Chapter 15: Attack of the New Squidbeak Splatoon

"Protectors of the New World."

It seemed the three shark riders would reach the ship before the helicopter, thus giving Nakji and Akikta some time to plot how they would deal with them before the agents arrived. Unfortunately, things weren't that simple.

The two couldn't come up with a plan they both agreed on. Akikta was stuck worrying about Inka's safety and protection, so he suggested Nakji stay with her. On the other hand, Nakji wasn't convinced Akikta could handle the situation, given his lack of combat experience. Despite what has happened so far in every conflict, Akikta personally believes he's watched enough action movies to make up for his lack of fighting skills. Still, Nakji insisted he be the one that sticks with Inka.

Their bickering was eventually interrupted by the large shark jumping onto their side of the ship. Both dove out of the way to avoid being crushed.

Akikta quickly turned to see the shark was way bigger than he initially thought. No way this thing was a normal great white. Assuming it was a great white at all. Nakji stood her ground, less fearful of the animal than Akikta, who backed away.

"Ah, you must be them. The squidnappers." A sharp voice spoke out. Akikta looked up to see it came from the yellow tentacled octoling who held the reins, which were actually motorcycle handlebars.

The octoling waved her fan a few times before abruptly closing it. She then did a double take on Akikta. "Hold on. You're the masked thief Metta was on about?" She sounded astonished, like she wasn't expecting Akikta of all people to be the culprit.

"No way! I totally called it!" The big-foreheaded inkling cheered with fists pumped into the air.

Akikta was confused until he remembered they had technically met him before. The inkling probably took a wild guess that he was the one Metta apparently gossiped about.

"Guess Frye's intuition was right after all, ay?" The manta ray added.

Akikta's head tilted, wondering where he's heard that name before. Then he remembered the manta ray had introduced himself and his colleagues during their announcements at Splatsville.

Yeah, everything was coming back to him now. Their band's name was Deep Cut. Considering the two cephalopods were female and smaller, he assumed that meant the manta ray was Big Man. Big Man addressed the inkling as Frye, meaning the octoling was Shiver. Although Akikta was happy he could match some names with faces, that's about all the information did for him.

"Great. Should've known Deep Cut were agents of the Splatoon." His comment caused the trio to look at each other quizzically. Then Big Man and Shiver chuckled, while Frye broke out into a fit of laughter.

"Agents? If only we had enough time out of the day to add that to our job description." Shiver snickered, hiding a grin behind her opened fan.

Akikta raised a brow. "So, you're not agents then?" he questioned, confused.

"'Course not! Who do you take us for?" Answered Frye, squatting down on the large saddle of the shark, who never once took its black eyes off him and Nakji.

If they weren't part of the platoon, why were they here?

"Well, you seem to know who we are, so we can skip the introductions and get straight to it." Shiver folded her fan and pointed at Akikta. "Politely hand over our boss, and maybe we'll refrain from beating the ink out of you."

Boss? What Boss? Wait, are they talking about Marie?

"Now hold on, Shiver! They'll probably try to take her again if we don't teach these punks a lesson. Lemme knock some sense into them!" Frye smacked a fist into her hand, absolutely ready to throw down.

"Well, I suppose they already crossed the line by putting their hands on the boss in the first place. So sure." Frye smirked at Shiver's approval before jumping off the shark. "The boss should be somewhere on this ship, according to Marina, anyway. Let's go find her." Shiver said, looking towards Big Man, who nodded in agreement.

Marina? I've heard that name before from somewhere, haven't I? Is she part of their band? No, that'd make four people; they're a trio. Where have I heard that name?

While Akikta was lost in thought, Big Man turned to Frye. "Ay! Don't hurt them too badly, alright?"

Frye waved a hand. "No worries! I won't mess 'em up that much." She grinned. "They'll still be recognizable by the time I'm done." Big Man looked worried by her statement, which made Akikta mildly concerned.

Shiver turned to face forward, tapping her fan on the shark. "Pedal to the megalodon, Master Mega!" The shark roared before speeding off past Nakji and Akikta.

Nakji raised her blade and took an offensive stance, same as Frye. "Aki, if we both take her, we can hurry and catch the other two-"

"No." Akikta interrupted. "You go follow them; make sure they don't reach Marie and Inka!"

Nakji turned to Akikta. "But Aki!"

"I can handle this one. She doesn't look so tough."

Frye chuckled. "Oh, ho! You're a bold one, huh? I like that!"

Nakji's worry became visible. "She's got the body and stance of a skilled Splatlandian. You can't take her alone!"

