Chapter 10: Last Stop

"You have reached your destination."

Akikta and Nakji made their way through a dimly lit tunnel. About halfway in, the train tracks ended. "Guess they really don't come through here..." He said to himself.

Akikta looked behind him at Nakji. He planned to use this time to talk to her some more, but she looked so caught up in her own little world. She was grinning from ear to ear, swaying her head side to side.

She didn't even notice Akikta looking at her, so he refrained from saying anything, not wanting to disturb her happy mood.

Nakji broke from her walking pace and started skipping ahead of Akikta. He only smiled as he now followed behind.

That smile didn't last.

Akikta straightened his lips as his brows lowered. A nagging feeling kept poking the back of his brain. His instincts told him something was off, but he couldn't tell what.

The tunnel looked normal, with nothing being out of place. And even though Nakji was in her own world, she had sharp reflexes. She would've been the first to notice if something was actually afoot, but she had her guard all the way down.

Maybe it was just him, but the atmosphere felt familiar... like he was being watched.

Akikta turned around, seeing nothing but the darkness of the tunnel. He faced forward again, seeing Nakji was still merrily skipping along. If someone were ahead of them, she would've noticed by now. "I guess it's just me." He figured, only to steel himself to ignore the nagging feeling.

The further they walked, the worse the feeling grew. Something internal screamed at him to turn around, so finally, he gave in. He looked over his shoulder to satisfy his paranoid mind, expecting to find nothing.

He found something.

Akikta yelped in surprise before turning around, garnering the attention of Nakji, who stopped skipping.

A figure about the same height as Nakji quietly stood before him. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to scare you..." The figure said, their voice soft and hushed.

To prove their innocence, they stepped further into the more well-lit area of the tunnel. Their black boots clacked against the ground, echoing.

Aside from the boots, the first feature that stuck out was their hot-pink tentacled hair with suckers on the top. On the underside of their hair was nothing but a smooth white color.

They were another female octoling, like Nakji, though their skin tone was slightly darker.

She wore a black sleeveless top, which exposed her stomach. Further down was a black leather skirt, accompanied by a small black band with a white buckle around her left thigh.

She awkwardly grabbed her arm, and Akikta noticed the neon yellow bands around her left wrist and right ankle. His guess for what they were for was as good as anyone else's.

Nakji returned to Akikta's side, and they both watched the octoling. Her gray eyes avoided direct contact with either of them. She was nervous... why?

Actually, before that, how did she get right up behind them so quickly? She would've had to run to get as close as she was to them. Only a minute passed since Akikta checked their six. No doubt, that's what she did, but how'd she do it without making noise? Her boots clanked earlier when she stepped into the light, but she made no noise prior to that.

"Can we help you...?" Akikta asked, not understanding who this octoling was or why they were in a tunnel alone. Honestly, they creeped him out. But he didn't want to be mean. After all, they seemed overly shy, and a little afraid. Maybe they were lost?

"I was just hoping you two could... well... come with me..." The octoling mumbled.

At this point, Akikta figured she feared the tunnel's dark atmosphere. Perhaps she came off the train a little after them and didn't want to be alone.

Akikta took a step forward. "We don't mind accompanying you if-" Nakji cut him off, stopping him by placing an arm in his way.

He looked down at her to see her purple eyes gazing intently at the octoling; Her happy demeanor disappeared. She was serious. "What's the matter?" He whispered.

"Her back. Look." She quickly whispered back.

Akikta peered over the octoling's shoulder, seeing a cylinder glass tank strapped to her back. There was some type of liquid inside that matched the color of their tentacled hair.

Judging by Nakji's expression, that tank was bad news. Was it something dangerous? No, certainly not. Though, now that he thought about it, ink is used as ammunition by these cephalopods. And the ink color always matches the shooter's hair color. Was that an ink tank on her back? That would mean she had a weapon, right?

