"After them! Hurry up! Get that Splash Wall down!" An Octoling yelled as everyone fired at the defensive sub-weapon. Under fire by a small army, the Splash Wall didn't last that long. The thing blocking their path gone, Octolings charged after the wounded agent and his saviors. However, there was a voice to stop them.
"Let them go," Everyone paused in confusion and looked towards the owner of the voice.
"But...they..."
"Will be headed to Inkopolis. Just like we will. Everyone to your stations! We will be moving out immediately!" Octameri yelled to all the by-standing Octarian forces. They all scattered, going to their designated posts. Octameri turned to head towards hers as well. Octarians daring to steal a glimpse at the gauntlet wearing brute were surprised to see her features not contorted in anger, but instead in contemplation. She didn't say anything as she headed towards her station.
"Damn it! Damn it all! He was suppose to die! Where did those Inkling scum come from anyway?!" Octavio was bouncing in rage at Agent 3's escape. His face was contorted in anger as the red eyes beside him simply stared at the screen.
"Did you notice that Octoling changed colors?" Octavio flinched and turned towards the owner of the voice.
"No, I missed that on the premises an ENTIRE ARMY let ONE SQUID GET AWAY!" Octavio stood up with a huff as the eyes seemed to glare at the side of his head. "But Octameri is readying the troops. I should head to my ship. Will you be joining us in taking over the city?" The figure shook his head. "And why not? You're an excellent fighter. And I would love for your beats to be playing during the fight,"
"No," The figure said firmly. Octavio's eyes narrowed and the figure's did the same. "If you want me there that badly I'll send my regards electronically, so you can still hear my "beats" without me having to be there," Octavio rolled his eyes and began exiting the room.
"Fine. See you later buddy," The figure just stared as Octavio left the room.
Agent 2 and Cerata did their best to move Inkay as quickly and gently as they could. Every other step he took his legs would collapse from beneath him, causing them to have to lift him back up.
"Hold on a little longer Inkay. We're almost there," Agent 2 whispered into his ear. He nodded slightly trying to keep his legs moving. Agent 1 was walking a ways ahead, enough she was still in sight but far enough to spot any enemies early.
"Guys hurry! We have to get Inkay to the hospital ASAP!" She called back.
"No..." Inkay groaned back. "Take me...to my apartment," The three females looked back at the severely injured male in angry confusion.
"Do you not see yourself? You are so injured it's making my body hurt just looking at you!" Agent 2 scolded, not slowing down their escape pace.
"Just, trust me Marie..." Cerata glanced down at Inkay then over to Agent 2.
"Marie? Like in the Squid Sisters Marie?" She looked over to the agent moving ahead. "So that would mean that..."
"Way to ruin our cover Inkay," Marie growled as the male gave a forced chuckle.
"Sorry,"
"No no, this is great! The public listens to you right? Listen something big is coming up," Callie stopped at the grate leading back to Inkopolis and raised a frightened eyebrow.
"How big?"
"The Second Great Turf War big," Cerata and Marie made it to the grate and the Squid Sisters visibly paled.
"You're kidding..."
"No! We don't have that much time! Marie and I will take Inkay to his apartment and you have to warn everybody," Callie took a deep breath. She looked over to her cousin who gave a worried look then a nod.
"Ok. We should move quickly then I guess. Once we're on the other side we'll split up," The group save for Inkay, nodded. Callie turned into a squid and slipped through the grate. Inkay struggled to get into his squid form, but once he did, Marie and Cerata eased him on it so that he may fall through.
Once through the grate, the group noticed that Callie had already ran towards the studio. The second thing they noticed was how many people were in the plaza. They couldn't take Inkay through looking the way he did. Both Cerata and Marie looked at each other for a moment before both mentally face-palming themselves.
"Inkay, stay in squid form ok?" Inkay groaned in agreement and Cerata carefully picked him up, holding him to her chest. They moved as calmly and quickly as they could towards Inkay's apartment, Cerata leading the way. Once they arrived, Marie looked at Cerata with a raised brow.
"How did you know where Inkay stayed?"
"I've...sort have been living with him the last few days..."
"What?!"
"We'll have to explain later!" Cerata cried as she fiddled with the door. "Ugh. It's locked. Inkay, do you have the key?" Inkay weakly shook his head and Cerata whispered a curse. She tried the knob again and groaned when it did its job.
"Well how do we get in then?" Marie groaned to Inkay. Suddenly there was shuffling on the other side.
"Who is it?" A voice called through the door.
"Who is that?" Marie whispered.
"Lyra! It's Cerata!Let me in!"
"Cerata?" Lyra's confused voice called through the door. The sounds of locks coming undone clicked as the door opened. Lyra's face was first pleasantly surprised, but seeing the expression of Cerata and the Inkling who's face was mostly covered caused that to falter. It faltered more when she noticed Inkay in Cerata's arms.
