When night came, silence usually followed. That case was true even for as rowdy a species as the salmonids, seeing as how at the moment, they were all tuckered in and sleeping soundly inside their huts. Even hyperactive bundles of chaos needed their rest.
However, not all was still in the Salmonid Mainland. Very faintly and very softly, a red light blinked and beeped in the sand, droning on constantly. To a normal person who got a look at it, the ball that made said beeping appeared to be nothing more than a neat little object, if a little useless.
Though greatly obscured by the darkness around it, something large and heavy could be seen touching down on the shores of the Mainland by any who were awake. The loud, low sound of a horn blared out from the structure, the soundwaves and gusts of wind it created causing the very sand and rocks to shudder.
So loud was the horn that it reached into the ears of the sleeping salmons, disturbing their sleep, especially that of one certain salmonling.
Jade stirred, unconsciously frowning as the brunt of the horn's call passed through her. Another burst of sound was enough for the girl to rouse from slumber, and she weakly rubbed her tired eyes and yawned softly. Her first instinct was to look around, however she was unable to find anything remotely suspicious inside the hut. Her brows furrowed; where was that noise coming from?
Her curiosity grew once she saw a bright light pierce through the darkness from the window inside the hut. As quietly as she could, Jade stepped out of the hut and into the open night air, then proceeded to wander around the town, closer and closer to the rotating beam of light.
"Wait a minute.. What the heck is that?" Jade mused aloud, peering with squinted eyes through the dark of night. Even if she couldn't see all that well, Jade could still make out a very large shape off in the shore. Was that thing there before? It looked like a strangely smooth mountain of sorts, and how the light shone from the tip of it and spun around was also bizarre. It seemed to be rocking in the water, though..
Pretty similarly to a ship, even.
Whenever the light passed over her, she could see more clearly what exactly this ship was. It looked bigger and taller than any mountain spire in the Mainland, loaded with a stack of metal boxes and smeared with colors of gray and neon green stripes on the sides of its hull along with a searchlight placed at the very top, responsible for creating the bright glow.
This immediately set up many a red flag in Jade's mind. She was pretty sure the salmonids never had or even allowed ships like these on their island, or any ship for that matter. Not to mention the mainland wasn't on any map in Inkopolis. So if it hailed from inkopolis, then...
Jade gasped.
She took a few cautious steps back, getting farther and farther from the ship as stealthily as she could. However, her attempt proved unsuccessful for she was suddenly caught in the blinding light and forced to cover her eyes. Despite how hard it was to look, squinting allowed her to make out an all too recognizable logo plastered on the hull alongside the colored stripes: Grizzco Industries.
Jade's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
Alas, she could not run away in time before a blast of orange sent her off her feet, flying and crashing against the sand.
So the rest of the orb-shaped cannons set their sights on the rest of the salmonid structures, and soon a hail of liquid fire bombarded the town.
Nothing was safe from the onslaught of torpedoes. Every hut, every shop, every walkway, every structure in sight was stained and blown to bits in an instant by the impact of the ink torpedoes, some even catching fire in the process. If they weren't splatted by the blasts, the salmonids inside were sent scattering everywhere like squirming confetti in the air. Panic and confusion overtook the fishes as they scrambled to get back on their own tails, swimming in all directions just to not be hit by any of the bubbling orange ink.
Jade was still downed on the shore, however. The impact left her disoriented, as it took half a minute or so to regain her bearings, and another half for her to get up on all fours. Her gasps for air were frantic, and looking up to the sight of both the damaged town and a gathering of Grizzco workers not too far from her made her ink run cold. She couldn't move in the slightest.
The grizzco workers looked to be disembarking from the ship one at a time, using ropes to slide down onto sandy ground. Before long a party of 30 had gathered, all carrying their own specialized Grizzco weapons, adorned in silver and yellow.
The time for Jade to contemplate her next course of action came pitifully short, for she was soon spotted by the goons in spite of the dark sky. Somehow.
With cries of "There it is!" and "Target acquired!", Jade took that as a cue to scramble to her feet and run as fast as she could.