Sure, even if she had a weapon, she might still want the company of other people. Then again, her choice of words suggested she wanted them to follow her somewhere... "Why exactly do you want us to come with you?" Akikta questioned, attempting to rationalize everything.

"I'll explain it to you on the way... if you don't mind..." The octoling responded, being as polite as possible. Her voice was incredibly gentle, yet Nakji stared at her as if she were bad news. Akikta was missing something here, but what?

The radio on his belt suddenly buzzed as thoughts ran through his mind. "Hey, hey, A, made it to Inkopolis yet?" Sal asked.

Akikta looked down and went to unhook the radio from his belt. As he grabbed it, he looked back up at the octoling's face, then froze.

Her facial expression went from soft and timid to disgusted and angry. The sudden change spooked Akikta. "That...voice..." The octoling said, no longer in a soft-spoken tone.

"Hey A, who was..." The radio buzzed in Akikta's hand, Sal's voice trailing off as Akikta absentmindedly turned the radio to face the octoling.

"SHE'S AN AGENT!" Sal screamed, nearly making Akikta drop the radio.

That was all the confirmation Nakji needed to unsheathe her blade. At the same time, the octoling pulled out what appeared to be some sort of gun. It looked like some of the weapons back at the ship, albeit more polished.

Right after weapons were drawn, the octoling shot ink at Akikta and Nakji. Instinctively, Akikta rolled out of the way, whereas Nakji deflected the first volley of shots and rushed the octoling.

She swung her katana rapidly; those horizontal ink slashes shot out as she did.

The other octoling dodged them rather easily, only to transform into an octopus. Her form was similar to Nakji's, the only difference being it matched her hot-pink color.

Once transformed, the octoling dipped into a puddle of ink that was left behind from when she was shooting, disappearing immediately. It was as if she had jumped into a deep body of water. The move surprised Akikta.

Nakji held her blade in a defensive stance. Moments later, the octoling jumped out of the ink in a different location and opened fire. The two girls returned to their intense fighting, with Akikta quietly watching.

He's watched documentaries of octopuses fighting before, but this was something else. These two were fierce, relentless, and surprisingly precise.

He was amazed Nakji could keep up, as he assumed the injuries they both suffered from would hinder her performance.

Akikta kept ducking and sidestepping as the ladies fought, not wanting to get hit by the ink they splattered around the wide tunnel.

"Wait, what am I doing?" He muttered. The sudden escalation of the fight made him forget he was immune to their ink weaponry.

Instead of admiring the fight, he should be helping Nakji! He just hoped this agent didn't punch half as hard as Coral.

Akikta reattached the radio to his belt and stayed low, waiting for an opening.

When the octoling had her back turned to shoot a barrage of ink at Nakji, Akikta rushed her. She must've heard his clunky movements, as she spun around to fire at him.

He felt like he was violating some rules at a paintball game with the amount of ink that hit him, but he didn't stop running. Akikta quickly closed the distance before reaching out and yanking her gun from her hands.

He tossed her weapon aside, but she transformed and dipped into the hot-pink ink before anything else could be done. Nakji would swipe moments after, narrowly missing the octoling and scraping Akikta instead. He winced painfully in response.

"Sorry, Aki!" Nakji quickly apologized, her serious expression taking on a more concerned look.

"It's fine; you just gave me a paper cut, that's all." He assured, only for the octoling to reemerge behind Nakji, taking her by surprise.

The enemy octoling grabbed Nakji's wrist and then flipped her over, disarming her swiftly and taking her blade.

Akikta, now a little worried, backed up. The octoling didn't allow him to get far, as she quickly dashed forward, somehow without making noise.

She swung a flurry of strikes at Akikta, most of which nicked him as he barely managed to throw his body out of each strike's way. Akikta grunted before turning his body sideways as he sidestepped, narrowly avoiding her last vertical slash.

Before she could swipe again, he grabbed the handle of the blade to stop her from raising it. Just like in the action films. He grinned before moving to deliver an elbow to her face. Instead, the octoling let go of the blade and transformed again, dipping into the ink below and dodging the blow. That wasn't in the action films.

