Chapter 18: Battle at the Top
Cici stood there for a while. She seemed to have fallen asleep standing there.
A large alarm sounded, jolting her from her sleep. "Please head for the escalator to the preparation room." The announcer said.
"But… this isn't the top?" Cici tilted her head and walked to the escalator.
She sat on the rail and fell asleep balancing herself. Her tentacles glittered bits of green here and there as she relaxed.
As she reached the top and the escalator came to a stop she stood up looking out over a turf map with a layout nearly identical to Hammerhead Bridge, except made out of concrete and other construction equipment.
"So this is what the place in the sky looks like"
"You have reached the top of the Gauntlet Tower." The announcer said, the escalator being barred off. "You will now fight in a head to head turf war with the champion of the other half of the tower."
"It's not legal to kill, right?" Cici muttered, "Tempted to throw the match if that is possible"
"Please step forward onto the respawn pad." The pad in front of Cici lit up.
"Guess I'm just talking to myself…" She superjumped onto the spawn pad.
It lit up pink as she landed on it. "You may use any weapons and gear you've acquired from other players in this match. Same rules as any turf war. 3 minutes to cover as much ground as you can."
"Aren't I an idiot for letting my cloth be a cushion for that moron…" Cici swam around in the spawn.
From the other side of the map a familiar hooded inkling came up from the escalator, walking over to the respawn pad and placing his feet on it, the pad turning black. "Well, surprised I'm going against her." Adstrum smiled, holding his Ink Sledge over his shoulder and a Krak-On Roller in his left hand.
"Hmm… it's been awhile since I fought. But then again taylors aren't allowed to fight… too OP" Cici seemed distracted as she talked to herself.
"Well folks it's come down to the last and only match! It's fan verses hammer!"
"Plus these other weapons I picked up." Adstrum smirked as he tied the roller to his back with a chain, the weapon touching the ground behind him.
"..." Cici waved to Adstrum when she noticed him.
He smiled and waved back before pulling out the Aerospray from earlier and a Splattershot Jr, each in one hand.
She realised what this was and slowly stopped waving, "Hmm… this could be pretty bad…"
He shrugged and got ready, putting his Ink Sledge on his back. "This is my shark tank." He smiled down at the lowest area of the map.
Cici looked around at the match and noticed the other combatants and other people were watching outside the arena. She raised a brow when there was a guy waving a call me sign with his number on it.
"Get ready." He announcer said.
Cici got in the ink and waited.
As the alarm sounded and the match started Adstrum immediately started shooting at his sides, the roller dragging behind him and covering the area behind him.
Cici inked around her base. She jumped and splashed ink around walking on the grid bridge.
Adstrum took the right path out of his spawn room, covering the platform in no time before jumping down into the bottom area, wasting no time covering that area in ink.
Cici covered where she could and moved on. She noticed the black ink at the bottom.
Adstrum slowly swam around in it, looking up at the bridge for movement.
Cici swung both her fans and a large wave came out from them.
Adstrum swam around it, going around to the other side and jumping up, slashing the roller at Cici before diving back down. He swam to where the wave hit and slammed the Ink Sledge into the center, quickly covering most of it up.
Cici dove down into her ink and swam away.
Adstrum slowly swam around, careful to not make any noticeable movements in his ink.
Cici sent small horizontal slashes of waves towards the black ink.
Adstrum flanked around to where she wasn't looking, carefully getting himself ready before swimming straight on at her, jumping out and swinging his hammer.
Cici blocked his attack with her fans.
He reeled back and turned on the miniature rocket engine, the hammer swinging faster and harder.
Cici desperately slashed out of fear, cutting some of his clothes.
He jumped back as his pants and shirt were slashed slightly. "Cut the jacket and I will slam you into next week." He spun around once before hitting his hammer on the ground, the momentum creating a large splash radius.
Cici seemed to be terrified and shaking. She shook herself out of it and summoned another huge wave to block his attack.
He pulled up the roller he was dragging and spun it around quickly, some of the wave being weakened before it eventually fell. He reeled back and flung the roller at her.
Cici jumped over it and ran back towards her base.
"Stay out of the shark tank, Cecilia! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Adstrum jumped up and clung to the bottom of the grid bridge as he said that, just before falling back down into his ink.
Her tentacles bubbled and she drew a line with her fans making a huge tidal wave engulf half the field. She surfed on the wave with her fan.
Adstrum saw the pink ink and got angry as it covered half of the bottom area. "Stay out of my shark tank!" He quickly covered up what was in the bottom area before diving back down.
Cici managed to get to the center of the stage again.
Adstrum saw her on the grid bridge and swam circles around the two pillars holding it up. He had the roller ready to jump and strike.
Cici switched weapons, now holding the hero shot in her left hand.
Adstrum watched with curiosity, throwing a splat bomb up onto the un-inked walkway on his half of the map.
Cici dove at him while slashing a wave at him.
Adstrum turned humanoid and charged right through it, coming out covered in a lot of pink ink and swinging the hammer.
Cici shot him with the hero shot.