"Stop saying what I can and can't do! I took down your captain when you couldn't, didn't I?" Akikta yelled, angered at Nakji's protest. "I know you're worried, but if they get Marie, we'd have done all this for nothing! She takes priority, not me!" He reminded, causing Nakji's face to sadden. She knew how much this meant to Akikta, so she couldn't possibly tell him no. "Now go! I'll be right behind you."

Nakji turned. "You better be." She added before running toward where Big Man and Shiver went.

Akikta looked back at Frye, who was geared up and ready to fight. "Mano a mano, eh? Fine by me! Let's settle this, Splatlands-style!"

He chuckled, causing Frye's smile to falter for a moment. So, some phrases survived after all, huh? Akikta thought before standing upright. "I don't want to fight you."

Frye's head tilted, her smirk reappearing. "Really? That's too bad, cuz I wanna fight you!"

Akikta snarled at her response before aggressively pointing at her. "Listen here, you balloon-headed motherfucker! I've been through a lot already. So I don't wanna hurt you if I don't have to." After his little rant, he lowered his finger. "It's not like I want to hurt your boss either, seriously! I just need her."

Frye's triangular brows furrowed. "Balloon-head?! Oh, now those are fighting words!"

Did she not hear anything I said after that?! Akikta was starting to think Frye's head was so big because it was filled with air.

He sighed, realizing there was no getting through to her. "If you really wanna go, fine. But before we fight, I have to ask, what were you guys doing in Alterna?"

"How did you know we were there?" Frye eased up on her stance, surprised by the question.

"Just answer the question, please." He redirected the topic, wanting to get answers.

Frye shrugged. "It was a treasure trove, so we scavenged for treasure," she answered casually.

Her response took Akikta aback. Did that mean the camp he saw in Alterna belonged to Deep Cut? Was her pitiful group scavenging the remains of his people?!

Unbridled rage bubbled from the depths and forced itself out of Akikta in the form of words. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" he shouted with clenched fists.

Frye could see her answer angered him, which only made her grin more. "The name's Frye, but you?" She took out an instrument, which he recognized as an Indian-styled pungi flute. "You can call me the Eel Deal!"

Before Akikta could process her response, she played a dazzling melody with the flute. Soon after, he watched in horror as a horde of orangish yellow eels emerged from behind her in the form of a swirling whirlpool.

"Eel tamer..." Akikta gasped, realizing Captain Claw wasn't making up or exaggerating his story. She was real.

Frye chuckled before backflipping onto an eel, this one wearing a mask, while most of the others didn't. She then played her flute again, and the eels charged at Akikta with open mouths.

The teen did the one thing he could: run. He booked it down the ship's deck; the horde followed close behind.

Akikta looked over his shoulder to see the eels snapping their jaws at him. At the same time, the melody from before filled his ears. The music somehow made the eels' speed increase. I'm gonna need to get rid of her flute, pronto.

He barged in through a door, quickly closing it and barricading the entrance with his body before the eels entered. They smashed into the door, lightly bumping Akikta with each pound. Luckily, they weren't strong enough to break the door down. But he knew they'd come piling in the moment he stopped holding it.

Akikta looked straight ahead to see another door on the other side. He had to move fast before they noticed there was another entrance. But he needed this time to think. How the hell was he going to get that flute from Frye? About a thousand eels surrounded her!

Maybe this was hopeless. They weren't even fighting the agents, yet he already found himself in a pickle. And besides, Captain Claw couldn't beat Frye. Why did Akikta think he could?

...Then again, he did technically beat Captain Claw.

Akikta looked down and spotted some chains on the floor—an idea formed in his head. That'll work.

After the eels smashed into the door one last time, Akikta dashed forward and swooped up the chains into his arms. Right after, the eels busted through and chased him out the room's other end.

Akikta ran into a more open area of the ship's deck and started attacking from a safe distance by swinging the chains at the horde.

The eels without a mask disappeared upon contact with the chains, as if they were made of nothing. The eels with masks would hurl away in whatever direction Akikta hit them; when they impacted the ground, they popped into a mess of yellow ink.

He made good progress on the eels, but it meant nothing if he couldn't get that flute from Frye, as she kept summoning more each time she played the instrument.

Speaking of Frye, he saw her amongst the horde of eels. She was... dancing? Yeah. She danced on top of the eel she rode while playing her flute. For what it was worth, the display impressed Akikta.

He swung the chain in a circle a few times before tossing it towards Frye, lassoing her ankle and catching her attention. Got her! Akikta tugged at the chain, yanking her off the eel and towards him. His intent was to grab the flute when she came flying into him. However, Frye repositioned her feet moments before contact, dropkicking him instead.