"Oh my god..."
"Excuse me," Cerata said walking past Lyra, Marie following her in and giving a small nod.
"What, is that Inkay? What happened to him?!" Lyra called out to the group.
"Where do you need to go Inkay? Why here?" Cerata whispered. Inkay pointed to his room and Cerata quickly walked into it. Once they were in, Inkay reverted back, falling to his knees in the process. He groan as his body protested all of him movements but managed to stand with Marie and Cerata's help.
"Over there," He groaned pointing to his weapon closet. The two females moved him closer to the door and he undid the lock. They quickly walked in and looked around, Cerata more than surprised at the supply of weapons in the room.
"Is no one going to answer my question?! What the hell happened to Inkay?! Where has he been?! What's going on here?!" Marie turned towards Lyra and approached her. Lyra's face was one that demanded answers and she was going to get them.
"There's not much time to explain. Just go turn the TV on. A news report should be coming on soon," Lyra glared at the hidden stranger, honestly trying to pinpoint her voice more than anything. She complied however and quickly left the room to go turn on the TV. Marie moved inside the weapon closet with the others. Inkay guided Cerata towards a far off corner of the closet where a small machine sat. The machine was made big enough for all types of Octarians to fit into and sit comfortably. Cerata was more than surprised to see the machine here.
"What is that?" Marie questioned as she joined the group.
"It's an Octo-pod," Cerata answered. "It's for injured soldiers. It gets them back in the fight really fast actually," Cerata sat Inkay down beside the Octo-pod as she fiddled with the controls. "Wow. I'm going to have to question how you got your hands on one of these," Cerata turned it on and it began producing a silver gel from the sides. The machine began filling up and Marie crossed her arms.
"Yeah yeah, you can ask him later. Just hurry up. Put him in the pod!" Cerata nodded and assisted Inkay in stepping into the silver gel. She gently laid his head against the back of it and placed a mask over his mouth. She lowered the dome over him and the pod continued to fill up.
"So how long will he be in there?" Marie asked. Cerata shrugged and looked over the Inkling seemingly going to sleep in the pod. "He's pretty banged up. The gel works pretty quickly so maybe a couple of minutes? Half an hour to an hour to heal up completely," Marie crossed her arms and closed her eyes.
"So all we can do is wait?" Cerata shrugged and nodded her head. "Fine. Let's go see if Callie has spread the word yet," The two headed towards the living room with Lyra.
The plaza was quiet. The only point of interest being those two Inklings that ran through earlier, but they were really overlooked. Everyone continued doing what they were doing and everything was pretty quiet. Then the screen in the plaza did a little jingle.
Heads turned towards the screen and a few eyebrows raised. This wasn't the time the stages changed. Maybe there was a new weapon or the rules of the Turf War changed. Everyone listened carefully. The only ones not listening were those uninterested in Turf Wars, which were few. The jingle lingered a bit longer than usual before an alarm rang out 3 times. This caught everyone's attention. Callie appeared on screen, standing in a shocked stance in her usual outfit, she informed the citizens of the situation.
"Everyone! Emergency news! Emergency news!" Callie's voice rang throughout the plaza and every screen that was on. "Please listen closely!Octarian forces are headed towards Inkopolis as we speak! All citizens prepare an emergency evacuation!" Inklings all over the city went into a calm panic, murmuring to themselves and others, some heading home while some looked with hope of disbelief.
"Callie?! What are you doing?! You can't do that!" An Inkling whispered screamed from the off stage. "Jeremy cut the camera!"
"Don't you do it Jeremy!" Callie called to the camera man. "Listen everyone, if you are level 45 or above you are welcome to try and assist to defend our city, just know that this is not a drill and the rules of Turf War do not apply. All others, please calmly gather your families and get as far from the city as you can. For those of you who wish to stay and fight...the color we'll be wearing is...turquoise...All of you, stay safe," The screen cut to black while the entirety of Inkopolis's population began to move quickly.
Some attempted to find family or friends. Others went to grab some weapons. Everyone was in a rush, and a lot of arguments broke out on whether someone should stay and fight or not. The city was in a panic, but it was relatively less chaotic than another civilization being told war was on their borders.
Lyra sat on the couch with her hands over her mouth. Was this real? It had to be right? Callie could get arrested for just pulling a prank that would rile up the citizens. Plus where was Marie? They always showed up together. She was in shock. Remembering there were others now in the room with her, she turned to them. They had this sullen yet serious look on their face since they already knew. Lyra let out a small gasp as she reached for her phone.
"I have to call Kelp-" Her phone rang before she could unlock it properly. She quickly answered it and put it up to her ear. "Kelp? Have you heard? Where are you?"
"Calm down, I heard. I think the entire city heard. Listen, are you still over to Inkay's?"