One still remained in the shore,however. Clad in a white shirt, black overalls and orange gloves and boots, the inkling woman observed the departing mutant from where she stood, her emerald eyes narrowed into a leer.
"Don't you worry. You won't have to run for much longer.."
If the streaks of orange ink that whizzed past Jade weren't indication enough of how big and gaping of a rut the girl was in, then the sight of the village in flames definitely screamed of trouble. Trouble that had somehow latched on to her, slithered through the sea inconspicuously alongside her, laid low right under her nose, then burst in a grand manner in front of her very eyes, right into what she was experiencing now.
But how?! She was sure there was nothing Khal or the other squid kids had that could've possibly tracked and followed her right into the Salmonids' home, and even if they told Mr. Grizz, he had no way of learning of the Mainland. No one in Inkopolis even knew of this place, so how did Grizzco figure out they would find her all the way here?!
She made a right turn and leapt behind the nearest boulder she could find, and the lack of fire nearby aided her in staying hidden from the passing inklings. It brought her no relief, however, for soon her body began to tremble as she moved her arms to grab her head.
This was retribution, wasn't it? The consequence of messing with Grizzco and choosing to aid her fellow salmons, of revealing herself to them and asking for trouble. What was Jade expecting? She deliberately went out into the open in her monstrous despite warnings from her ten-limbed companions; She should've expected to suffer for it. Stupid!
Jade blubbered a shaky whine. Not only was the event of her capture looking very possible right about now, seeing as how she had a whole platoon of workers on the lookout for her, but so was the endangerment of all salmonids in the island. They wouldn't stand a chance, she had to help them stop Grizzco, but what could she even do in her situation?
"No,no,no,no, what do I do?!" Her breathing was getting more and more shallow, and she could feel her trembling increase in intensity. The screams that still echoed didn't help her state either. Jade shut her eyes tightly, and began to breathe. Slow and deep, over and over, keeping herself together.
Only after the upteenth or so exhale did Jade manage to rein in her doubts. She peered over the boulder again and glowered; Apparently setting the village on fire wasn't enough for Grizzco, for their grunts looked to be moving in towards the scrambling salmons and firing on them with the same customized blasters, chargers and brellas she's seen a few times before while under their employ.
Now that she had a better look at the village.. since when did puddles of ink ever combust into flames on their own? Furthermore, Since when were grizzco torpedoes powerful enough to release ink that spontaneously lit ablaze? Only an Explosher could ever shoot ink that felt even a little hot, but certainly not this..
"Odd.. I'll have to douse them somehow. But first.."
With another glance to ensure that no one was actively looking for her, Jade leapt out of her hiding spot and swam off to the village.
Jade's first course of action was to basically thin the mooks' numbers. The first worker she found, she immediately incapacitated them with a slash at their back, and with the second she pried the brella from their gloved hands before delivering a hard kick in the gut. After casting the brella into a small flame nearby, The salmonling proceeded.
"Skipfin! Skipfin, where are you?!" Jade called out, ignoring the sounds of gunshots and yelling all around her. For as much as she cried his name, no smallfry came to her side. She only ever received screams of pain.
Everywhere Jade looked, it was the same; debris, flames and ink of orange and green all around, with salmonids either fleeing or fighting back against the relentless inklings, yet both cases led to the same results. Capture or splatting.
Jade tried all she could to counteract Grizzco's siege: drawing fire away from the salmonids and towards her, disarming the mooks before they had a chance to attack further, or using whatever ounce of water she could find to douse the flames, anything and everything to hold them off while staying alive in the process. But for every worker she struck down, another seemed to take their place. She couldn't see an end to them.
She felt a harsh impact on her back that brought her down on all fours, and quickly glanced at her scaly back to find a large stain on it. The reason why soon appeared: a Grizzco grunt not far from where she lay, with Brella in hand. For every burst of pellets he fired, Jade jumped away further and further, retreating as far as she could until her back hit something. The grunt had managed to corner her, much to Jade's dismay.
Worse still, four other workers had joined in, all aiming down their weapons at her snout, and wherever the salmonling looked she couldn't find any means to slip away.
