Author's Note: Been busy with a role play in Discord. Also, issues, both on Discord and IRL. But here still I am. Enjoy, although a little late for a 4th of July release.
Fuschia and Sanitized cyan violently clashed, as different types of weaponry were being put to bear, including Autobomb and Splat Bombs, the latter of which both sides had. Marie and Jesse had to be near the door to be covered by Callie, Shannon and Evan, who was doing all they can to fight off the massive blockade the Sanitized set up. Evan was gunning down the other shooter users, engaging multiple hostiles, while Callie and Shannon were busy either duelling with other Rollers or picking off Evan's enemies. Marie & Jesse were on stray duty, targeting anyone bold enough to break off to attack.
"Watch out, they brought Bombers!" Marie said, focusing her weapon on the fat mook tossing bombs from it helm. As if that weren't enough, some Octolings are being a pain on the Dualies, having to almost twist their bodies to avoid getting splatted.
"Whoa!", Evan gasped as he flipped off the floor to dodge a Dualie who just dodge rolled into range, seeing as they're more dangerous in such state.
"Kiyaaa!", Shannon said, as she hoisted her roller behind the Octoling, which surprised both Evan and the hostile. She then swiftly brought down her Roller on the hostile's head to end her shenanigans, breathing shakily, slight anger evident in her manner of breathing. "Didn't Girl Power taught you something?", she rhetorically asked the hostiles.
"Evan, watch out, Splat Bomb!", called out Callie, swimming away from the triangular pack. Both Shannon and Evan shot a path and swam away to avoid the blast. Jesse meanwhile, was busy gunning down anyone who as much dares to look her way, their demise ending in a long stream of fuschia slamming onto their bodies.
"Be careful guys! Those things stick like crazy now, we can't heal that off as fast!", Jesse informed her teammates, as she landed another kill at an unsuspecting Sanitized Octoling. Most of the mooks were taken down by the frontline trio, but it was far from over. The Octoling opposition swam into the scene, a quarter covering both alleys, arming themselves with shooters, Blasters, and Sloshers.
Enemy ink splattered the team's everywhere, and the slightest lick of it burned like acid on the team's skin, only alleviated by diving into their ink every so often.
"What the hell are these things made of?!", said Evan, dodging a Blaster shot.
"They must have altered the Sanitization formula after Tartar's defeat!", Shannon said, swinging her Roller like a sword at a shooter enemy.
"Jeez, as if that wasn't enough!", Jesse sighed, popping a missed shot on a Slosher, the unmistakable boom of the Charger echoing throughout the hallways.
Meanwhile, the Sisters were running one of their notorious joint plays, this time involving Callie tossing a Splat Bomb that the enemy dodges, only to be facing down Marie's laser sights, catching them unawares...or so they thought. So far, only one Octoling was downed on both sides. Three, Four, and Five were covering one way, while One & Two were covering another.
"How's the sitrep over there guys?", Marie radioed to Four, as she tossed a Autobomb.
"Still dancing, these squits!", Evan said, enemy noises and allied alike loudly heard in the background. Occasionally, Shannon can be heard yelling as she swung at the enemy, to no avail.
"They sure are Elite!", Jesse cut in, her Charger fire almost overpowering the radio.
"Bam goes another!", Callie said, as a defeated Sanitized can be heard faintly in the background.
They went at it for a little longer, Marie & Callie eliminating the Slosher & a shooter, while the team of Jesse, Evan & Shannon managing to take down the Blaster & a shooter. Marie's shots were gracefully dodged by the Blaster user, retaliating with a shot of her own. Callie, meanwhile, was engaging against the shooter, who she was outplaying narrowly. Cyan grazes are evident now on her arms and vest, gleaming a sickly cyan.
Suddenly, Marie found an opening in her opponent's moves, and a second, as if it were suspended time, was all she needed to dispatch of her Blaster foe.
"Boom.", as she let go of the shot, perfectly landing in her opponent's middle, exploding in a fuschia mess. Callie meanwhile, was just about ready to pounce on the hostile, swimming in ink in an unpredictable manner, morphing into Inkling at unpredictable times. Then...
"Yeet!", Callie said loudly, as she raised her Roller horizontally and slammed it down on the hostile's head, also going in a violent splash of purple like her Blaster friend. Marie then heard a familiar voice that was earlier with them: Sheldon.
"Team, stairs are on the right of room 25-AD!", he spoke into the radio.
