It was the following night when Denim was escorted from the "cell" his brother Mesh and his team were held. This "cell" was just the café where Team Splatter had fought Captain Elite and her group before. Mesh and his friends were understandably shaken and afraid of this foreign, hostile force that had detained them. Thankfully, Denim was all too willing to comfort them, standing next to them as they looked around at the pitiful state the Plaza had fallen in. Octarians of various kinds had moved in, from normal Octotroopers, Octocopters floating lazily high above, and a large squad of Octolings who now surrounded the Inklings as they lured them out.
"Man, am I glad to see you, bro," muttered Mesh under his breath fearfully. "I thought we were never gonna leave this place!"
"Silence, you," mumbled an Octoling escort. "The captain will be speaking with your brother now."
Captain Elite emerged from the nearby manhole, armed with her Octo Shot and her seaweed swaying in the wind. Denim kept a stony face as best as he could to set an example for his cowering brother nearby. Elite stomped her way toward the Inklings, grinning. The Octolings dispersed a little to make way for her. Denim gulped and tried to keep his composure, which only made the captain giggle.
"I can tell you still have that same pathetic, little fear in you from when we first met in Octo Canyon," said Elite.
"Oh no, Elitist, I've grown stronger since then," insisted Denim. "Honest!"
"Yes, the Octoling your deserter friend called 'Enemy' has told me all about it," replied Elite. "She's not pleased, that's for sure. Now you will pay dearly for all the trouble you've caused, both here and in my homeland."
Before she could continue her speech, however, the sound of rushing ink alerted everyone. Four shapes were flying straight to the heart of the plaza. Once they had finished their apparent super-jumping, they were clearly the rest of Team Splatter, which made the Inklings excited. Captain Elite snarled at their presence and immediately aimed her weapon at them, as did the rest of her troop.
"What brings you here?!" snapped Elite. "I warn you, if you dare interfere in my duel with Denim, you will all go down quicker than he will!"
"No, Elite, we are not doing that," said Octolife. "We are just here to make sure that YOU do not do something funny."
"This will be an honorable duel, that's all," replied Elite, easing back her weapon. "I won't even be picky with the details. We will just duke it out here and you will get your Super Sea Snail. Not that you'll find much use for it. Once I'm through with him, you three will surely follow."
Tired of the waiting, Captain Elite began to motion to her troop to get this duel started. The entire plaza was to be the battlefield for this duel. Denim was kept on one end of the plaza while Elite stood on the opposite end at the foot of Inkopolis Tower. Team Splatter, Mesh, and his team were given strict instructions to stay on the sidelines, where they could cheer Denim on if they wished, but no more than that. Similarly, the Octarians were kept all along the sidelines, seemingly promising to not aid Elite in any way. When everyone was where they were supposed to be, the duel began.
Because there was no inking turf to do, it was nothing but a sheer match of wits between Denim and Captain Elite. The only thing it had common with Turf War was the typical time limit of two minutes. While this may not sound like much, to Denim, this quickly began to feel like an eternity. He was armed with his Splash-o-Matic, as usual, and Elite had her common Octo Shot. Elite charged ahead once the duel began, and Denim trying to hold her off proved to be much more challenging than Team Enemy ever was back in the MakoMart match. After all, those were not elite Octolings.
"Go get her, Denim!" cheered Clip.
"That's my big bro!" cheered on Mesh right beside her.
These cheers were fine for Denim but the duel became very tense, very quickly. Whatever cheering from his team or jeering from the Octarians he couldn't tell, because he was firing as straight as he could at Elite, who didn't back down easily. Denim had to fall back twice just as he was about to charge at her, and this plaza provided only minimum cover behind trees, streetlamps, and a mailbox. Denim was pelted by a stray shot by Elite, and it made him desperate.
Denim got an idea. Rather than just aiming at Elite, he chose to ink the ground in front of her instead. That way when Elite tried to move in for a splat, she was slowed down when she walked onto his lime green ink. This trick helped to earn him some valuable seconds to fight back. Elite growled at this setback and flung a Splat Bomb at him. Denim dodged and swam away in his ink from the explosion. Curving around the bottom of the plaza, he wanted to catch Elite from surprise. Unfortunately, her aim was stubborn.
Elite kept her sights locked on Denim as he came up from below the large pool of ink he had made in the plaza's center. She sank into her ink to try to recharge. Denim took this opportunity to rush upon her and fire away. Elite was caught off-guard by this. What resulted was Denim's first splat, and a nearby spawn point allowed Elite to try again.
Now not holding anything back, Elite rushed at Denim with a ferocity the Inkling boy had rarely seen up until now. He was splatted by her Octo Shot before he knew it and so his ghost had to go to the temporary spawn point. His friends in Team Splatter began looking nervous. They knew that this wasn't going to be an easy duel, so they can only watch it unfold and keep cheering.
"Keep it up, Denim!" cried Octolife. "You just need to splat Elite as much as you can in two minutes. We believe in you!"