Though she closed her eyes and braced herself, no attack ever hit her. She heard some clattering and bashing around as well, along with… was that screaming?
She opened an eye hesitantly, and what she saw made her grin all throughout.
"Yeah! Kick their butts!," She cheered, watching with delight as a Steelhead effortlessly bashed around her attackers like they were cardboard. Boy, was it nice to be on his side for a change!
Other salmons rallied alongside the behemoth as he threw one of his bag bombs, it's subsequent blast splatting quite a few inklings to surprising effect. Some salmons even took the opportunity to finish off the injured ones.
"Jaaaaaiiiiid!"
Jade suddenly felt a weight on her back, and upon looking over her shoulder she smiled brightly. "Skipfin! You're okay!" She joyfully said,scooping up the smallfry and giving him a good nuzzle.
But there was little time for celebration. The wail of the ship's horn boomed once more, and streaks of orange arched through the sky soon after. In a snap, Jade dived to the nearest cover as the torpedoes rained down once more, pressing herself against the pile of wood and holding Skipfin close to her chest.
The deluge stopped as soon as it began, however, leaving an unnatural silence in it's wake. Puzzled, Jade peeked out of her cover, but found nothing beyond a few injured salmonids lying on the ground and a lot of orange ink spread about. Yet not a single worker could be seen..
Their salty smell still permeated the village, however. No doubt they were hiding nearby. As Jade stepped out of cover and carefully moved closer to the orange ink, the odor only got stronger. It almost made her cover her nose with how strong it was.
When Jade was mere inches away, the first of the workers sprung from the ink, slamming her dynamo roller onto the salmonling with surprising speed. Whether it was luck or fast reflexes, the salmonling only barely managed to hop away in time before the weapon struck the ground.
Jade regained her footing quickly, and was left face to face with the inkling woman in black, along with the rest of the hidden salmon runners that soon emerged behind her.
"Took me a while to find you, salmonling. Your prowling ends here," Nephrys declared.
Jade dared not to move or speak, only glaring at the female in response. Skipfin growled at the inklings as well, his small body quaking. Just as he lunged at them, he was caught in midair by Jade's hands, and she held the smallfry close to her chest, despite his imminent protests.
"Though.. perhaps you may not be of the fighting kind.." Nephrys muttered, one of her brows raised curiously at the display. The workers beside her began their approach, but stopped in place when the woman in black and orange held an arm out in front of them.
Jade took a step back, but still refused to make any sudden moves. Again she merely glared at the woman.
"If you can understand me, We can resolve this quietly or by force. Your choice," The woman continued without much pause.
Confusion and fear clouded the salmonling's mind in spite of her outward facade of bravery. The woman spoke in a harsh, commanding tone; clearly that of a hunter concerned only with her mission. Yet her words sent conflicting signals, and her actions moreso. Why wasn't she attacking? Jade was just a monster in her eyes, so why talk to her at all in spite of that? Unless..
No. There was no way she could have known, could she?
She couldn't. This woman won't stop her now!
Jade lunged with her claws out at Nephrys, aiming for her cheek. She only caught thin air, however, as Nephrys quickly sidestepped out of the way and retaliated with a flick of her roller, smacking Jade in the face.
The salmonling reeled from the blow, and had a pained expression on her face as she stared at Nephrys with disbelief.
"A poor choice," Nephrys noted dryly before swinging her roller once more, sending a swathe of ink at Jade. The girl rolled away before any drop of it could touch her, and soon she was locked in a full blown battle with the older inkling.
This might've been the first time a salmon runner gave Jade any real trouble. She could barely connect any of her slashes, Nephrys dodging them all with relative ease, and the wide and fast swings of Nephry's dynamo roller were difficult to avoid. Whether it was a tiny drop or a large glob, more and more enemy ink coated Jade after every swing, which weakened her further. She had to dive into her own ink and retreat a little to heal every so often before returning to a losing game of parrying and slashing with her grizzco opponent.
