the area around the zone. "You can no talk to win." After she finished her sentence, she activated the Baller, the barrier surrounding her as she rammed into them. Yuri and Octavia were knocked down, while in the corner of his eye, the former saw Alexis scurry away. "That is why we win," Iris concluded. The Baller exploded, splatting the two of them and allowing Octa Prisma to reclaim the zone once more.
When they respawned, the wavy-haired girl complained, "What a dirty move." The grip on her Octobrush Nouveau tightened.
"What?" Yuri asked.
"She knocked us down! We couldn't defend ourselves or get away!" she explained. "Just... ugh!"
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now." He sighed. "We just gotta keep fighting." He took a side route to the right of him, swimming down until he reached the ramp leading to an open battlefield. Instead of going down it, he simply starting inking the surrounding area, aiming to hopefully regain his special. He swept the area with green ink, splatting some people along the way. For example, Giovanni activated his Inkjet and tried to splat him, but, using the cover the box provided to his advantage, Yuri managed to defeat him by charging up his splatling first and then targeting him.
After Gio had splatted in midair, the dark-skinned inkling's hair began to glow. "Booyah!" He pulled out Bubble Blower once more and swung it, creating three large bubbles once more. He promptly popped them, allowing the Rainbow Squids to gain the splat zone once more. Yuri jumped down to it, and soon his friends super-jumped to him as well.
Immediately after landing, Alexis pulled out some Tenta Missiles and fired them. "There," she said. "That should ward them off."
The short-haired girl was proved wrong, as a stream of bullets started speeding by them. Yuri looked up to find Yvonne emerging from behind a box on her team's side, her Hydra Splatling firing. The young inkling grumbled and started running towards her, spinning her dualies, only for the octoling to change her target and end up splatting her. Roy retaliated by throwing a bomb at her, which caused her to retreat.
Looking over at the counter, Octa Prisma was currently in the lead. However, the Rainbow Squids were catching up. Once the penalty was gone, they only had a little bit to go before they would surpass the other team's score. In the meanwhile, the other team continued to attack them. Oscar ran up to them with his Inkbrush, swinging at them with lightning speed. Roy tried firing his Luna Blaster, but the boy with the afro simply danced around his shots. Yuri threw out his splash wall to protect him while he charged up his splatling quickly. After a second or so, he fired, aiming it towards Oscar and splatting him.
He smiled, and with confidence, he charged up the Heavy Splatling Deco once more. However, before he could release this charge, something slammed into him and splatted him. Luckily, he noticed Alexis arrive back at the battlefield, eager to engage with the other team. Once again, Yuri ran back to the splat zone. There, he learned that the Rainbow Squids managed to control the splat zone long enough for the penalty to be removed. In the background, the alarm sounding overtime rang.
Yes! At that moment, someone tripped him. He looked up to see Iris sticking a tongue out at him before she summoned the Baller. Yuri was left speechless and could only watch the following events. Giovanni, who was flying around in his Inkjet, rammed his gun into Roy's jaw, causing him to cry out in pain. Oscar and Octavia were chasing each other, and Yvonne joyfully cackled as she threw autobombs at Alexis. The Baller inksploded, coating the splat zone with purple ink and ending the game.
"No!" the short-haired inkling cried out, mirroring Yuri's thoughts.
The dark-skinned octoling still laughed. "That is fun! We should be doing this again, maybe with the Autobomb Launcher!"
"No games, Yvonne," stated Giovanni rather bluntly. He walked up to the splat zone from where he had activated his Inkjet. "Now, you see why Octa Prisma had defeated the other you team."
"You attacked them as well?!" Roy roared. Though his speech was slurred, his fury still prevailed. "You dared to hurt them?!"
"No!" Oscar cried out. "Their win not close!"
"Correct," the octoling with the mohawk confirmed. "We only take to attacking the you because you were very close to win."
"Know the best team," Iris concluded, throwing her roller over her back. "Octa Prisma."
"You..." Roy proceeded to throw a slew of curses and insults at the group of octolings, specifically targeting Gio. Octavia covered Alexis's ears, garnering an unimpressed look from the latter. Yuri rose to his feet and started waving his arms around in hopes he would get Roy's attention and calm him down. Giovanni simply kept a poker face at all of this, making it unclear what he was feeling. Yvonne and Oscar hid behind their friends. Iris initially had a smirk on her face, but her expression soon turned into one of fear.
Judd and Li'l Judd soon jumped down to the middle of the splat zone and began dancing. "Hey, Roy?" Yuri called. The tan-skinned inkling stopped and looked over at him, then at the two cats. Soon, Li'l Judd struck out a purple flag, marking Octa Prisma as the winner of the tournament. Roy let out a loud groan and threw his Luna Blaster down. "Roy?" he tried calling again.
"Leave me alone," he grumbled. He pulled down his skull bandana and wiped his lip. A bruise was forming where he had been hit.
"We need to get back," Via suddenly whispered in the dark-skinned inkling's ear.
"Right." He turned to look at his friend. "Hey, Roy... last one to Deca Wing's a rotten egg." He winked and promptly turned into a squid, preparing to super-jump back.