Akikta frowned, seeing a trail being left behind as the octoling swam through her ink. She reemerged beside her weapon, hastily grabbing it and aiming at Nakji, who finally got back up.

Akikta jumped on Nakji as the octoling started shooting, taking the hits.

"Aki!" Nakji shouted worriedly.

"It's fine. I got this," He reassured before slowly sitting up. Akikta turned to look at the octoling, who stopped firing. A confused expression sat on her face.

"I don't understand... how are you not splatted yet?!" she questioned in agitation, gritting her teeth.

"Sounds like someone's a little mad." He pointed out.

"I'm not..." she started, only to shake her head and sigh. "Please, I don't want to fight... just come with me, and we can talk this out!"

"Don't listen to her, A." Sal interrupted from the radio, which surprised Akikta as the teen thought Sal stopped tuning in a while ago.

"You don't have to tell me that," He responded before swiping at the air, expecting an ink slash to come out, though nothing did. This garnered a strange look from the octoling, causing Akikta to chuckle awkwardly. "That was going to be a lot cooler in my head, not gonna lie." With no better idea, Akikta tossed the blade at the octoling.

His aim was superbly bad. She didn't even have to move an inch to dodge the blade. The confused octoling watched as the katana bounced away from them both.

Akikta used the distraction to rush her. By the time she looked back up, he was already on top of her.

She transformed again, though this time he expected her to do that. "Oh no you don't!" He grabbed one of her tentacles before she dipped back into the ink. Her eyes widened as Akikta swung her, smashing the octopus into the wall.

He swung her again, tossing her to the wall on the other side. She crashed with a wet smack, transforming back into her humanoid form before hitting the ground with a loud thump. The grip on her weapon loosened.

Akikta rushed across to the octoling and flipped her over before once again tossing her weapon away. Then he held her down with one hand, the other raised into a clenched fist.

At first, she had a painfully dazed expression on her face. When she processed what Akikta was about to do, her gray eyes dilated, and she took on a frightened look.

Akikta hesitated; the two stared at each other for a moment, which seemed to last for hours. He relented, lowering his fist. "I can't hit her..." He sighed. The octoling's face eased a little in response to his mercy.

"I can," Nakji snarled before kicking the octoling in the head roughly.

If she had been disoriented before, she'd be on the verge of unconsciousness now.

Akikta waved Nakji off, signaling that was enough. She walked back to her katana as he got off the groaning octoling. "Well, that wasn't so bad," He commented before turning to Nakji, who walked back to him, sheathing her blade. "What should we do with her?"

"Leave her," Sal ordered.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Akikta protested. On the one hand, she might come back with a vengeance like Metta if they leave her be. On the other, he didn't want to leave her alone in a cold dark tunnel. Sure, they beat her up a bit. But what if someone else came along while she was in this vulnerable state and took advantage? That'd be infinitely worse, in Akikta's opinion.

"Trust me, A. It is better to leave people like her... alone." Sal finished before the radio crackled off. It seemed Sal wasn't willing to discuss the situation further.

"You heard him. Let's go," Nakji said, once again leading the way.

Akikta stared at the octoling for a second longer before turning. "D...don't...listen..." The octoling moaned softly, causing Akikta to look back at her.

She was still conscious. Barely. "H...he's...using...y...you..." she mumbled before going quiet.

Akikta kneeled by her side, seeing she clocked out. What did she mean by that? Did she and Sal know each other? She seemed to recognize Sal's voice, and he's never seen Sal act so jumpy before.

So many questions filled Akikta's head, and he had the answers to none of them. He sighed, deciding to let them all go instead of letting them eat at his curiosity.

"Aki? Come on, let's go!" Nakji said excitedly. Her mood changed surprisingly fast. She couldn't wait to see Inkopolis, and to be honest, he couldn't either.

Akikta looked at the octoling one last time. I wish I had at least gotten her name... He sighed before turning and following Nakji.