This helped give Denim some more crucial confidence to keep up a good fight. He whirled around and threw a vial of Toxic Mist. This helped to spare him a few seconds to get away from Elite for some breathing room. Elite lunged around the Toxic Mist to make another pursuit at Denim. He had just gotten to a sidewalk when the captain came gunning for him once more. But a loud, shrill voice interrupted everything.
"Y'ALL KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!"
This familiar phrase and the one who normally yells it got everyone's attention. The Inkopolis natives knew who this was right away, while the Octarians looked even more bewildered as they looked around, showing they had no idea. The voice came from farther back in the plaza. Everyone's eyes eventually looked to see that Pearl, still looking super, was posing at the foot of the tower. The Octocopters were so surprised that they flew erratically all around the tower.
"How did SHE get up there?!" barked Captain Elite.
The other Octolings and even a few of the Octocopters turned to glare at Team Splatter. They began to look nervous, though Clip began shaking her head violently.
"No, don't even THINK about it. We had no clue she was here!" insisted Clip to those around her.
It was true; Team Splatter was as shocked as everyone else. Pearl took a moment to enjoy this twist she had just created.
"The jig's up, Octarians!" she yelled at them. "I ain't leavin' this Plaza until every last one of you octoslobs gets outta of my city!"
"Tell us how you came here already!" snarled Elite, furious about her duel being perfectly interrupted.
"I just snuck in here, yo," replied Pearl. "Being stealthy just like you!"
This little explanation didn't satisfy Elite at all. Denim was just glad to have finally gotten a breather. Elite turned left and right, trying to find for herself how Pearl could have possibly infiltrated this secret base. One thing began to stick out to her. Turning to see Pearl still posing confidently with surprising elegance, Elite took off her shades before addressing Pearl again.
"Surely you've gotten some help to get all the way here, Pearl!" called out Elite. "You can't be alone!"
"No, Captain, she's not!" called out another voice.
Team Splatter had hoped that Pearl could naturally be accompanied by Marina, but this was clearly not the case. This other voice was younger and too high-pitched for her. Denim and Octolife quickly recognized it, but the two girls had to wait for this mystery person to reveal herself before becoming surprised themselves. She came out a nearby alley, looking just like the Octolings, yet leaving her shades off to make her stand out. It was Enemy, and she was holding a small crate in her hands.
"You! What brings you here to my duel?" questioned Elite sternly.
"Captain, I must apologize," replied Enemy. "I think you will not be able to finish your duel. Allow me to assist!"
Elite was taken aback and looked hurt, feeling like this was some sort of insubordination. However, Enemy only tried to return a reassuring smirk before throwing the crate to the ground, pulling out her Octo Shot, and shooting the crate to make its one Super Sea Snail jump out. It slid perfectly toward her. The transformation began as soon as she was touched by it.
Crouching down as it began, Enemy began to swell upwards. Everyone watched as Enemy grew larger and larger. Even Pearl couldn't believe the sight. Not only was Enemy getting larger, but she was also getting more muscular, and even her weapon changed. The Octo Shot began to acquire a larger barrel. When she was all done transforming, Enemy stood back up and posed aggressively. She had become the first powered-up Octoling.
"Well? What do you think?" she asked Denim in particular, even her voice sounding slightly deeper.
"Um… no comment," he muttered in a pitiful reply.
"No need. What you are just witnessing is the fulfillment of Lady Octavia's first grand experiment!" exclaimed Enemy triumphantly. "This is just the beginning, squid. Once I pummel you and your friends, we will give the rest of the army these Super Sea Snails. Then, not only will your Great Zap Fish will be ours again, but we will also just take the whole city while we're at it! Now you shall know true-"
"Can it already!" snapped Pearl. "You just forgot that there's someone else super here, and I'm super-duper transformed! I'm gonna start rapping, and once I'm done, my Princess Cannon oughta blow you out into the setting sun!"
Pearl started right away, sounding like she was starting to give a solo performance of the song "Acid Hues." Enemy only shrugged and turned to Denim, grimly eager to start the real battle. He gulped and composed himself, with his team cheering for him once more on the sidelines. Even Captain Elite started to get into the spirit, as she merely nodded at her comrade and stepped out of the battlefield to let her have at it.
"Just call me 'Super Enemy' if you please," said Enemy. "After being humiliated by you and your silly team, I must redeem myself for the lady!"
"You mean to tell me that I'm about to save the city as well as my little bro?" asked Denim playfully. "Well, don't mind if I do. For Team Splatter! WE MATTER!"
Before the battle began, however, there was one last twist. The Octarians, seeing that the whole game had changed, felt that they had enough of this Team Splatter. Not only was Denim now meant to fight, but his whole team, for they were shoved out by the Octarians to stumble with shock next to their startled teammate. This only made Super Enemy burst out laughing.
"Sure, I can take all four of you at once. Numbers don't bother me!" exclaimed Super Enemy. "Team Splatter, indeed. When I'm done with you, you will all be splatters on this plaza!"