He hit her with the hammer just as she shot him, both of them splatting at the same time.
Cici was shaking at the spawn point, her tentacle's tips having returned to a green color.
Adstrum quickly hopped off his respawn point and headed left, covering the small, side area in black ink before diving back into the bottom area.
Cici went to cover the other route only to find it was already covered. She made her way towards his spawn, inking over his ink.
He made a few swipes with the roller, missing on purpose to throw her off.
She shot back in retaliation.
He took the shots and dove back into his ink as she walked over to his spawn area. He just shrugged and swam to nearby her spawn, throwing Splat Bombs up there.
She made another tidal wave cover his side of the map.
He glared before standing up, his tentacles bubbling. "My turn." He superjumped straight up in the air, going three times higher than normal, before dive bombing straight down with his Ink Sledge pulled out. As he neared the ground he slammed his hammer down, a large explosion of ink covering half the map in the center. However, a spot of pink was left where he landed, about the size of a Burst Bomb explosion.
Cici got pushed back from the wave of air.
Adstrum reappeared at his spawn point. "Ow...never used that before." He held himself up with his hammer.
Cici saw him and ran away. Inking a path for her to move
He followed behind her, covering up her ink right behind her, a slight limp in his step.
Cici lashed out a fury of slashes at him.
He pulled out the Aerospray and shot at her, getting the hammer's engine charged up.
She sent a wave at him.
He tried to jump over it, but the bottom half of him got covered.
She threw the hero shot at his head to give herself more space.
He ducked it and ran at her, about to swing the Ink Sledge.
Cici superjumped away and tried to catch her breath. She recovered and started dancing. Her fan glowed and her tentacles shined with it.
As Adstrum caught up to her he reeled back his hammer again and charged at her.
She jumped at him as well. In her wake a wave from the sea joined her.
As they were about to collide a loud whistle sounded. Adstrum realized the match was over and pulled his hammer up, his swing just passing over Cici's head. He found himself spinning around from the momentum and rocket engine before slowly coming to a stop. He stumbled a bit before falling on his rear.
Cici twirled and the wave turned into rainbow sparkles. Cici was very pale once again.
"That was very fun." Adstrum smiled and stood back up. "Good game, Cici." He walked up to her, seeing her pale face. "Are you okay?"
She fainted and her tentacles changed to a whitish green.
"Oh, shit." He bent down and picked her up. "I think you've had enough for a while." He walked over to the nearest escalator and hopped on, immediately making his way to the bottom of the tower.
The others were standing at the gate anxiously waiting. As the gate opened Adstrum walked out slowly with Cici on his head, one hand holding her up there.
Cici had no energy to do anything and looked as pale as a ghost.
"Cici!" Jack ran up Adstrum. "Give her to me! Please! Is she okay?"
"She's sleeping." Adstrum replied.
"She's pale again… I was hoping she would still be healthy" Marie rubbed her neck.
"Nothing lasts forever." Callie shrugged. "Hopefully she'll get healthy again."
"That's not really the problem here. That was just a day or so… it doesn't fix that she was still malnourished before. That was just a burst of energy… Now back to normal" Arisara sighed.
"For a burst of energy she lasted quite a while." Adstrum nodded.
"She was avoiding fighting for the most part."
"So was I. She just needs to learn to leave the shark tank alone." He smirked.
Jack reached up and gently took hold of Cici, placing her on his head and holding her there.
"...This smell…. I can't move… though" Cici muttered.
"Oh...sorry. I guess I do smell." He gently held her toward Arisara.
"...Everyone has a certain… smell… It's a perk for not using my eyes…" Cici slurred.
"Cool…" Jack nodded. "So, do you want Arisara or do you want to go back in your clothing chest?"
"Too tired… don't care…."
"I think the exhaustion made her brain fried…." Arisara rubbed her head, "It's like drunk off of tiredness… but at least it means she's okay"
"You want her, Ari?" Jack asked. "She might be more comfy under your hood. If not I will take her to the bus and put her to bed."
"Heh, she might pull a prank and pull off my hood…"
"...Darn, foiled again…." Cici muttered laying more flat than usual.
Jack just smiled and started walking back to the bus with Cici on his head, both hands keeping her from falling.
"It's funny… we fought all the time… you kinda smell like him..."
"Who? Oh...nevermind…" Jack sighed and looked down.
"I wanna cookie…. I was good…"
"Okay. I'll drop you off on the bus so you can rest, then I'll go get you a cookie. What kind do you want?" He asked as he turned the corner, the rest of the group following behind.
"Alls ofa em" Cici slurred from being too tired.
"Heh...um...Ari?" Jack looked at her for help. "What kind?"
"Ah, ummm chocolate chip?"
"Where?!" Cici tried to swim but couldn't move, "...aw…"
"Shhhh. Calm down, Cici." Callie walked up and gently patted her. "We'll get you some cookies."
"You need to go night night" Marie put her hands on her hips, "Turn into your humanoid form, missy"
"Kay…" Cici changed back and fell to her butt. Her tentacles were whitish green but with pink sparkles.