"Yeah, I am. Inkay's really hurt somehow,"
"What? Is he ok?" Lyra looked over to the two females in the room with her. The mysterious figure looked ahead while Cerata nodded.
"Cerata says he's fine,"
"Wait, Cerata? I thought she went home,"
"Well she's back, and she brought a severely beat up Inkay with her. I don't know what happened but I'm kinda freaking out here, Kelp,"
"Just calm down. Shiro's on his way back over there. I'm going to go get my mom out of the city," Lyra paused for a moment.
"And then what?" There was silence. "Kelp you're planning on fighting aren't you?"
"Well I'm not going to just sit around and let someone come in and invade our home!"
"...And Shiro's staying too isn't he?"
"He's always been kinda clingy. You know that,"
"Well fine then. I'm staying too,"
"Lyra, you can't,"
"Look, I've waited too long for us to be a thing, and I'm not going to just sit on the sidelines scared I'm never going to see you again," Lyra was on the verge of tears but she held them back with a strong expression. Kelp chuckled on the other side.
"It's funny. Shiro said you'd say that..."
"And I mean it,"
"Alright, alright. Shiro said he was going to stop by you're place and pick a few of, not your best weapons, but the ones you get splat the least with,"
"Good move on his part,"
"I'll be over there as soon as I can,"
"Alright Kelp...I love you,"
"I love you too," The line cut off and Lyra took a deep breath.
Inkay sat in the pod, his mind much clearer considering it wasn't racked with pain signals. He would shift his position a bit to check what still ached and what didn't. He wasn't planning on staying here to full health, just to fighting standards. He wasn't going to let some misinformed Octarians take over his city.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked around the closet. He might as well plan what he was going to take out to battle. He had to be quick and not have to be close ranged. It would be best to get a shooter and so he could fight both at a distance and close-ranged. He moved his limbs some more and sighed. Still some pain, but not much. Just a little longer and he'd step out.
"What the heck were you thinking Callie?! You can't just rile up the civilians like that! That's disturbing the peace!"
"The peace will be disturbed when Octarian forces storm the city! Why are you so against me warning everyone?"
"Because there is a proper way to do things! You can't just cry wolf on live TV! What if there's no wolf?! Then the studio is blamed!"
"You just care about the studio? Not all the lives that could be lost?!"
"I didn't say that Callie,"
"It was implied," Callie did a sharp turn and walked towards the exit.
"And where are you going?"
"None of your concern," With that, Callie left.
It wasn't long before Shiro arrived at Inkay's apartment carrying five weapons. He quickly handed three to Lyra.
"I brought your brush, your Jet Squelcher, and your Slosher," Lyra took the weapons and gave Shiro a nod and a smile.
"Sometimes you scare me how much you know us," Shiro gave a smile that tried to hide the fear on his face.
"Shows just how much of a friend I am," He said with a smile. Lyra returned it and turned towards the entrance as Cerata and the mystery person walked in. "Octarian!" Shiro screamed pointing his Aerospray at Cerata. Cerata immediately raised her hands as Agent 2 stepped in front of her.
"Shiro! Calm down! It's me!" Both Lyra and Shiro went wide-eyed as Shiro slowly lowered his weapon.
"Cerata?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah! It's me,"
"YOU'RE AN OCTARIAN?!" Shiro screeched.
"Yes, but can you please be qui-"
"DOES INKAY KNOW?!"
"Yes he does, now quiet down!" Both Lyra and Shiro stared blankly as Shiro began walking in circles rubbing his head.
"Inkay knows...of fucking course he does,"
"So...you were an Octarian the entire time?" Lyra asked. Cerata nodded while Agent 2 looked between the three confused.
"I thought you were aware. You didn't notice when you first opened the door?" Lyra shook her head and returned her gaze to Cerata.
"I was kinda mesmerized by one of my best friends in a bloody pulp. Plus, I thought all Octarians were purple. I sorta just glanced at the color of her tentacles and not much else..." Agent 2 brought her knuckle to her mouth.
"That would make sense. No one would expect an Octarian with a turquoise color. We all assume them be purple and over look other colors,"
"Well I think everyone was just as shocked as me when I changed colors," There was a rustling coming from Inkay's room and they all looked at each other before storming it. When they opened the door, Inkay was wearing a Skull Bandana, Black Inky Rider, and some Octoling Boots.
"Inkay? You're done?" Cerata called approaching him.
"Right as rain,"Cerata encased Inkay in an immediate hug, him letting out a small oomph before returning it. "We don't have much time. You don't have to fight but you're welcome to some of my weapons," Cerata looked up at Inkay with worried eyes.
"Are you sure you're up for this? I mean you were really hurt," Inkay gave her a toothy smile.
"I'll be fine. I promise," Cerata instantly raised her pinky finger. Inkay chuckled and wrapped his around it. Inkay turned his attention to those in the door way, mostly the disguised Squid Sister. "What did I miss?"