Nephrys raised her roller high to strike once more and swung it down, only for it to be caught mid-swing by Jade. Locked in a struggle, each tried to pry the weapon off the other's hands to no avail. Neither of them even budged, their hardened gazes focused only on each other, and their joint grip on the roller was so strong their hands were practically glued to it. Any sudden moves and the weapon could easily break.
"Pathetic.. this is the salmonid that's got everyone in a pickle? You can't even lay a scratch on me," Nephrys taunted.
"Shut up, grandma! You're hardly better at splatting me!" Jade snapped back, scowling at the inkling.
"Bark as loud as you want, little fish. It won't do you any good against Grizzco."
"Oh yeah? I'm just getting started!"
She swiped a claw at Nephrys, only for her to dodge with only a tilt of her head. Jade's hold on the roller slipped as a result, allowing Nephrys to pry it off her remaining hand and strike Jade with a horizontal swing. The salmonling was sent crashing against the ground, and she clutched her chest in pain with a groan. She was left dazed, and her limbs felt too weak for her to stand up again.
"You seem a little tired, salmonling," Nephrys remarked snidely, walking closer and closer to the downed Jade, "Perhaps you need to get some sleep..."
A haggard feeling slithered up Jade's stomach and to her neck all of a sudden. Rancid particles of bile and blood flowing through her throat, sticking and growing together in small yet ever larger quantities and slowly clogging whatever space there was inside. Her breathing slowed and got so ragged and raspy it began to hurt. She couldn't utter any retort before breaking into a coughing fit.
The woman halted in her steps, puzzlement crossing her mind for a brief moment at the sight of the fell mutant. Even after bashing her so many times, the girl was still conscious, still resilient, still squirming with life. That last attack should've knocked her out by now, and she was practically drenched in ink, yet still she dared to cling to life?
Nephrys shook her head. Such ludicrous stubbornness.
As Nephrys continued her approach, Jade suddenly gripped her neck. She felt like she was about to choke with how much her throat was closing up, and she didn't know how to stop it either.
Without thinking she got up on all fours and looked at Nephrys, and all the pressure in her neck vanished as a slimy ball of pure ink suddenly launched out of her mouth and slammed against Nephrys with enough force so as to outright splat her. An orange puddle, along with the woman's lifering and roller now lay where she once stood.
Gasping for air, Jade looked on at her handiwork with both shock and fear.
"Wha..? W-when could I…"
A shivering sensation in her arms brought her out of said shock, and only then was she made aware of just how much ink she was covered in. With a yelp, she scrambled to the nearest puddle of salmonid ink she could find and dove in before coming back out after a minute, healing herself. That was a close one..
While limping away to a safe spot with Skipfin in her arms once more, Jade took another look around the area. She could barely recognize the village anymore; now nothing more than a canvas of torn, burning wood, of ashes and rubble, of dust and ink amidst a black sky that ensnared squid and salmon alike as they faced off.
Green with orange, fin with tentacle, maw with beak and scale with sucker, the fishes and cephalopods alike threw everything they had at each other. The forces of Grizzco mowed down schools upon schools of salmonids effortlessly with their repertoire of weapons, and in turn the scaly legions besieged the workers with sheer numbers and brute force. The presence of boss salmonids certainly helped turn the tide in the salmonids' favor, with things like the Drizzlers' miniature inkstorms and the Flyfishes' constant hail of missiles causing many a worker to scatter lest they wanted to get picked off where they stood.
Tears threatened to spill from Jade's eyes, even as she tried her hardest to hold them back. How could she not cry? She allowed Grizzco to find her, left just enough of a trail for them to follow, and caught her in her hiding place. And now it was burning, along with the ones who took her in.
And her only thought was to ditch it all.
She cared not that her legs quivered more and more with every step, or for Skipfin's cries to turn around, or for the noises of chaos that still raged behind her. Only to run.
Jade's constant glancing back and uneven footing caused her to trip up and for Skipfin to fall out of her grasp again. Still, she picked herself up and continued—
"Go back!"
Jade's head craned to Skipfin, her puffy eyes meeting his own look of pleading. Her mouth quivered, but no words came out.