"Sheldon! Anything else you saw?", said Marie, busy inspecting for ambush points.
"Octarians on 25-Z!", he reported. "And also on 25-AA! Twintacles!", he squeaked. "Watch out for Octo-snipers at 25-R, they're between alleyways!", he finished.
"Thanks Sheldon. Notify us if more pop up.", said Marie. "Two out.", she said. The group hustled together, meeting up in 25-G's doorstep. The Agents shared their accounts of the battles before swiftly moving on, with Evan and Callie in the front, Jesse and Marie in the middle, and Shannon bringing up the rear.
The group continued their march, approaching 25-J when Octo-troopers sprouted spontaneously out of the hallway. The group tensed themselves for action, gripping their weapons once again in combat form. Marie and Jesse took down one apiece immediately, while Callie simply rolled over the hapless tentacle mooks, while being distracted by Evan and Shannon, the roller user flicking wave after wave, while Evan was flaunting his parkour skills, leaping off from wall to wall, while rolling to avoid shots once he hit ground. The group easily dispersed of the opposition, and moved on, marching towards 25-N, taking a right turn.
Soon, after a few shots from the snipers to take down hidden Octo-snipers, they approached 25-Q, the enemies barely visible from a distance, the power outage making things complicated. As they became near 25-R, they set into positions, the Sanitized already wary of the surrounding. Because this was indoors, only the ground troops were allowed inside. A team of Elites were in the background, brandishing Octo-brushes, all Elite, while another, of the regular variety, were on Dualies. Comprising the bulk were Octo-troopers, Twintacles, and a few Octo-commanders stationed in key points.
"Alright, Four, what do you see?", asked Marie, hiding out in the bit of wall between 25-R and S.
"Hmm... Brushes, Dualies, Twintacles, and the smaller ones. And...", as he surveyed the whole corridor carefully, "Commanders.", he finished.
"Ah-huh. Right then...", she said, as she signalled Callie, hiding on the other side with Jesse and Shannon. She then signalled her cousin something: tossing a Splat Bomb. Callie's eyes gleamed mischievously, yelling before she threw the explosive.
"Looking for us!?", she said, as she tossed the Splat Bomb. They fired at her, but was a futile effort, as most of the troopers were diminished in an instant as the Splat Bomb exploded. The Twintacles barely survived, and the Octo-commanders were perched too high up to be harmed, taking the place of security cameras.
"Go kick some arse, Splatoon! Engage!" Marie brought down the order, Callie and Shannon immediately running the fore of the battle, along with Evan. They were met by the Brush users and the Dualie users, rolling away from Evan's opening salvo.
Marie and Jesse started pecking away at their opposition, aiming first for the slippery Dualie users. It wouldn't be a fair fight have this been any other cephalopod, but the three on their side, wielding a shooter and two Rollers, weren't any other cephalopod...they are, the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Trained in the art of combat, one was enough to take down a small army on a good day.
The octo-commanders made their presence felt, pelting deadly streams of cyan ink bullets, forcing the frontliner trio to scramble to avoid the lethal rain. Evan was engaging two Dualie users, while Callie was engaging three Octo-brush users, in potential disadvantage hadn't it been for the fact her Roller is modified to be as fast. Shannon meanwhile, was battling furiously with two more dualie users and an Octo-brush, swinging her Roller both ways.
It was two teams of four against a team of five, but the Splatoon fought as if it were even numbers. Evan was using run and gun tactics against his Dualie opponents. Shannon meanwhile, was dodging both Dualie shots; which we're more deadly when the opponents roll, and maniacal swings of the brushes.
The battle waged on furiously, purple and cyan clashed and stained the hallways of hotel rooms of New Albacore Hotel. The people in the rooms fearfully watched on, silently rooting for this band of cephalopods to hopefully take down these...invaders, putting it lightly.
The opponents tried to do a pincer maneuver, but not without Jesse and Marie detecting.
"Hold it right there, squit.", Marie snarled, as she charged up a shot, then let loose, instantly defeating one of the elite squad, exploding in purple ink.
"Not a chance, sanitizer.", Jesse slightly smirked, letting loose a shot against a Dualie users that was harassing Evan, but narrowly missed by rolling in time out of her range. "Lucky squit.", she snarled, as she charged up another shot. However, she picked another target, because Evan took down her target already.
"Heheh, get some!", he whooped, while dodging enemy fire. "Sucks to be you!", he taunted.