"She informed the city to perform an emergency evacuation. Anyone who wants to stay and fight she use turquoise ink. Inkay chuckled.
"How thoughtful of her," He turned his attention to his friends who had expressions that mixed "are you okay?" with "you have some explaining to do,"
"There's not a lot of time. I have some turquoise in my closet if you two are staying to fight," Shiro chuckled.
"Well you seem like you're ready to fight. And I can't have you die with out explaining the truth to us," Inkay then noticed that while Cerata's hair was in the standard Octoling style, it was turquoise.
"Cerata? How did you-?" Cerata merely shrugged.
"Another story for another time. We have to get ready," Inkay nodded just as there was a knock on the door. The group exited the room as Inkay led the line to the door. Inkay opened the door and Callie walked in, Shiro letting out a very unmanly squeal. The entirety looked over to Shiro, who had covered his mouth with his hand then kindly excused himself to find something turquoise.
"What's the situation out there?" Agent 2 asked Callie.
"It seems that evacuation is going as smoothly as it can go. There are actually quite a lot of Inkling staying to fight. Many have picked up snipers and have taken higher ground while there are a lot of ground troops as well. Just on my way over here it seems they were all ready to flank any Octarian troops that exited the grates. All of them have spread ink everywhere, giving us more than home field advantage," The group nodded at the information, save for Cerata who was sad this situation even had to take place, and Lyra who was trying to keep from fangirling like Shiro and trying to figure out if the mysterious Inkling was Marie or not.
"Cerata," The Octoling's eyes shot up at Inkay calling her. "How many troops are they sending over. Do you know?" Cerata slunk down a bit with a sad expression.
"From what I know...everything. They're going all out all or nothing on this one," Inkay growled and looked down.
"We need a plan. We can't just fight and fight and fight. We may have set up some defenses but we are pretty much still blindsided," The group sat in contemplation. Cerata glanced up and caught a glance of the bookshelf in the distance and a light bulb went off.
"I got one," Eyes shot up and locked onto the Octoling with a huge grin on her face. She turned towards Agent 2 and Callie. "And we're going to need your help again,"
Octavio sat in a DJ booth in a giant aircraft. He had a relatively bored look on his face as he and his fleet approached the Inkling city. Turning his turntable a certain way, eight screens turned on in front of him, each a different Octarian.
"Major Tenoct. Information on the city," Octavio demanded. The Octarian on the screen in the upper right saluted Octavio before speaking.
"It seems that the traitorous Octoling informed them of our invasion. Inkling forces have been set up around entrance points in the city. All Inklings not fighting seemed to have already left the city," Octavio growled a bit before continuing.
"Darn. I was hoping for a high citizen death rate. Oh well. Air troops. Are you prepared to launch on my signal?" The Octarians on the top middle, bottom left, and bottom right all saluted.
"We are ready to move out as soon as you give the command Octavio," Octavio nodded before averting his attention to the remaining forces on the screen.
"You heard Tenoct. What are your plans on the Inkling in defensive position?" One Octarian saluted and spoke.
"We have set up a line of Ink balloons and have slowly placed them into the tunnels. It was made air tight and once one pops, the rest will as well, sending a streaming of ink to the other side, giving our forces cover, as well as what may be needed for a surprise attack," Octavio nodded approvingly.
"Good, good. Everyone. Do what he's doing. That's a smart Octopus right there. Everyone else, wait for my signal. Today is the day we take back what belongs to us," They all saluted as the screens turned into back. All the screens together lit up as two bright red eyes appeared.
"Are you almost there Octavio?" The voice called out through the speakers.
"We're almost there. Everything is ready on board yeah? I don't need to get there and something similar to last time happens,"
"Just make sure you pick up what you need. I'll take over for a bit after you do," Octavio nodded yet again.
"Alrighty then. Until our rampage," The eyes closed and the screens shut off. Won't be long now.
Inklings all over had their weapons aimed for the grates, waiting for the Octarian forces to emerge. There was suddenly a loud rumbling noise. Inkling forces turned their heads towards the sky as a lot of large ships flew over head. Some visibly paled as others mouths dropped.
The biggest ship slowly hovered over the tower with the Great Zapfish. It stopped as others moved forward around it. Two large tentacles erupted from the bottom of the ship and quickly reached down, grabbing the zapfish by the tail.
The zapfish's eyes widened as if it had just been violated as the ship pulled it into its hull. Many openings appeared around the ship as a screen appeared on the front. From some of the openings speakers erupted as a music slowly began coming out of them.
"...Life force, on the rise, organisms organize," From the the opening, small sniper carriers flew out.
"Situation: Analyzed. Antibodies synthesize," In mere seconds, the skies were filled with Octarian forces. Inklings on top of buildings fired at the airborne foe while ground forces avoided the rain of ink.