The battle began. Throughout it, Super Pearl performed her rapping, though for once since her transformation, no one paid attention to her. The fighting down below was too intense and captivating for any Octarians to ignore. Even so, a few of them did like the sound of Pearl's voice and began bopping to it. None of it mattered to Team Splatter. They were now in the fight of their lives.
Super Enemy might've been just one powered-up Octoling, but because of her strengthened Octo Shot, all of her abilities were enhanced and deadlier. The firing rate of her weapon was noticeably faster, and even with one up against a team of four, it was difficult for any one of them to avoid it. These shots were bigger and inked the ground more, creating traps that could slow a teammate down. This was what happened to Octophones, and it took Octolife having to shove her out of the way before Super Enemy could splat her.
"This Super Enemy has become OP!" complained Octophones. "We better win this. I would hate to have to deal with a whole army like her."
"Yes we will!" vowed Octolife, fiercely staring at Super Enemy. "Believe in the team, Octophones. So what if she's got a stronger weapon?"
"More ink, that's what!" laughed Super Enemy in reply.
This time, Super Enemy pulled out a Splat Bomb. It was no ordinary Splat Bomb. Like the main weapon, the sub weapon had gotten stronger. When she threw it, it made an ominous ringing noise louder than the usual bomb, and this frightened Team Splatter into scattering immediately. The bomb went off, and the radius was dramatically increased. Denim and Clip could only stare down at the ground with shock at the large splatter of magenta ink in the middle of the plaza.
"WHOA!" yelled Denim in his shock. "This Super Enemy is no joke. She's become a boss!"
There was little time for anyone on the team to comment. Super Enemy kept up her aggressive tactics, which seemed to be a rotation between following a certain teammate and firing at them, stopping to recharge in her ink puddle, and throwing an occasional big Splat Bomb. Team Splatter would run around to take several seconds to figure her out, but it wasn't long before someone felt like they had to make a move or else she would become more desperate to splat her smaller, swifter opponents. Octolife was the first to make his move when he caught Super Enemy going into her large ink puddle to recharge.
Rushing over to get her, Octolife fired both of his Custom Dualie Squelchers as hard as he could. Their accurate shots got Super Enemy as she tried to remerge, but there was a problem. Because of her larger size, she could take more hits. Octolife had fired well, but it only covered part of her, despite firing enough shots that would've splatted a normal opponent in Turf War. Super Enemy laughed as she naturally recovered, the lime green ink fading away back to magenta.
"Nice try, but I can tough it out!" said Super Enemy.
"Let's all try to get her together!" yelled out Denim to his teammates. "Maybe if we can combine our shots, we can all take her down!"
Team Splatter combined their efforts to defeat Super Enemy. Denim started to bait her into chasing him around the Plaza, making straight ink paths to swim away from her stomping pursuit. While that was going on, Clip would try to throw her Sloshing Machine to hit Super Enemy as she ran by. Octophones would try to get her with her Blaster, but she also tried to lay Toxic Mist to sap her of her ink, which could force her to stop and recharge in her ink puddle. And Octolife would use his dodge-rolling to go after Super Enemy, being the one to pursue her.
This quick thinking looked like it was working. Denim was an effectively annoying target for Super Enemy to chase. Clip was an accurate thrower, getting her almost every time she would cross paths. Octophones' Toxic Mist began to slowly, but surely deplete Super Enemy's ink tank, made worse by her still firing her weapon. Lastly, Octolife made sure to roll after his big target to sting her as best as he could.
Super Enemy was panting both with exhaustion and frustration. Wanting to shake things up, she blocked off Denim's run away from her by throwing a big Splat Bomb directly in front of him as he went. This would force him to veer away, and with more of her big shots, Denim was soon re-routed to go down a narrow street to a back alley. With Super Enemy's size, this was not a good place to be in. Just when Team Splatter was getting used to their strategy, the three other teammates all began to chase after her in a frantic hurry to save Denim.
"With that big Octoling in there, Denim's stuck!" cried Clip.
"Get out of that alley or we will all get you for sure!" yelled Octophones at Super Enemy.
She had Denim cornered at the dead end, his squid eyes widened at the sight of Super Enemy blocking the road behind her and grinning at her prey. Knowing that there was little else to do, Denim threw caution to the wind. He began firing his Splash-o-Matic directly upon Super Enemy, which only made her get gradually dirty. Growling, she was about to fire directly upon Denim in response, which would've ended in a brutal splat for him.
Thankfully, his three teammates had arrived in time. They all fired upon Super Enemy, and their combined shots overwhelmed her with enough lime green ink to cause her to erupt in an explosive splat. Her bigger, scarier ghost appeared and floated back to the spawn point at once. Team Splatter followed. Once they had arrived back at the plaza, the Octarians there had started cheering, but not for the battle. They were too interested in Super Pearl now.