"Jade have to go back! Jade have to beat them!"
"I can't! Jade shouted back.
"Jade said we teach squids lesson!"
"Don't you get it?! They're too powerful, they're gonna kill us!"
"SALMONS CAN BE STRONG, TOO!"
The words struck Jade speechless, as if something had snapped her out of a daze.
"... What..?"
Skipfin crawled closer to Jade. "Squids.. may be too strong for Jade.. but not for salmons."
Jade merely looked at him helplessly, "B-but—"
"Salmons get in rough spots all time. May be every day.. But by helping each other and not being scared, salmons can beat anyone! Even thieves like the squids.
"Skipfin, you.."
"J-jade said so.. and if we could beat them before, then.."
"..We can beat them again!"
Jade's face was filled with renewed determination. The smallfry hopped onto Jade's shoulder and gave her a nod of encouragement, which Jade happily returned.
"Let's finish this!"
And so the duo rushed into the burning village once more.
A distant wail alerted the salmonling to an incoming wave of torpedoes about to slam onto the ground, and after a quick upward glance at them she dodged from side to side, effortlessly navigating through the torrent of ink. On her right, she spotted a trio of salmonids tussling with a Grizzco goon and quickly leapt to their aid. A slash to his ink tank from Jade and a bite into his cheek from Skipfin and the goon was quickly out of commission.
The pair yelped when a torpedo landed right next to them, and many more were still coming down on the field and taking out salmonids left and right. Jade set her sights on the ship; she had to disable those cannons somehow.. and her tools were limited. Looking ahead she saw other small duels among the warring fishes; the Steelhead from earlier fighting a pair of goons with a blaster and a slosher, and next to them was a downed machine with large square pods on its sides.
She glanced at Skipfin and then at the scene before her, and instantly an idea popped into her mind. "Skipfin, have you ever tried to be a flyfish?" She asked hurriedly.
"Once. Though Skipfin didn't get past the first trial.. Wait—!"
He was cut off by Jade's sudden grabbing of his body, and with a cry of "One more of them won't hurt!" he was thrown far into the air. With a skid, he landed near the vehicle and scrambled to enter inside. Soon after, Jade dashed forward, avoiding the torpedoes that landed near her again and ambushing the two goons with a sweep kick from behind. She knocked them unconscious immediately after by spitting another inkball at them.
"Thought you could use the help!" She exclaimed at the bigger fish. The steelhead shook its head in turn, and trained it's gaze onto the ship. Jade followed its gaze then smirked. It was nice to know when another mind shared similar sentiments.
The steelhead blew into its mouth apparatus, the bag on its head inflating to a large enough size before being launched off. In turn, Jade jumped high into the air after the bomb, and with as much force as she could muster she kicked the green bag. The bomb was sent sailing through the air, until it collided with the ship and exploded. Not only did the blast leave a large stain, but it also brought the desired result: its ink cannons now lay damaged and inactive.
Jade's smirk widened a bit, and upon seeing Skipfin rise from the ground in his machine, it widened further. She cheered the smallfry on as he unloaded his own kind of torpedoes onto the island, causing the mooks to scatter.
With the cannons downed and the Grizzco workers dispersing, it seemed as if things were finally turning around in the salmons' favor. Indeed, Jade's manuever and Skipfin's piloting had helped the other salmons greatly in pushing the invaders back. The girl would've given herself and Skipfin a pat on the back for it, too.
But then Jade heard some clattering behind her, and turned her head toward the noise curiously. It was a splat bomb.
While the blast didn't hurt her, it did knock her off her feet. The steelhead beside her was suddenly splatted, a trail of orange ink on the ground the only evidence of any attack, and Skipfin's machine was similarly knocked out of the sky as he prepared to fire. She noticed the ink trails led to a cloud of smoke, and from within it, a figure stepped out: Nephrys.
Jade grimaced. "I guess someone found her lifering and revived her. Aww man…"
"Impressive maneuver," Nephrys praised with a slight smile, "You really aren't as mindless as I was led to believe."