"Losing mass...now consume! Active cultures on the move!" The grates exploded with a large stream of purple ink. Octolings jumped from the fountain of purple, getting the jump on a few Inklings, causing a few explosions of purple.
"Liquid gaseous solids too, swallow all your molecules," The rest of the ships slowly opened up, Inklings trying to guess what would fall out of them this time while also shooting down Octarians already upon them.
"Cellular mitotic phase, mobilize and oscillate," From each of the ships, Octonozzles, Octostomps, Octowhirls, and even Octomaws fell to the city below. Inklings were immediately out gunned, but they stayed strong. Chaos now erupted through out the city as turquoise and purple rained in all directions. Ink sailed through the skies as the two species fought.
"Subdivide, repopulate," two red eyes appeared on the main Octarian ship's screen.
"Operation: DROP THE BASS!" Two arms slammed down in front of the set of eyes and began working the turn tables. All of the Octarian machinery roared out, removing all ink in the premises. All Inklings hiding in their ink were suddenly revealed and the small advantage they had was gone.
Inkay and his squad stood on top of a building near the Turf War lobby. Inkay and Shiro stared around with angry eyes. Lyra had her hands clasped over her mouth while Cerata and the Squid Sisters, one still in disguise, looked over the Turf War tower and the ship still hovering over it. No matter how one looked at, the Inklings were losing.
"This is bad. This is really bad," Lyra muttered to herself as she looked over the carnage.
"So, we're going to have to move fast. You guys understand the plan?" Cerata questioned. Agent 2 rolled up her sleeve and tapped a few buttons on a watch.
"I'm ready. But I don't know. It was a bit...too easy,"
"Don't hold your nose up at any openings," Cerata stood and turned towards Inkay, Shiro, and Lyra. "You guys ready to move out?" The trio nodded and turned their eyes to the sky. "Damn it..." Cerata called taking a step back.
"What is it?" Inkay followed her gaze to another ship approaching their position.
"My sister's on that ship," Inkay looked at Cerata then the ship with a hidden horror.
"How can you be so sure?"
"I just know," Inkay looked around the battlefield of a city before turning towards the entire group.
"We can't afford Octavio calling her for help. Callie, Agent 2, lay low until we get that ship away from your position," The two Inklings nodded and jumped from the building into a secluded alley beneath. It was not completely free of the results of battle, but it was certainly less chaotic. "Lyra, Shiro, go find Kelp. He's out there somewhere and I'm pretty sure he could use some friendly help," Shiro and Lyra gave Inkay a worried look.
"But what about you?" Shiro asked taking a step forward. Inkay looked up at the ship and the little purple specks flying around then to a building in the distance.
"Cerata and I will lure them near Bluefin Depot and stall as long as Callie and Agent 2 need it," The two nodded. Lyra threw her arms around Inkay's neck in a hug as a tear fell from her eye.
"Be careful," Inkay hugged her and nodded. She looked to Cerata and gave her a once over before pausing. "...you too," Cerata gave a small smile and nodded. Shiro grabbed Lyra by her wrist and pulled her away. Cerata and Inkay ran the opposite direction than the other two groups and jumped from the building.
Octameri sat in the captain's seat of a large ship, Octarians in different control panels around her.
"Sir, we are fully charged via the Great Zapfish and the shared generator. Agent 3 and your sister are in sight. Shall we fire the Killer Wail?" Octameri watched as the Inklings and her sister split up, her sister unknowingly staring into the camera before hand.
"No. They'll be enough of those firing in a moment anyway. Follow them,"
"But sir, there is a lot of chaos between us and them. We cannot guarantee we will be on their tail the entire time,"
"Then I cannot guarantee you'll be okay when I fly this ship over the ocean and throw you out. Follow them," The Octarian gulped and obeyed his commander.
Callie and Agent 2 landed in the darkness of the alley and took cover behind some garbage cans. Callie pulled out her agent outfit and slipped it on, Agent 2 peeking around to make sure no Octarians got the jump on them.
"So do you think that...Cerata girl knows what she's talking about?" Agent 1 asked as she pulled out her weapon. Agent 2 shrugged and looked at the ship now passing overhead.
"We can only hope she can be trusted. For now, we have to get to Octavio," Agent 1 looked at the plaza, filled with both Inkling and Octarian forces firing ink in all directions.
"It seems pretty chaotic that way. Think we can sneak up the back and climb the tower that way?"
"It's our best option," Agent 2 turned and headed towards the back way of the alley as her cousin followed.
Lyra and Shiro landed in a side alley and managed to splat an unwary Octoling. They rushed forward, firing at any Octarian that they could. They dodged and weaved through the streets and through alleys, honestly avoiding conflict as often as they could.