Super Pearl was still rapping and dancing, giving a performance that could delight even these octopuses. Even the Octolings in attendance couldn't help but find the spectacle amusing. Only Captain Elite was the one not to care, as she anxiously awaited Super Enemy reemerging from the spawn point. This she did, and now more determined to make Team Splatter pay. Super Enemy stomped out of the spawn point and began firing her Octo Shot above her head in a little frustrated fit.
"It will take more than one splat to take me down!" vowed Super Enemy to the regathered team before her.
She was about to start fighting Team Splatter again when a new interruption paused the whole battle. First, it was a heavy humming noise. Then a large truck appeared, and it was flying! This bizarre sight stunned everyone. All eyes were on this truck as it hovered into the plaza, and it wasn't just the fact that it flew with ink-propelled wheels but that it also served as a moving stage, and it was occupied. It was none other than Marina on top, standing behind turntables securely fastened on the stage. Those in front down below could see a cheerful horseshoe crab driving this flying truck but Marina was not the same. She stood firmly behind her turntables, making an uneasy frown of concern. Everyone was shocked, but predictably, it was Pearl most of all.
"MARINA!" yelled Pearl as the truck turned around and hovered down to her so Marina could address her directly.
"Pearl, I'm so sorry," Marina told her, "but you MUST go back to normal."
Pearl couldn't believe they were having this conversation again, and in the middle of a battle such as this. She stomped her foot and growled a little.
"Not this again!" she snapped. "I'm super, 'K? Here I was getting all worked up and building up my energy to help these kids, and you just totally threw me off!"
"I'm not backing down," replied Marina sternly. "These Super Sea Snails are trouble. Just look at that Octoling over there. Pearlie, we need to go back. I know you don't want to but remember how I gave you a chance. I didn't judge you for your height. To me, you'll always be my little Pearlie. This big princess gig may look fresh, but it's gonna drive us apart!"
"No, it will not!" yelled Pearl angrily. "Quit being so jelly, Marina! How can you say no to this beautiful face? Even if people start liking me more, I'm just catching up! Maybe we're gonna be equals now, huh?!"
"Equal? I don't think so," rebuffed Marina. "Pearl, do you STILL not see? I guess that Super Sea Snail didn't just make you bigger. It made you more selfish too!"
This made Pearl pout and whirl around with her back to Maria, her arms crossed and not saying another word. The Octarians had gotten over their shock and were now only watching the argument. Super Enemy was getting a little impatient but Team Splatter had enough concern to pay attention. However, they noticed that Captain Elite re-emerged from the crowd to watch on with devious eagerness. This made Denim feel curious in particular, so he turned to her.
"What's that smirk for, Elitist?" asked Denim.
"Well, everything is just coming all together tonight," said Captain Elite.
Super Enemy noticed Denim's curiosity and nodded at him as she approached. His teammates rushed to his side but their big foe wasn't getting started again just yet. While the mysterious flying truck was descending to park on the corner of the Plaza near Mesh's team, Super Enemy chose to let her opponents in on a dirty, little secret. Her Captain seemed to be fine with it, so she was all too happy to spill the beans.
"We gave Pearl the Super Sea Snail," she told Team Splatter. "Of course, the little brat wouldn't think where it came from. Thanks to her, we're watching the end of Off the Hook in real time!"
Elite came to pop in to help explain it herself, all while Team Splatter stood in their places with grave concern.
"I couldn't believe it myself," said Elite behind Team Splatter's backs, "but it all makes sense now. You see, Lady Octavia misses Marina. So much so that she's willing to forgive her for defecting. But that Pearl stands in the way. The Lady brilliantly reasoned that if Pearl could be super, she will take Marina's place in stardom. Marina will regret ever coming to this city that's treated her like a piece of gum. Off the Hook will be no more. And once this city has spat her out, we will have Marina once and for all!"
Team Splatter became aghast when they all understood what Enemy and Elite were saying. Then they steeled themselves. They posed with their weapons and glared at the both of them. Clearly, they were determined to make sure this plot would not succeed.
"Marina will never be an Octarian again," growled Octolife. "We will make sure of that. This plot you told us will fail!"
"Sorry," said Super Enemy, stepping closer and raising her Octo Shot at Octolife and his team. "Now that we told you, you will not live to tell about it!"
She fired at Octolife first, and his dodge-rolling only barely helped him away from this sudden attack. Clip threw her Sloshing Machine at Super Enemy in retaliation, but this time Captain Elite decided to join in on the action. She charged out onto the plaza and stood in front of her giant comrade to deter Clip from throwing more. Now Team Splatter had two enemies to fight.
"OK, all bets are now off!" complained Denim.
"Let's split up!" yelled Clip.
So the team chose to split up to fight Super Enemy and Captain Elite separately. The two Inklings took on Elite while the two Octolings took on Super Enemy. The Captain's expert aim made it even more of a challenge because of the ever-present threat of her big partner, so Denim and Clip tried their best to face-off with Elite. Octolife and Octophones took advantage of their more long-distance weapons to keep Super Enemy somewhat at bay.