"Oh, we are needing to get the prize," the girl with poufy hair recalled, turning to her friend.
"The prize will make the win official," Giovanni remarked. "Octa Prisma, return to Deca Wings!" All of them immediately super-jumped away, followed by Yuri and the other Rainbow Squids.
When they arrived back at the park, they were met with cheers, though not for the Rainbow Squids. They were chanting Octa Prisma's name. The green-haired octoling waved at them as he and his team walked up to the center of the stage. The Rainbow Squids, meanwhile, found the others in the spectator bleachers. Thankfully, they did not join in on the applause, instead having dismayed looks on their faces.
They sat down next to their friends, and Bonnie muttered, "You lost too, huh."
"It wasn't fair!" Alexis cried.
"We saw," Perry said. "They tripped you squids up."
As if he suddenly remembered something, Inigo snapped his attention to Roy. "Are you OK?!" he asked rather frantically.
"Why would you think I'm OK?" fumed the red-haired inkling, pointing to the bruise on his jaw. "I'm obviously not OK!"
"Ahem!" Pearl suddenly interrupted, tapping on the microphone. The crowd silenced, and everyone had their eyes on the stage. "It's the moment y'all've been waiting for—the winner of the Deca Tournament!" The crowd roared with excitement.
"Despite the...altercations...at the end of the match," Marina started quietly. Louder, she continued, "The winner is..."
A drumroll sounded, and the duo announced at the same time, "OCTA PRISMA!"
The crowd cheered once more, though they quickly went quiet as Giovanni walked up to the microphone to make a speech. "Hello, hello. Thank you." He cleared his throat and began, "I like to thank everyone that had support Octa Prisma since the Deca Tournament begin. As well, I like to thank the supporters of Octa Prisma we gain through the tournament. We are proud to win, and we happy are taking the trophy and the prize. Thank you." After he had finished speaking, Gio returned to stand next to his teammates. Yuri lightly clapped just to be nice, but he did nothing else.
Pearl took the mic once more. "Now, y'all may be wondering, 'What's the special prize?'. Well, the prize is..."
A drumroll sounded once more, and Marina announced, "Free tickets to our next concert!" Yuri heard various comments from the crowd after she revealed the prize.
"Woah, that's so fresh!"
"Dude, they're so lucky!"
"Only the freshest inklings get free tickets for an Off the Hook concert!"
"Aw, now I wish I'd signed up..."
"Now, bring out the trophy!" Pearl exclaimed.
Some jellyfish carted out a giant, golden trophy in the shape of the Deca Tower and presented it to Octa Prisma. The group posed in front of it as one jellyfish took their picture. Another picture was taken of Off the Hook posing with them.
"There's 100,000G in that ginormous trophy," the short idol informed. The octolings looked inside it and pulled out a handful of coins.
"Split it if you will," the tall idol suggested. Then, more jellyfish came out holding smaller, individual trophies and gave one to each member of Octa Prisma.
"In second place, we have the Warm Rainbow Squids!" Marina announced. Yuri and friends stood up and walked out of the bleachers, to the stage. The crowd's cheers almost matched the volume of Octa Prisma's cheer, boosting Yuri's spirits.
Roy pulled up his bandana and started walking up to the microphone to make his speech, but Yuri whispered to him, "Why don't I make the speech instead?" He expected the tan-skinned inkling to slander Giovanni for hurting him, so he didn't want to take the chance and ruin their reputation. His friend nodded, and Yuri approached the microphone.
"Hey squids," the dark-skinned boy started. He gulped as he grew a little nervous. Maybe I should have let Via speak instead. "Though we didn't win...um...I just want to say, thank you for supporting us. Hearing your cheers are worth it. And we'll gladly take second place." He looked over his shoulder. "Right, guys?" His friends were unimpressed. "Um...yeah, right," Yuri finished.
After he finished his speech, he returned to his place next to his friends. The jellyfish came out with silver ribbons and gave one to each member of the group. It read, 'Second Place, Deca Tournament, 2017'.
"Special mention to the teams in the semifinals—the Walleye Workers and the Cool Rainbow Squids!" The aforementioned teams joined the others on the stage to accept their prizes.
Deadeye from the Walleye Workers stepped up to make her speech. "I don't have much to say, but I would like to say thank you. Everyone did amazing, and we're glad we could make it this far."
Next, Perry took the stage to represent the Cool Rainbow Squids. "Yo, thank y'all! Couldn't have done it without ya, that's for sure. Though we didn't win, I'm glad the other half of the team at least got second place. It's the best we could do." The jellyfish gave the semifinalists bronze-colored ribbons for their efforts.
Once again, the crowd cheered, and then Marina took the microphone. "Once again, thank you all for participating in this record-breaking tournament! Everyone who participated, pick up your participation ribbons on your way out."
"We'll see y'all next year for the second annual Deca Tournament!" Pearl added.
"And remember: Don't get cooked... Stay off the hook!"
A/N: And arc, finish! Woo! What did you guys think? Liked it? Feel free to leave a review! From here on out, we'll be going back to a normal schedule for weekly uploads. See you guys next week, and Branchwing, out!