"Why are you doing this?!" Jade shouted, disregarding the inkling's empty praise.
"Should be obvious, is it not? We've allowed you and the salmonids to do as they please for too long now."
"But it's only me you want! You wouldn't have come to the island otherwise, the salmonids haven't done anything to you!"
"Oh, you have no idea what they're capable of.." Nephrys said with a shake of her head.
"Grr, Leave my friends alone!" Jade lunged at Nephrys and swung her claws in a desperate attempt at attack. The woman effortlessly dodged them, however, and flung some ink at the salmonling in retaliation. Jade reeled from the attack, but it was not enough to bring her down. She reared up and threw a punch at Nephrys. She caught her fist mid-swing, however, and kicked Jade in the gut. Jade was on her knees once more, with Nephrys poised to strike her down once and for all.
"Give up, it's over."
"No.." A hoarse whisper came from Jade's mouth.
"What was that?"
"NO!"
Jade grabbed onto the roller just as Nephrys swung down. They were locked in a struggle once again, each using every ounce of strength they could muster to push against their opponent. Nephrys stood her ground at first, unflinching like a statue. But slowly and surely, Jade began to push back. Little by little, inch by inch, she was lifting the roller higher and further. She was overpowering Nephrys, even, as her grip on the roller trembled while Jade's had never been more firm.
Until a swift and sudden twist of the roller caused Jade to stumble and lose her grip.
Nephrys regained her hold on the weapon and after smacking Jade with the butt of the roller, it was all over.
One powerful strike of the weapon, and Jade was knocked down.
Battered and weakened, the salmonling lay motionless on the sand floor. She tried to look around, to regain her bearings and stand up again; her vision showed only blurs and colors though, and her senses were all disoriented. The muffled screams and shouts of the salmonids barely registered in her ears…
Her thoughts were fading. It wasn't long before she was out like a light.
When she came to, Jade was met not by the smell of ashes or the sight of fire. She felt cold, cramped and stuffy, not to mention she couldn't see anything at first. Her vision cleared soon enough, and it almost made her cry out.
Not only did Jade have salmonids stuffed on top of her, below her and on her left, not only did she have metal bars pressing tightly against her right side, and not only was she just trapped in a cage. No, she was in a room full of cages; all large and rectangular, all stuffed full of salmonids of all shapes and sizes.
Her sight was limited, and her capacity to move moreso. She struggled to turn her body over and get a better look, and the pile of fishes shifted slightly as a result. The two guards were also alerted, unfortunately, and one of them banged their weapon against the cage in response.
"Don't move!" The guard yelled angrily. Jade didn't want to talk back in the slightest. As she lay in her cell, however, she began to feel as if something was missing.
"Wait.. where's Skipfin?!"
She glanced around again as the thought came up suddenly. Yet among all the identical fishes she found no signs of her friend. Panic welled up in the girl. She wanted to escape, and she was going to do it now.
With her one free hand, Jade gripped the bars of her cage and metal between her fingers started to bend, and slowly she began to push the bar in her hand outward. It took a bit of time, but soon Jade had made a gap wide enough for her to easily slide out of her cage.
The two guards took immediate notice of her action, however, and they set their weapons on her. "Hey, get back to your cage!" The other guard bellowed.
"Oh honey.." Jade sighed. "What do you think is gonna happen?"
The guard couldn't get any reply in before getting splatted where he stood by Jade's slime spit. The other shot at Jade in vain, and she merely dashed up to him and knocked him unconscious with one backhand.
Okay.. those two were taken care of. But now she had an entire ship to navigate through, if the light swaying and rumbling of the floor along with muffled sounds of waves were any indication of where she might be. That, along with a bunch of captive salmonids surrounding her. The fishes all groaned and called to her as she hurriedly passed them by, but Jade was not interested in their pleas. She was entirely capable of simply breaking every one of them out, but in her current situation Jade couldn't care less. Her friend was her only concern.
And so Jade rummaged through as many of the cages as fast as she could, squeezing any smallfry she laid her eyes on while calling for Skipfin's name. She stopped once one of them gave a very particular yelp, and when Jade pulled them out of the cage they squealed in delight and hopped onto Jade's shoulder.