The battle was much like it was before, only with the two enemies now to deal with. Splitting up seemed to be a good idea at first glance, but Team Splatter quickly found themselves struggling to meet their two capable foes. While Octolife was firing at Super Enemy, Octophones would keep looking behind her to make sure Elite wasn't about to shoot them behind their backs. This fear was confirmed when Octolife was surprisingly about to splat Super Enemy when he didn't see Elite turn to see him and then lunge after him, saved only by Octophones snagging Elite with a well-timed Blaster shot.
Super Enemy used this distraction to fall back and recover, letting the lime green ink recede on her body. Fortunately for Team Splatter, Elite had been distracted herself, so the two Inklings proceeded to gang up on her. Even for an elite, she was still much easier to splat than the powered-up Octarian. Elite flew off back to the spawn point, and the team realized they had only a narrow window of opportunity to splat Super Enemy a second time.
"Now, team! Let's take that big girl down!" cried out Denim.
All four teammates united to advance upon Super Enemy, cornering her to a side of the plaza near a former shopping mall. She tried to throw a big Splat Bomb, which did scatter them, but only for a little while. They got used to its large blast radius. Exasperated, Super Enemy thought of a desperate new move to throw the team off. She hunched down somewhat, then charged directly forward. This was not anticipated by Team Splatter and Clip was knocked so harshly to the pavement that she turned into squid form as she flopped away.
"No! Not Clip!" exclaimed Denim in shock. "No one hurts Clippy like that!"
Denim suddenly became so enraged that his other two teammates simply stared at him as he yelled with anger before charging at Super Enemy himself. He swiftly dodged a couple of shots before he fired upon her mercilessly. She was getting covered in the lime green ink once again. Unfortunately, Captain Elite had run back into the plaza for another go. One look at her and Denim immediately backed off with renewed fright.
"This is just too much," muttered Octophones with a sigh. "If only we could have some more help."
Octolife looked around. He saw Mesh and his team standing helplessly nearby. It dawned on him that he could possibly ask them for help.
"Hey! Mesh and friends!" called out Octolife to them. "Come help us!"
They didn't say anything back. All five showed their empty hands to him, implying that they were completely unarmed. Octolife scowled, realizing that of course they had no weapons. The Octarians had taken them! There went his idea of having a bigger team to fight this battle.
He looked over at Inkopolis Tower. Curiously, Pearl was not there anymore. He then turned to look at the flying vehicle. It still remained parked on its corner. Octolife was left to feel helpless until their two foes began to make their moves. Team Splatter was forced to continue the battle by themselves.
Pearl stayed silent as she left the foot of the tower, feeling hurt about the things Marina had said. Even so, they also made her think. She was closing her eyes in thought when she remembered the sight of the little girl the other night, the one with the small Pearl doll. It made her think a little more.
(Huh. Maybe I might still have fans who liked my little ol' look? Are they gonna be disappointed when they find out I won't look like that anymore?)
Pearl was now heading toward the parked truck where Sheldon the horseshoe crab was busy lugging a box of something. Marina came out from the other side of the truck to see Pearl, and her eyes were a little tearful.
"Pearl, I'm sorry again. I shouldn't have popped off like that," Marina apologized.
"Nah, Marina. It actually got me thinking," replied Pearl. "You saw that girl at the concert last night?"
"Yes, and she had a doll of when you were still small," remarked Marina, smiling at making a rhyme.
Pearl chuckled a little, but the many sounds of the nearby battle startled her to attention.
"Oh snap! Team Splatter's still in trouble!" exclaimed Pearl.
Pearl and Marina looked back to see how the battle was going, and it was mixed. After a fierce minute of firing around their giant enemy to get behind her, Octolife and Octophones had managed to do so when their Inkling friends had distracted both Super Enemy and Elite into targeting them. With Elite not in the way, both of the good Octolings fired upon Super Enemy's back, and their combined shots resulted in a gradual, but effective splatting. With her large ghost going back to spawn, the two Octolings went to take on Elite just when she was about to splat both of the Inklings. She was easier to splat, but Team Splatter was noticeably scared and exhausted. Off the Hook couldn't help but want to help.
"That's it, Marina. They need me!" squeaked Pearl as she pulled out her Enperry Splat Dualies from her bag. "HERE I GO, YO!"
Pearl began rolling out into the plaza, causing Team Splatter to cheer at the sight of help finally on the way. While she was out there, Marina motioned for Sheldon to come over. Once he shuffled to her side, she stooped down to talk softly to him. Marina had seen an opportunity to make her own move.
"Sheldon, I think it's time," she muttered to him. "Give me that new ability chunk now."
After she had dodge-rolled repeatedly, Pearl stopped in the center of the Plaza, brandishing her Dualies and posing dramatically left and right. The Octarians found themselves surprised once again, while the recovering Super Enemy and Captain Elite frowned at this new interruption. The kids were delighted and began cheering some more. This encouraged Pearl to start taunting her opponents and declaring her intentions.