Marie helped her up, "You even shrunk again…"
"Well…" Jack smiled at her. "Small Cici is cute."
"I'm tiny, hehe" Cici let Marie pick her up.
"But we prefer you normal size." Adstrum gently patted her back. "We don't have to worry about your health. And we don't have to look at the ground to make sure we don't step on you."
"You have thick eyebrows…" Cici had swirls in her eyes.
"What?" Marie seemed concern with that now.
"Nowzz youse have fours… Are you maaaaggggiccc?"
"Yay. Sleepy's back!"
"She's high off of tiredness… please just go to bed" Callie sighed.
"C'mon, guys. Let's get her tucked in." Jack stepped onto the bus and headed up the stairs, opening the door for Marie.
Marie put her down to let her walk. Cici took a step and nearly face planted.
"Ah, bad idea to let her try to walk…" Marie picked her back up.
"Hehe, I'ma noodle"
"Yes you are. Beddy bye time" Marie carried her away into the bathroom.
"I'm glad she's holding up okay. But I wonder why she was so drained and you weren't Adstrum" Arisara wondered to herself.
"I don't know." He replied.
Marie came back out and went into her room before returning with clothes.
"What are you doing?"
"It's a bath… She can't sleep dirty…"
"Oh." Adstrum shrugged before looking around in boredom. "So...now what?"
"Adstrum, I didn't say anything earlier to take attention away from Cici, but why are you limping a bit?" Callie asked.
"Huh? Oh, no reason." He saw Callie raise an eyebrow. "What?"
"Addie, what happened?" She placed her hands on her hips.
"He played wack a squid with me" Cici, now in oversized PJs, replied, "he whacked too hurt and hurt him?"
"I said no mercy before we signed up. And it's my fault. I never had to use the Ink Sledge's special before. It was highly untested. Covers most of the battlefield in your ink, but you splat as a result. Man, it hurt." He chuckled.
"I play hard ball too! I used the ripple fans that drain my health. Hehe. "
"What?!" Everyone yelled.
"Huh youse… don't know? It's a tool that is used in the wave dance in Eleedee Valley. It drains the user's health a bit to make the ink display a variety of color. It's not supposed to be a weapon, but its a double edge sword. "
"Cici, why would you use them then!?" Jack screamed.
"Huh? That's a good question… I wanted to see how far I could go until maybe total collapse?" Cici still seemed dazed, "For power you must give up something in return. It's like Addie's whack a mole wand."
"Cici! Never risk your health like that again! Please!" Jack clutched his chest and started breathing heavily.
"I'll be fine." Cici hugged him, "Don't be a worry wurtle."
"You mean 'wart'" Marie sighed.
"...That…. too..." Cici fell asleep leaning on him.
Jack kept breathing heavily. "Cici…"
"Jack, are you alright?" Callie asked
"I'm...fine...Callie. Just...worried...about Cici." He took a few more breaths and composed himself.
"I think she'll be KO'ed for a while but should be back to normal after" Arisara petted the sleeping squid.
"Is 'normal' the right word to use?" Adstrum asked.
"Ummm no…."
"I'll put her to bed…" Jack picked up Cici and carried her upstairs. "I'll meet you guys at the concert later. I need a lie down as well…"
"Okay, see ya." Adstrum waved and looked at everyone else.
"Yes. Please rest up, okay?" Marie smiled.
"Marie! We need to change and do our makeup!"
"We don't use makeup. But you are right. Let's do this!"
Adstrum watched Callie and Marie run to the bathroom to get ready. He stood there with his hands in his pockets and looked at Arisara. "So...how's it going?"
"It's good. Glad to see everyone is on good terms" Arisara smiled.
"Cool. But I think Cici might still hate Jack. Or just dislike him." He shrugged.
"Oh… I think she still cares about him. To a degree. Maybe they will make up some day"
"Hopefully that's soon." Adstrum nodded. They both stood around in silence as time passed.
"Everyone ready?!" Callie bounced in front of them.
"Yep." Adstrum smiled at the bouncy squid. "Except Jack. But he's lying down."
"He had a rough day… let him rest"
"Well, who's going to announce?"
"Addie?"
"Fine. I'm not going to argue." Adstrum smiled and kissed Callie as he walked toward the door. "Let's go."
"YAY!" Callie hugged him as she, Adstrum, Marie, and Arisara headed for the concert.
Author's Note: Hello everyone. I promised a sooner chapter and here it is! You are welcome! Thank you The Bowser Monster, Gajesteel, and Ashanti for leaving reviews.
It would be a lot easier to reply to your review, Gajesteel, if you had PMs on. But thank you. Glad you like my fanfic. Your review really made me smile.
Good for you, Ashanti. Hope you had fun. Glad you LUV the fic.
One more thing. Both Apikachua and I have CuriousCat accounts, so if you wish to ask questions about our characters then go there and ask us. It would be nice to see more questions.
Anyway, see you all next week with a sooner chapter. I'll aim for Monday. Thank you all for reading and I'll see you next week. Please leave a review, but remember the rule.