Marie meanwhile, was doing all she can to nail a hostile, but to no avail, as all her shots only grazed the target at best. She then collected herself, focusing her thoughts.
"Come on Marie. Show them why you're called Sniper Waifu.", she thought that herself. She breathed to calm herself, then loaded up a shot and focused on one of the Elite Octo-brush wielders. And as if time had slowed down...
"Gotcha.", she muttered, as she watched the target explode in purple ink, releasing a pained ghost from where it was taken down. She then moved her sights to help Callie, who was engaging three Octo-brush users solo, and was barely holding her own. Rollers are outclassed naturally by Brushes when it came to speed, but at the expense of splat power.
Callie weaved around the deadly waves of cyan ink, using her squid form to dodge strikes from her opponents' weapons. She then flung a vertical strike when she emerged from the ink, forcing the enemies to scatter. One of the brushes made a beeline for Evan, a mistake most fatal as it would prove for the Elite, becoming the subject of Callie's wrath almost immediately as soon as she knew what's up.
"Oh no you don't, squitch!", she yelled, eyes wide open in anger, as she readied a strike at the unsuspecting Octoling, then immediately bringing down her wrath on her target, slamming her Roller as if it were an axe, violently splatting the Brush user aiming for Evan. The two locked eyes for a moment, silently acknowledging each other, before Callie tossed a Splat Bomb at the other two who were past due her wrath, exploding right between them. "And that's why my hit is called Bomb Rush Blush!", she taunted.
Jesse wrapped up the fight, snagging target after target, aiming with deadly precision, day in day out of ranked with an E-Liter pulling through for her right now. She made a gallery of her opponents, taking them down one after the other. Shannon and Jesse nodded at each other, as the last one was splatted.
All of the Splatoon inked the floor, slumping into compact form into their ink, taking a breather after another intense fight. The five swam about the ink lazily, clearly exhausted from the intense battle. Callie and Evan stayed close by each other, while Marie watched over Shannon and Jesse.
"Good work Agents!", greeted Sheldon over at the radio. "Excellent work all!", he chimed off.
"Thanks Sheldon.", said Marie. "You have any canned specials just yet?", she asked.
"Should probably save that for the play area itself. I do have some with me... Let's see...10 cans...that probably should do it! 3 Ink Armor, 3 Splashdown, 3 Tenta Missiles, and a Bomb Launcher.", he counted off. "Should that do, Agents?", he asked over the radio.
"Dibs on the Bomb Launcher!", said Callie suddenly.
"Good grief One...", Jesse mumbled, "you'd blast my ears to oblivion..", she said, clearly a little deaf from Callie's sudden loud tone.
"Ah, sorry Three.", Callie said. "Any more ambushes you could see, Shelly?", she asked him.
"Apart from the thing at 25-AD, just a few hidden Octo-snipers perched in the security cameras from where you are now. Defeat the big blockade in 25-AD and you're clear!", he stated.
"Thanks Sheldon.", Marie said. "Alright, Two out.", she turned off the intercom. "Squidbeak, let's move.", she commanded the group, Callie grousing a little, all of them emerging from the ink. Shannon took the frontline again, rolling ink for the team. Evan and Callie were second row together, while Marie and Jesse covered the rear, Marie pointing forward while Jesse scans for backstabs.
They then approached 25-Z, Marie and Jesse easily disposing of the Octo-snipers once they opened fire upon the group. Callie, Evan, and Shannon deftly dodged the sniper shots, as they let loose. Soon, they sighted the stairwell... And a lot of enemies. There were Bombers stationed outside the windows, supported by their own posse of Octo-copters.
Inside, there were three groups of Octolings waiting for them, one group Elite, the others normal ones, Elite team has two shooters and two sloshers, while the while the other groups had Rollers and Dualies. The mooks were positioned up front, comprised mostly of Octo-troopers and Twintacles.
The five switched positions on command, switching to a triangle formation, Evan on point, Callie and Shannon to the side, and Marie and Jesse bringing up the rear. Jesse sighed, anticipating another fierce battle. All primed their weapons, appearing like a stand-off.
"Objective: Splat the New Squidbeak Splatoon", one of the Elites spoke up. The alien Octarians the swarmed the five Agents, being met with Splat Bombs and Autobombs, all of them hurling at the same time. Only a few heavily damaged Twintacles survived the simultaneous bombs, and we're dispatched easily by Evan.