"Time for me to end this fight. Now Super Pearl's gonna show y'all the full extent of her might!" declared Pearl to those around her.
Unaware to them all, Marina was using her Splat Brella to ink around the tower's base, charging up energy. Once she had enough, she too was capable of emitting an aura for a special. She handed Sheldon a round, empty container that had contained a certain ability chunk, and then she turned to face Pearl in the Plaza with unusual determination in her eyes. She raised her Splat Brella and unleashed her new special.
The special appeared similar to Ink Armor, as Marina was instantly shrouded in a cloudy aura and sparkles covered her eyes. However, she also started emitting a lot of sparkles around her, and her body was clothed in the colors of a rainbow. Filled with this overwhelming energy, Marina raced to the Plaza, finding herself going much faster than normal running. By the time she emerged out into the Plaza in Pearl's direction, everyone could only witness her sparkly presence for just a moment. Pearl turned to look at Marina with surprise but found herself rammed with such force that she staggered to her knees.
This caused her to instantly shrink. Pearl's surprise only grew as she found herself shrinking rapidly down, and not just down, but around. She could feel her face growing a little larger, her face shaping differently, and her hair shrinking back, mainly her bangs. This sudden change in height and body made her stagger and fall on her bottom just like the Super Sea Snail had. Pearl saw that her legs were now much shorter than they had been. It was only when she stood back up, rubbed her head, and looked around at the shocked spectators who were now much taller than they had been when she realized that she had simply gone back to her normal, smaller self.
"Um… I'm back," she mumbled. "I… guess I'm back to smol Pearl again. Huh."
Many of the Octarians began to laugh, but their two leaders were not amused. Captain Elite and Super Enemy were glaring with disappointment written all over their faces. Not only was Pearl reverting to normal a major setback in their plans, but Marina had somehow found a weakness for the Super Sea Snails! The scene might have lightened up considerably but these two stomping out to confront Pearl showed that danger was still very much in the air.
"You just went back to normal!" cried Super Enemy. "Now you're the little brat again!"
"And with that, our plans are in jeopardy!" barked Elite in reply. "How did Marina get such power all of a sudden?!"
Marina merely chuckled as she posed with her Splat Brella on her hip, while Sheldon stood with his hands behind his back, making his classic bucktooth smile in a more sheepish way.
"Not telling," said Marina.
Although back to normal, Pearl was suddenly disappointed that she was struggling to get used to her short height again after days of being powered-up. She was still wobbling when she got back up on her feet. The sight of the two foes towering over her in anger didn't help. Pearl became frightened enough to fall down, pointing her Dualies at the two with shaky hands.
"Well, if there's one thing we must do, then at the very least we will dispose of you!" hissed Elite at Pearl.
"Let me take care of that," mumbled Super Enemy. "I am still super. She is not."
Before they were about to fire on Pearl, however, Team Splatter jumped to the rescue. Their ambush made the two lose focus and shoot off-target, allowing Pearl to run away from them faster than she had entering the battlefield. Now it was just the team and their two enemies again, and the latter had enough. Super Enemy stood back and made an intimidating battle cry, firing her Octo Shot over her head while Elite stood and posed defiantly in front of Team Splatter.
"No more holding back!" roared Super Enemy. "Now you four will truly be SPLATTERED!"
To leave no doubt that Super Enemy was serious about finishing this fight, she began firing much more erratically around her. The Plaza had by now been mostly covered in the fighters' ink, and with no more rules to worry about, everyone began to expect that the fighters could now charge up for their specials. While Super Enemy was firing around, Team Splatter would not just dodge her, but ink around the Plaza as they went. It wasn't nearly as big as a normal Turf War stage but they did what they could.
"I just need a little more," muttered Octolife to Octophones as they ran.
"I still need a lot more," she replied. "If only we can use what Marina just did. That was wild!"
Fortunately, Marina was thinking this exact same thing. She and Sheldon were both holding more of these mysterious ability chunks, with the very intention of somehow giving them to Team Splatter. While the Octarians near them weren't looking, they threw their chunks out into the Plaza. They clattered and rolled on the pavement in various directions.
"Team Splatter! Take those chunks, please!" exclaimed Sheldon. "Use them just like Marina!"
His high-pitched voice helped to turn their heads, and Clip was the first to see one rolling toward her. She picked it up and saw that it was an orange container holding a small candy inside. She quickly, but cautiously opened it and ate it, thinking that if Marina could use it, so could she. Now she was the one who acquired the new kind of Ink Armor. Overwhelmed with its power, Clip instantly knew what to do. She turned to Super Enemy and charged straight at her.
But Super Enemy dodged it. Clip ran back for another try, but her foe dodged this run as well. It was clear that Super Enemy had seen what happened to Pearl and didn't want to lose her super status. Worse, the special was temporary, which was normal but seemed to last even shorter. Clip was visibly disappointed when her aura left her and she returned to normal.