"There you are!" Jade said with relief, holding the smallfry close as it rubbed affectionately against her cheek. "A-are you ok?"
Despite displaying a black eye in full view, Skipfin nodded. Jade decided to think about any injuries later. Now it was just her, the ship, and freedom.
The salmonling bolted out the door and commenced a frantic dash across the hall. She skid to a halt once two more Grizzco goons spotted her, and quickly turned back the way she came from, already hearing then follow behind. The girl rounded another corner, and again she was forced to move somewhere else once another pair of eyes latched onto her.
Taking fast, short steps with her paws, Jade glided across corridor after corridor, room after room, away from those who wished her in a cage. For as much as she moved about, however, Jade lacked any and all sense of direction. Every room she came across looked the same as the last, she was effectively stuck in a sea-faring maze.
She felt ink pierce through one of her legs, and she tripped up and dropped Skipfin. The yells and shouts of the goons hollered behind her, warning her, and with shaky hands Jade picked herself up. Someone grabbed her wrist and in turn she threw the attacker off. No more than a few steps and again she was struck and then on her knees, a mix of green and orange ink dripping off her afflicted leg.
Jade cried out in pain. She could barely lift her legs, much less stand up again after that shot, leaving her nearly defenseless. Still, she crawled onward even as a small squad of five came upon her. The thrashing and jerking of her body from side to side brought great difficulty to the goons, struggling to even keep the salmonling in place for anything longer than a second. Still, for any inkling Jade shook off, another joined in and latched onto one of her limbs to keep her from escaping.
"Get— off me!"
The smallfry picked itself up all the while, and upon noticing this, he lunged at one of the goons and bit hard on her hand. Naturally, she howled in pain and clutched her hand, unwittingly allowing Jade to break free from her hold and throw the rest of the goons off her. The salmonling picked the smallfry up, and despite her injuries Jade did her best to continue running.
One of the workers among the downed pile struggled to pick themselves up, and with a shaky hand they grasped their earpiece and grunted, "All units, we've had a breach! The target has escaped. I repeat— The target has escaped!"
Jade was running out of exits, however. Everywhere she turned was another goon alerted to her presence, every door she opened led to just another dead end, and every minute she felt herself growing weaker and more fatigued. She knew she couldn't last long before, but now it was certain that if she didn't turn things around, there would be no escape.
Skipfin's yells of more workers on her tail spurred feelings of panic in Jade as she turned yet another corner. Only two roads lay ahead of her on each side, both already occupied by a salmon runner at the end of each, their weapons at the ready. The group from behind wasn't slowing down either. She frantically looked around, and to her relief she found something of use: a ventilation shaft hanging from the roof. Crude, but it was something at least.
Jade jumped into the tunnel, shifting into her fish form to slip through the cover. She swam through the vents with ease. The workers all gathered below the ventilation, meanwhile, all staring at the tunnel intently.
"I dunno about any of you," a male goon spoke up, pulling out an orange, cylindrical fizzy bomb, "But I think some cleanup is in order."
So he threw the vibrating bomb onto the shaft. It clattered against the metal panels, and soon sprung to life in a series of inky bursts as it bounced along the shaft. It took little time for Jade and Skipfin to stop and wonder what was making the banging noises, and even less for them to see the rapidly approaching bursts of ink get closer to them.
With yelps of fright, the two salmons swam even faster through the vents, the bomb bumping about behind them. They soon found an exit below them, and rapidly leaped out of the vent. The fizzy bomb slid out soon after and quickly exploded in a shower of orange.
"There has to.. be an exit somewhere.." Jade said tiredly in between breaths. "I.. can't go on.."
Skipfin's whimpers didn't reassure Jade in the least. After a few sluggish steps, she collapsed on her knees. A small voice in her head whispered, begged to lie down and take a breather. Going on would bring only more pain, no? So why not just..
Her thought process stopped once familiar scents filled her nose, coming from all around her; more workers coming. And Nephrys was among them.