"Ah squit, here we go again...", sighed Jesse, assuming her sniper stance.
Once again, war broke out, cyan and purple clashing once more furiously. Evan was in the thick of the action, dodging everything from Dualies, Sloshers, Roller flicks, and Octo-shots, while Shannon and Callie were slapping their own Rollers hard, matching the pace of the enemy Rollers superbly. Marie and Jesse meanwhile, were the proverbial eye in the sky for the former 3.
The Octolings snarled as they're battling the motley group of cephalopods, trying their best to somehow score a hit on them. Two Dualies dodged into Evan's range unawares, but we're put down by the snipers. Callie meanwhile, had just taken down a Slosher using squid-kour she learned on SquidTube. She transformed into squid after wall jumping, then reformed into Inkling, slamming her Roller on the hapless digitalized foe.
The Sanitized were getting pushed back into the stairway, making some weapons hard to maneuver, most noticeably the Rollers. Both Marie and Jesse realized the environment and immediately capitalized, using the frontline as distraction.
Evan was having more success, as his weapon was a bit more compact, making him more efficient in this types of spaces. Since the Rollers cannot flick as good as back in the rooms, Evan made short work of them, dodge kill after dodge kill. Callie retreated to protect Marie from the remaining enemies, in order to secure her from any flanks.
Jesse, again was making mincemeat of even the Dualies, not even their dodges saving them from her wrath. She had a lot of unfinished business with these squits, and looking to close the deal on them.
"Boom, squitch.", she mumbled, as she landed another kill, effectively killing off the opposition. Three pairs of Octolings rappelled down to their position to try and interrupt their progress, but the team would have none of it, Shannon slamming one mid jump, exploding in ink mid air, damaging the Octo-bomber.
"We need to take down these bombers!", called out Shannon, dodging a Splat Bomb.
"Hang on, Five!", Marie said, Charger in tow. "One, cover me!", she called out to Callie, immediately following with her Roller. The pair immediately assumed position, and soon, the rest joined Shannon, dueling with the response team. Callie threatened anyone who dared try to go for Marie, all threats met with her Roller. The bombers were tougher, needing two and a half shots to take down, made harder by them dodging. But Marie easily figured them out.
Steadying herself, Marie took aim at the first bomber. He landed one, then two, then the final blow, the big fat mook exploding, right as she dodged a Splat Bomb flung as it's final act of defiance. She then set her sight on the next bomber. The other four were taking on the responders, with relative ease, despite them still being a man up.
Evan took down the Dualie user even with her dodge rolls, swooping in once she spent both her rolls. Callie went up against a Slosher, making short work of her and her companion on the same weapon. Shannon dealt with the remaining partner of the other one she splatted mid air. Viciously flicking and swinging her Roller, Shannon caught the opponent on her torso, sending her ghost away pained, while her body exploded in purple.
They then joined Marie, who was wrapping up the second one. Evan fired on the third one, finger hard stuck on the trigger, while Jesse assisted him. In a few moments, both Bombers were eliminated. The team spent only a minute of a breather, then they began ascending the steps to the top floor, the 30th, where Evan's friends and their Turf opponents were held hostage.
Preferring to just walk this time, the Agents carefully scoped their surroundings floor after floor, expecting an ambush. The last thing they'd want was to be held up in a narrow staircase, far from a floor. By the time they reached the 29th, they found something odd, and they knew it wouldn't normally be there.
"Hmm, it's locked. And...that panel.", observed Jesse.
"Just like Octo Canyon.", said Evan.
"They made sure of that huh?", said Callie, noticing the barricade as they steered into the floor area. "Cyan everywhere, be prepared!", she alerted her companions.
Meanwhile, in Inkopolis Square...
People left and right were alarmed, as the usual colorful ads along the Square were suddenly replaced by a footage of...weirdly colored Octolings holding seven Turf Players hostage, all tied up and had blindfolds, all having evidence of being beaten up. Even the shopkeepers were alarmed about what is happening to the Square, even Spyke showing visible confusion.
"People of Inkopolis. My name is Commander Catalina Stormsurge.", she began, while her soldiers tucked their weapons into the hostage's heads. "I am from the organization called the Red Fist Revolution. We aim to impose the will of our human superiors: your Sanitization.", she stated menacingly. "Your society is a deeply flawed one, one formed from trivial matters. The professor would be revolted if he saw all this now.", she continued, pacing on. "Sanitization...is the cure to all your society flaws.", she said, in an eerie tone.