The others had picked up theirs but they had no time to stop and look because of their ongoing battle. By now, they had all thought about hitting Super Enemy with the same power as Marina's. It occurred to the giant Octoling that she had to come up with another attack to scatter her opponents, and it only seemed natural. After she inked a bit more of the Plaza, Super Enemy became grimly delighted as she was the one to have a special aura.
"Let me show you what I can really do!" she exclaimed to Team Splatter.
Super Enemy started her own special, which was an Inkjet for her Octo Shot. Also like her new Octo Shot, it was no ordinary Inkjet. It was larger and more powerful as well. Lifted higher above the Plaza than an ordinary Inkjet would do, Super Enemy laughed at the disturbed teammates below. Her Inkjet gushed mightily with thick pillars of magenta ink, making it even more perilous to be near them.
Super Enemy pulled out the gun for her powered-up Inkjet, and the shot it fired was tremendous. With a loud noise, it gushed down upon the nearest teammate, Denim. He frantically tried to get away, but he was simply too close. The blast nearly covered a whole corner of the Plaza, splatting the Inkling boy to the spawn point at once. The other three were only left to gape at the huge splatter of magenta ink that covered the whole side of a former studio and the balcony above it.
"RUN AWAY!" screamed Clip in terror.
This they all did when Super Enemy was still capable of shooting more big shots. Her second nearly took out both Clip and Octophones by the shopping mall. Octolife was caught briefly in some ink but wiggled himself free just before the third and final shot. When her brief period of chaos was done, Super Enemy super-jumped back to her spot, and even this was changed. When she landed, she emitted a sizable shockwave that traveled around the nearby area, making it necessary that anyone is not around her spot when her special was over.
"How do you like that?" asked Super Enemy in glee. "THAT is the power of the Super Sea Snail!"
Octolife looked at his ability chunk again before putting it back in his pocket. He and his team proceeded to face off with their two foes as before, but they took a different strategy. This time, they kept Elite close to Super Enemy so that they wouldn't be too far apart. Denim and Clip circled around to their backs when they were focusing on the two Octoling teammates. They had gotten some more ink on Super Enemy when she had gotten another opportunity to use her big Inkjet. She immediately used it again.
"Come and get me!" called out Clip, who baited Super Enemy to aim for her as she went toward the bottom of the Plaza.
Octophones faced off with Elite alone while Denim and Octolife raced to the spot where Super Enemy had been before. Sensing that the two boys were near, Elite turned around and charged at them, and Octophones began to flag down Super Enemy after she had tried and failed to fire her cannon-like weapon at Clip. She grabbed her attention, then rushed at Elite while she was facing off with the two boys. Alarmed at being so surrounded, Elite staggered away to avoid a Blaster shot. She tripped and fell into the cloud of Toxic Mist Denim had dropped.
Octolife, who had started emitting his aura, unleashed his special, the Ink Storm. The storm cloud of lime green ink appeared above the Plaza, obscuring Elite's vision while gradually getting her wet with ink not her own. Elite was helplessly bewildered, too distracted and physically unable to see the glowing marker of Super Enemy's landing spot. Team Splatter ran off from the area and watched their plan unfold. Super Enemy's special came to an end, and she super-jumped back onto her spot, and onto Elite. The Captain found herself squished beneath Super Enemy's weight, turning into a perfectly-flat octopus underneath the stunned Octoling grunt. With both of them incapacitated, Team Splatter smiled at one another.
"Just one of us oughta do it," remarked Denim.
"Allow me," suggested Octolife.
He pulled out his ability chunk, ate it, and began to glow. He charged straight for Super Enemy, and one run into her was all it took. She shrunk down into being just an Enemy again. However, as the Ink Storm and Toxic Mist faded away, everyone could see that more happened to Enemy than just that. The sight made Team Splatter laugh, but Enemy was horrified. She had actually shrunk down even more, now appearing like a short Octoling with stubby feet and a larger head.
"NOOO!" she screamed. "What happened to me? I'm… short?! NOOO!"
Enemy scampered out of the plaza, screaming again as she dived into the nearby manhole in humiliation. All she left behind was Captain Elite, still a perfectly-flattened octopus in the center of the Plaza. Denim approached the flat captain and picked her up in her octopus form, flopping her up and down like a frisbee. The disgruntled look in her big green eyes was just too much for Denim not to say something.
"No bones about it, that's the flattest octopus I've ever seen!" laughed Denim.
There was just one problem for the celebratory mood of Team Splatter. There were still all the other Octarians. Shocked and infuriated at the fall of their leaders, they began to slowly gang up on the team, appearing to want payback. Team Splatter only looked around and gulped. Denim dropped Elite and raised his weapon along with the others.
"Uh, team? Could we please get some backup?" he suggested.
"Don't worry, they're coming!" called out Marina from the truck.