"I'm just now thinking of how insane this is. How the heck are we expected to find Kelp in all this?" Shiro called taking cover behind a car as Lyra did the same with another one nearby. Bombs and gunfire echoed throughout the entire area as the two flinched when either happened too close.
"We have to at least try Shiro!" Lyra screamed back.
"Well I know that! I'm just pointing out how crazy it is!"He called with a small smile on his face. Lyra peaked over the car she was hiding behind and signaled Shiro it was time to move. He nodded as Lyra shot a stream of ink under the car and swam under it while Shiro jumped over. They both ran forward, Lyra leading while Shiro guarding the back.
Lyra was a bit more focused on getting to more cover while Shiro was focused more on keeping an eye out for enemies. Because of the two mind sets, the distance between the two quickly grew. When Shiro looked forward, Lyra was a good distance away. His eyes widened as he looked at her.
"Lyra! Look out!" Lyra paused and turned towards Shiro before looking above her. Her eyes widened as a purple square face was falling towards her position. Shiro reverted to squid form and super jumped in a straight line towards his friend. He turned back to an Inkling and tackled Lyra just as the Octostomp landed. Lyra hit the ground rolling but quickly stood up and stared at the mechanical monster as its little legs kicked.
"What is...what is this thing?!" She screamed. Her eyes traveled down the cube monster then widened. "Oh no! Shiro!" She got up and ran towards the Octostomp. Shiro groaned and crawled forward a bit, Lyra crouching beside him and putting her hands to her mouth.
"Shiro...Shiro your leg..." Shiro tried to chuckle but instead let out a groan.
"It's merely a...flesh wound," He choked out. Honestly if he was any less pain, Lyra would've slapped him. Everything below the mid part of his left leg was gone, crushed beneath the Octostomp and splatted from the purple ink.
"Come on. We have to get you out of here," Lyra called pulling Shiro up by the arm. The Inkling boy groaned and struggled to stand on his remaining foot as he put his arm around Lyra's neck. Just as they turned to walk off, the ground shook slightly. They both turned to see the machine standing up right looking down on them.
"RUN!" Shiro called as the thing let out a small roar. The two Inklings charged towards the nearest alley and sprinted as fast as they could. The Octostomp screeched as they ran into a space too small for it to fit and jumped high into the sky.
Cerata and Inkay bobbed and weaved through the chaos, making their way through the city. They tried their best to avoid all the Octarian monstrosities as they traveled. This was a bit easier as most looked at Cerata confused before making a move.
Eventually they reached their destination. Inkay and Cerata picked a tall building at the edge of the depot and inked their way up, climbing to the roof. They reached the top both breathing heavily. Cerata looked over their shoulders at the ship that had been following them. It slowly eased to a stop over their position.
Inkay and Cerata took a deep breath and waited. They took a glance at each other and they both knew they were thinking the same thing:
They were going to have a bad time.
Octavio sat in his chair clapping his tentacles together. This was all just so beautiful! By now Killer Wails, Inkzookas, and Inkstrikes littered both the ground and skies. A few ships had taken one too many Inkstrikes or Killer Wails and had thus crashed into the cold hard ground below, an explosion of turquoise. He didn't know ships worked that way as well. Oh well. As is war. Can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs.
"So, any sign of that Agent 3?" Octavio asked an Octoling sitting in his command pit with him.
"No sir, but it seems two Inklings are attempting to get into the ship," Octavio raised an eyebrow at the Octoling.
"Only two?"
"Yes sir,"
"And where exactly will they enter?"
"The only opening close enough for them to reach will be the one leading to your room sir, just as you ordered,"
"Perfect!" Octavio said standing up rubbing his tentacles together. "Keep firing those Killer Wails randomly into the streets. I'm going to try out my new and improved war suit!" Octavio excitedly exited the room, Octarian forces saluting him as he left as more Killer Wails rang out.
Shiro and Lyra continued to move as fast as they could, Inklings sending them towards relatively save passage ways seeing Shiro's missing leg. Lyra was on the verge of losing it while Shiro was trying his best to keep her calm as well as stay conscious. Of course, it wasn't long before a wrong turn got the two into the line of sight of an Octoling squad.
Fortunately, the two were far away enough so that the Octolings had to move towards them for their weapons to reach. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of turquoise ink to make a clean get away. The two swam in what was there as far as they could, Lyra using her weapon to spread a little more when needed.
The Octolings were relentless with their chase however and continued pursuing. After a while of running, Lyra noticed a trail of turquoise ink going up a building among random splatters. With no better option, she helped Shiro swim up it. The Octolings reached their position and attempted to cut them off but were a tad bit too slow. Regardless, they created a purple trail to follow them.
When Lyra reached the top she was surprised to find other Inklings finishing up a battle of their own. There were five in total, three boys and two girls. A girl and a boy took note of their arrival while the rest began firing their weapons at either the enemies on the streets below or the ones flying through the sky. The girl and boy who noticed the two new Inklings rushed up to them.