With a heave, Jade stood up once more on shaky legs. One sluggish step at a time, she advanced toward a door both very near and far away. She threw the door open, and her eyes went wide: it looked like.. the deck! She found the deck of the ship!
FREEDOM!
All of a sudden some of Jade's fatigue vanished as she stepped outside. To think that she'd finally found an exit..
"There it is! Don't let it jump off!"
A shot rang out, and in a moment she was on her knees again with a pained yell. No! She's gotten so far.. she couldn't fail now! Even with knowing a squadron of Grizzco goons striding out of the door and approaching her weakened form, Jade wasn't about to lie down and give up.
But she could barely move, much less get up again. So she resorted to crawling instead. She could feel the inklings hover over her, their cold gloved hands grasping her arms tightly and restraining her. She tried to wrestle with them, of course, but for how much she thrashed and squirmed, kicked and screamed for escape, she just couldn't break free. Skipfin could do little but crawl away and watch helplessly.
One of her apprehenders pushed her down onto the floor with such force that it broke her nose. Something in Jade snapped, as if a spark suddenly ignited within her. With a roar, she spun around and slashed at her attackers all at once in a wide arc. Left with deep gashes across their faces or otherwise, they all dropped to the floor in pain.
The salmonling stood up once more and glared at Nephrys, her pupils having turned a crimson color and her mouth curled into a menacing scowl. Her fatigue had all but vanished, somehow.
"But how..?"
For the briefest of moments, Nephrys stood gaping at the beast. However, her astonishment passed as quickly as it came, and with weapon in hand she took aim once more. Just as Jade snarled and prepared to strike, someone behind her fired an explosher. The blast's impact was so strong it knocked Jade and Skipfin off the side of the deck and sent them plummeting to the sea below.
"No!" Nephrys cried out, rushing to the edge of the deck and looking down at the sea in search of the salmonling. But alas, all she caught was a splash in the water. Her grip on the railing tightened.
"Captain Nephrys, I.." The explosher wielder from earlier stammered, approaching Nephrys with a look of worry.
"Save it," She retorted, craning her head towards him with a cold stare. "You know what to do."
He nodded at once and quickly left the deck. Nephrys turned to the waves below once more, as her mind wandered towards the escaped salmonling. Wherever she might've drifted off to now...
Not a sound could be heard under the sea's blanket. Not a stir could be felt in the waves. No glimmer of light could be seen, save for the pale reflection of the moon.
Beneath the tides, there was only the abyss. And yet.. the abyss didn't bother the salmonling in the slightest. It brought her serenity, even, as she hovered in the seafloor along with her unconscious companion.
There was no strength left in her. She couldn't move in the slightest, and her thoughts were hazy. Her vision was blurry, and it was getting harder and harder for Jade to keep her eyes open. She felt weak and cold all over her body. So, so cold…
Jade had only her thoughts to keep her awake. Notions of anguish, of fear, of failure, of sadness. She would've laughed in that moment; even now, she can't help but screw up everything her companions had worked for. Always so careless.
"I'm.. sorry…" Jade lamented, as she lifted a hand and reached out in vain to the surface. Holding even the tiniest bit of hope that something could rescue her from this nightmare she's been entrenched in.
But there was no one to rescue her. There will never be anyone who can.
In her blurred gaze, Jade saw a shadow in the seafloor. Some blackened, mist-like.. thing hovering above her, its only notable trait being a pair of glowing crimson orbs staring back at her. It's face parted into a smile.
Jade couldn't hold on anymore. Her vision soon faded to black...
Author's Note
Hello everyone. It's been.. an even longer amount of time since the last upload. Truthfully, I've been unable to write this story at the pace that I desired, which is why updates have been infrequent. I doubt it will change anytime soon.
Nevertheless, I'll do my best to keep this story going, and sooner or later reach some sort of completion. No way am I going to let this join the mountain of unfinished stories in the archive. Now things are gonna get moving along in the plot at a hopefully faster pace than before.
If there's anything you'd like to say or have any feedback to provide, reviews would be appreciated.