Sure enough, three shapes were super-jumping out into the Plaza from the street much like Team Splatter did. The two squids and one octopus landed directly in front of the team, frightening off the Octarians to keep them away. Once they had returned to kid form, their appearances made the team gasp with surprise. They were none other than the agents! Agent 4 stood next to another Inkling girl with long, teal hair in a similar outfit and an Octoling with pink shoulder-length hair with a black top, shorts, and boots.
"Meet Agents 3, 4, and 8!" exclaimed Sheldon with much enthusiasm.
To the surprise of most of the Inklings and non-Octarian Octolings watching, the Octarians had no will to fight. They simply turned and ran, all trying to shove down the manhole one by one like the little Enemy had done. With the amount of Octarians that had invaded this place, it took some time. The agents relented and simply let them go, though they did sternly warn an Octoling carrying the still-flattened Captain Elite to never come back. Team Splatter just watched what was going on with wonder.
"I can't believe all the things we did tonight," muttered Clip to her friends. "We saved Mesh, his friends, Inkopolis, and Off the Hook! Guess these girls can relate."
They turned to see Pearl and Marina walking toward them, just like normal. Marina turned and gave Pearl a big hug, which made her seem to look just a little uncomfortable for how tightly she did it.
"I have my little Pearlie back thanks to you!" Marina told Team Splatter. "We don't need her to transform to know how super she is."
"And that's the way it should be!" said Pearl. "I shoulda known that my shortness is what makes me super. If haters don't like it, whatever. But most people do. My fans oughta want me to stay like this. Being Super was fun, but it's good to be small, yo. Marina, tomorrow we're gonna have to have a news segment telling everybody the truth. I promise it won't last too long and cost the manager too much time and money!"
Marina laughed before giving Octolife a small crate she had found near where the truck had parked.
"Here, you can have it," said Marina. "We found it near Cuttlefish Cabin. Keep it as a token of our appreciation. It's one of those snails. Just be careful not to touch it, but even if you do, at least you now know what do to go back. Thanks, Sheldon!"
"No problem, Marina!" exclaimed Sheldon, who had walked up to meet the team and saluted. "I keep some things under wraps in the back of Ammo Knights. Do all kinds of experiments back in there! Mainly for New Squidbeak Splatoon, but I'll have you know that I have weapons I just take and-"
Denim made a fake yawn to make Sheldon think he was tired, and it was late after all.
"Ugh, I need to go take my little brother home and go to bed," said Denim. "Come on, team! We need some much deserved rest."
…
The next day in Inkopolis Square, the day carried on like normal, and was interrupted by the regular Inkopolis News segment. The kids watching this show found themselves stunned once again, but only for how ordinary it looked. Pearl was shown to be small again, saying her lines and posing on her chair just like before. While nothing like Super Pearl's debut, they still muttered to one another as the show began.
"Also, if you can't tell already, Pearl is back to normal," said Marina.
"That's right, y'all. Super Pearl is DONZO!" cried Pearl. "It was a fun gig and all, but I like being my old self."
"And I wouldn't want it any other way," Marina added.
Once their perfectly ordinary show was over, the kids in the Square began to talk more about it amongst each other, but it wasn't anything over the top. Some dismissed this as just a meme-worthy outing for Pearl, while others wondered if there had been a conspiracy. Regardless, the mood was light-hearted and in-line with the easygoing nature of Inkopolis society. Murch sat at his usual seat near Off the Hook's studio, privately very glad to see everything was back to normal.
"Hey, Murch," muttered the voice of Octolife, who emerged from around the corner from Deca Tower. "I got something for you."
"Wait, you do?!" mumbled Murch in surprise.
He jumped off his seat and eagerly awaited as Octolife gladly gave him the package. Murch opened the box and couldn't believe his eye. It was a red Super Sea Snail! Now he could go and impress Spyke!
"Oh snap, it's just as beautiful as I thought it'd be! Thanks, chum!" complimented Murch.
"No problem," replied Octolife. "You better take care of it, though. I think it's the last one in the city now."
With this, he turned and walked away so Murch could admire it some more. His eye turned to the café window, where Spyke was sitting just behind it using his laptop as usual. Murch scurried to the window and set the box down. He stared back up at the window and took a breath before exhaling deeply.
"Here goes nothing," muttered Murch.
He reached up as high as he could and knocked on the glass. Spyke's eye went up from watching his laptop as he heard the noise. Slowly standing up from his chair, he curiously wanted to see what had disturbed him. He looked down and saw Murch standing on the other side.
(NOW.)
Murch bent down and touched the snail. When he touched it, he rapidly grew up to be a tall urchin just like Spyke. He visibly struggled to stay upright on his much-taller legs, but Spyke stared at him with quite a bit more intrigue. His eye was widened at first, but then his mouth slowly curled into a smile.
(It's working. It's actually working!)
But then he suddenly shrank back down. The just-as-sudden change startled Murch into falling over onto his bottom. This made Spyke frown and sit back down to go back on his laptop. Murch didn't even bother to get back up.
"Seriously?" he asked out loud. "…I think I got a dud."
THE END