"We're being followed! They're on their way up!" Lyra called as she and the other girl helped Shiro further onto the building. The guy cursed under his breath and dropped a suction bomb near where Lyra and Shiro came from. He backed away pointing his weapon towards that side of the building.
The girl helped Lyra sit Shiro in the middle of the circle. With a small amount of a struggle, she ripped off her sleeve and tied it around Shiro's stump. She noticed he still clutched a weapon and looked at him with a serious glare. She tapped his face a few times.
"Hey, HEY! Don't you dare close your eyes!" She took the Aerospray from his hand and replaced it with her .96 Gal. "You stay awake and you fight you hear me?!" Shiro opened his eyes trying not to anger this aggressive female. He looked at the new weapon in his head before nodding.
"Yes ma'am," The Inkling nodded and stood, moving towards the guy from before while Lyra knelt next to Shiro, tears in her eyes.
"Shiro I'm so sorry. If I was paying more attention...you'd...I'd..." Shiro flashed a forced smile before rising himself to a sitting position.
"Don't sweat it. We can go back and forth on who's to blame. If I was faster it wouldn't have happened. So let's focus on surviving and finding Kelp...Ok?" Lyra wiped her eyes and nodded before standing up.
An Octoling reached the top of the building and jumped up just as the Suction Bomb prepared to go off. Her eyes widened as she was over taken by an explosion of turquoise and splatted. More Octolings jumped up from the side of the building firing at the Inklings. Fortunately, the Inklings that were already there managed to splat the Octolings as they arrived. Once the line of enemies stopped, the male Inkling peaked over the edge of the building. One Octoling had a device up to her ear before turning up to look at him and smiling.
The Inkling raised an eyebrow before looking into the distance to see a small set of Octarian forces coming their way.
"Oh shit..." He groaned.
"Danny! We got enemies coming this way!" Another one called from the opposite end of the building.
"Some just wiped out an entire squad in this direction!" The other female called as she fired onto the streets below.
"Damn it...damn it damn it damn it! Everyone! Focus on getting your specials now! Take out any enemy you can but get set up ASAP!" He called firing his weapon down to the purple streets below. All of the Inklings nodded as more shots were fired in all directions. Lyra moved to a side of the building and began firing. Shiro, not to be out done, semi-walk/crawled his way to the side and helped in any way he could.
Cerata and Inkay waited as the bottom of the ship opened up and a lone dot fell from it. It fell towards their location and they separated. Octameri landed on a fist and a knee between them and slowly rose to her full height. Inkay and Cerata began circling Octameri. Octameri smiled at the two.
"Sister," She said turning towards Cerata, who raised her Tentatek Splattershot. Octameri slowly turned to the opposite side of her towards Inkay. "My bitch," Inkay frowned and raised his Octoshot Replica. "How nice to see you both...together..." She hissed.
"You're making a mistake Meri. I promise you Octavio's been lying," Cerata frowned as Octameri laughed at her.
"You're making a mistake challenging me. Challenging the great Octarian race! We will finally have the victory we deserved so long ago! And we will take back what is ours!"
"It's not ours Meri! Just listen because I know the truth!"
"SSssssshhhhhhhhh...you hear that sister?" Octameri said gesturing to the war raging around them. "That's the sound of your lies being washed away. Just like this city," Inkay growled at her truth. The machines once again gave the Octarians the advantage. The Inklings were losing. Things had to change ASAP.
"It's obvious you can't be reasoned with," Inkay said raising his weapon higher.
"Nope. So what are we waiting for?" Octameri raised her fists to both of her opponents. "Let's dance,"
Hey guys! Did you miss me? What? You forgot? Ok ;-; Well I didn't forget you guys. Finals ran literally from the day of my last chapter til Tuesday, and I've been off since. But I honestly don't remember Wednesday, or half of yesterday. For those who say sleep is for the weak, I'm at the bottom of the tier list.
But anyway, this will be the author notes I've been neglecting. So let's go all the way back to the Party Day dual chapters.
Of course Splatoon in the story would be the equivalent of say, Basketball and Football in our world, so I had to spice it up a bit. So I did. Also if it wasn't obvious, Kelp was playing a squid version of Fire Emblem. Though Awakening was my first Fire Emblem experience cept for smash, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Enough so that I'm willing to hand Nintendo 80 bucks for the Fire Emblem Fates set coming out. Also Corrin's trailer for smash honestly had me more stressed out about the choices those games will make me make instead of his inclusion in smash. (Also Bayonetta in smash?! The Hype Train has derailed and turned into a motherfucking rocket ship!)
*Ahem* Excuse me. Anyay, yes, yes, the orgy thing wasn't my original idea, but I found it more than hilarious enough to add. The Idea came from the story Fracture. Check it out unless you're scared of the dark. You have been warned.