The footage then showed a mysterious statue with a giant ink cannon built into it's mouth. "This was NILS, a creation of our superiors' hand, Commander Tartar.", she related, in her digitone. "His work was thwarted by a motley band of cephalopods, some of which... You may know.", she droned, as the pics of Pearl, Marina, Captain Cuttlefish, Agent 3 and Agent 8 popped up one by one. "Surrender them to us.", she commanded, as it switched back to the live feed. "Your choice, Inkopolis.", she said, venom in her digital voice. "We will be waiting.", she leered at the camera. "But they cannot for much longer...", she leered on, as the camera swung to a soldier aiming a Stingray at the hostages. "Inkopolis City, you have 48 hours. Make the wise choice.", she intoned menacingly, ending the video there, a weird logo unlike any seen before that read: "Kamabo Co.", along with a logo of a red fist with rays extended from the fist. And just as abruptly it was interrupted, the usual visuals returned to the Square, as if nothing happened.
The crowds were abuzz about the bombshell the organization known as the Red Fist Revolution dropped.
Back in New Albacore Hotel...
Sheldon's voice cracked on again once they reached the last floor before the top.
"Agents, you must find the key to the hidden jump pad I have installed there! I figured that they will try and block the all paths to the play area.", he squeaked.
"You tell us now?", Marie sighed. "I'll guess it's among the boxes?", she asked.
"Yes.", he replied. "But be warned, it will not be as simple as that!", he said.
"Leave it to us.", Marie said, as sounds of rappelling ropes and Sanitized were heard in the distance. "Just update us faster, OK? Two out.", she said, ending the call to ready herself. "Be alert of your sixes, Agents!", she called out quietly to her motley party, which did as asked. Soon, the windows broke and the Sanitized came in, in two teams, supported by Octo-copters. Marie and Jesse took the backline once more, while Evan ran point and Callie and Shannon run flank.
The battle started fast, as the Blaster Octolings opened fire, the Agents dodging to avoid the explosive globs. Evan set her to task, while the Chargers whittled down the flying mooks, doing so with little effort, occasionally throwing an Autobomb to help the frontline. Callie and Shannon were dealing with the rest of the fireteams, giving their all to splat the foe. Evan came to help once he was done with the Blaster, which he easily outclassed. The remaining enemies were packing 4 Octo-shots, a Blaster, and a pair of Sloshers.
All of them were busy dealing with the opposition when Octo-troopers surfaced from the goop around the floor. They were immediately dealt with however single-handedly by Evan, who gunned them down with his Hero Shot 2, leaving leeway for the Roller girls to concentrate on the Octolings. Jesse shot down an Octoling on the Octo-shot, only angering her comrades, who were immediately whittled down by a combination of Callie and Shannon's furious Roller strikes, and Marie's lethal aim.
They immediately busted open the boxes littered outside of the rooms, with Shannon finding the key, inside a crate near a room door. She then led them on to the cylinder where the jump pad awaited, situated after an Inkfurler.
"Three people, then two alright?", Shannon asked.
"That should be good, Five!", Marie answered. "Open it.", she told her. She put the key inside the cylinder, taking care not to be collected by the Inkfurler. Shannon, Evan, and Jesse went up first, shooting up in purple streaks, soon followed by Marie and Callie.
When they assembled on the top floor, the commander from earlier stood there, a few meters from the spawn point the five of them were sharing. She was looking at them menacingly with her Sanitized cyan eyes, which made it more eerie, anticipating a rematch from earlier. The five stepped up to meet her stare.
"Ah.. The New Squidbeak Splatoon!", she said mockingly. "And you brought friends!", she said, eyeing Agent 3 and Agent 5, who was previously 8. "I remember you two...you're the meddling fools that destroyed Tartar!", she berated the cephalopods. "And as for you... Eight.", she glared at the Octoling. "We still have a score to settle.", she threatened Shannon. "But enough pleasantries.", she said, readying her weapon. "Commence Sanitization!", she yelled out, as various Sanitized Octarian mooks and Octolings popped out to 'greet' them.
They tensed, readying for the fight to liberate New Albacore Hotel.
The battle for New Albacore Hotel's freedom starts here. Can they defeat the Sanitize before they start hunting the popstars & the Cap? Stay tuned. Catfish out.