I like how Shiro is the carefree fun guy but he know his shit. He's smarter than he lets on and I feel Party Day showed that.
Also, the translated Splatfest song the Squid Sisters sang was courtesy of Vannasuika 🍉 on youtube, with a few tweaks on my side to make it, what I think, flow better. So go check it out if you're curious and have the time.
The after party...I've never really dealt with someone really drunk, but I have an imagination, so I had fun with that scene. And also Kelp and Lyra hooking up. The original plan of the story, waaaaaaay back in chapter two, was to have a love triangle between Inkay, Cerata, and Lyra, but I felt Lyra wouldn't have enough screen time for that to be truly fair so the idea was junked. Honestly I liked the way it's coming out more anyway.
And then there's the scene. You know the one. The one that yanked your heart strings. The accursed farewell. How that scene played out ran through my head over and over again and I honestly enjoyed writing it.
Then the phone scene in Inkling vs Octoling. I wrote it that way to fuck with you. .3. Inkay gets the phone call, and you're like "Oh no! He's agent 3!" Then it turns out to be his sister and you're like "Oh, no he's not." Then SURPRISE! Yes he is. Ain't I a stinker? That's also the chapter Inkay got his shit kicked in. The fight between him and Octameri was also a scene that played through my head, especially the scene between him using all his bombs strategically and Octameri using him to break both the glass wall and the floor of the box thing. It was fun.
Now we get to last chapter. I'm going to first apologize litosns. Your quote was really awesome and I liked it, but it didn't seem like something Octameri would say considering she wanted war more than anything else in the world, so she wouldn't be talking down on it.
Next, Inkay's torture. The Saltwater thing is a guestimate on how the Inkling body works. I would think they are mostly water, especially since they can sink into ink that cannot be more than an inch thick. The hooks through the hands was a random last minute thought. Why last minute? Well, Inklings don't have bones. Therefore, you're standard chains and shackles aren't going to hold them up. So hooks.
Then the special tools Octameri made ordered. All of which were at one point real torture tools. Read at your own cost. Let me explain them to you in summary form:
Iron maidens- the caskets you see on the movies with the spikes on the inside. Place a person in and close it they die. Unless the spikes are short and on one side. Then that person has to spend their time standing as pressed as far back as they can and not move forward in fear of impaling themselves.
The Lead Sprinkler- Is what is implied. Molten lead, or water, or anything else that can get hot in liquid form, is spread over the unfortunate prisoner. Of course it's heated to a boiling point before hand and...yeah.
The executioner's daughter- Ever heard of the rack? Well, the rack ties the prisoner's hands above their head and their feet below and pulls them, stretching them until the poor sap is ripped apart. The executioner's daughter is the opposite. Instead of being stretched, the poor sap is compressed, pressed into a tight space until their bones snap and their organs pop from the pressure. Terrifying right?
A lot of people enjoyed the fact Cerata fought in the last chapter. I did too. It was fun writing it. And Cerata changing colors was also a big surprise. My reasoning? She was able to change to turquoise in particular because she was wearing Inkay's hat. Funny, if he wasn't wearing it and decided to give it to Cerata, he would've died. It's the little things in life.
And we finally get to this chapter! Tell me, what do you guys get from Octavio's relationship with mysterious red eyes? I thought red eyes would be happy alongside Octavio. Anyone have any ideas on what's going on? Also the squid sisters will be meeting Octavio's new and improved weapon. You guys excited for that?
We don't know where Kelp is at the moment but Lyra and Shiro are fending off Octarians with a bunch of new unnamed Inklings. And Shiro lost a leg being so selfless. I wonder how the rest of the war is going to go with him down a limb.
As for the main characters of our little story, they're about to face off against Octameri 2v1! You guys think they have a chance? You'll have to stick with us to find out.
Also, all of the bosses you faced in the game are in bulk in Inkopolis wrecking havoc. Casualties are much higher on the Inkling side. Splatoon hidden spoilers, Octarians were winning the first Great Turf War and the Inklings one simply because they got lucky. This story is following that on how they're getting their asses whooped.
Also I'll explain how all the bosses are functional if Agent 3/Inkay got all the zapfish back.
We're nearing the home stretch here guys. I hope you are still enjoying and I hope you continue reading. I am not promising any chapter in a recent amount of time. Christmas is coming up(Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or whatever you prefer btw) and I may get overrun by little people(kids) coming to my house, and I'm going to have to pull a Peridot and tell them to stop touching my stuff. Also I'm going to a thing with some friends starting next Friday, and I will be internetless until Tuesday. So yeah.
But heres my late chapter and my catchup author's note. Hope you enjoyed, thank you for reading and a special thank you to all of you who have been reviewing the previous chapters. Until next time.
Astalabyebye,
Bang