Akikta flew back with a small cry, only to roll back on his feet. By the time he looked back up, Frye's ankle was free of the chain.

She couldn't contain her excitement, evident by her wide smile and constant movement. At least one of them was having fun.

Before Akikta could rush her again, another eel came at him. He quickly raised his chain to block the bite, noticing the eel was unmasked. With a quick inhale, he balled up his fist and sucker-punched the eel. Like all the other unmasked eels, it disappeared into thin air.

With that out the way, Akikta focused on Frye and swung his chains at her in arc motions. Frye dodged each attack by either hopping over or ducking underneath it, all while cheerily playing her flute. The way she evaded his strikes made it look like she was dancing.

One strike she evaded swung back around and nailed Akikta in the head. The mask took the brunt of the blow, so he feigned his pain by cursing and holding his head.

"Better be careful where you swing that thing!" She teased, moving the flute away from her mouth to speak. Akikta used that moment to abruptly swing the chain at Frye, catching her off-guard. He pulled back just enough so that the chain didn't hit her square in the head, but wrapped around her flute.

Before her grip could tighten around the instrument, Akikta yanked it out of her hands and into his own. "My flute!" Frye cried. "Give it back!"

"Sure." He responded, only to snap it in two over his knee.

Finally, that mocking grin left her face, and her pupils dilated. "NO!" she roared in anger and desperation.

He tossed the two halves of her flute over her head, and Frye went to catch her broken instrument. By the time she caught the pieces of her flute, Akikta had run over to her and jumped, kneeing Frye hard in the face. She yelped and rolled across the ship's deck.

Frye wasn't completely out of it yet, but before she could get back up, he ran over and kicked her head like a soccer ball, making her slam into the railing of the ship with a loud bang.

That seemed to do her in, as she wasn't making any more movements. Akikta huffed. "Next time, keep your guard up..." He commented, noticing the remaining eels meandered without the guidance of Frye's melody.

The teen bent over with his hands on his knees, about to take a short breather, but a loud thunk from behind interrupted him. His neck nearly snapped with how quickly his head turned.

It was the octoling from the tunnel, standing above him on a circular platform connected to the center mast of the ship. A concerned glare was present in her eyes as she stared at him.

There were a lot of things he wanted to ask her. What was her name? What history did she have with Sal? Why are her hair and weapon a different color from before? Despite all those questions, only one really stuck out in his head. How did she get over here?

At first, he thought the helicopter was above them since it sounded like the octoling dropped; But upon looking over, he saw the helicopter was closer, but not close enough to where they could drop directly on the Manta Maria.

She... she couldn't have jumped that distance, could she? Even if she did, how'd she sustain no leg injuries? Akikta grunted, confused at the movement capabilities of these cephalopods.

He turned back to the octoling and raised his chain, ready to fight the agent. "Wait!" she pleaded with a raised hand. Akikta hesitated, only for her to drop softly to his level.

He noticed her outfit was also slightly different. Instead of wearing boots, she had on black high heels. And her sleeveless shirt was replaced with a black zipped-up leathery suit with only one arm covered while the other was sleeveless.

"Please, just listen to me for a minute." She pleaded again.

"And why would I do that?" Akikta queried.

"Because I'm the one who told the others to stay back." She informed, which would explain why the others had yet to jump if they could also reach the ship.

Akikta considered the alternatives, only to lower his weapon. "What do you want?"

"For you to listen to reason." She exclaimed. "Please, Aki, you're being used. And I don't think you realize it."

His grip around the chains tightened. "My name is Akikta. And you're wrong."

"But I'm not! I can tell. That... monster used me too!" With every word that left her lips, Akikta felt his irritation rise. Describing Sal as a monster made it seem like she was saying every human was a monster. But she kept going. "He's manipulative, evil, and vile! Whatever he promised you, he won't keep it."

"LIAR!" Akikta lashed out, swinging his chain at the agent, who swiftly dodged. "You're just trying to get in my head!"

"I'm trying to tell you the truth!" She punched him in the chest, sending him sliding back a little.

The agent hit hard, but Akikta's anger numbed the pain. "Shut up! You don't know Sal, not like I do!" He shook his head. "Why am I even telling you this? Someone like you will never understand the connection we have!" he swung his chains again, this time more wildly.

The agent didn't raise her weapon. In fact, she holstered it, continuing to dodge and get in close whenever possible. "You don't have a connection with that monster. No one does! He isn't even supposed to exist. He's a freak accident of nature that only sees people like you and me as food!" The agent delivered a quick kick to Akikta's hip and another punch straight to his noggin. He stumbled back, refusing to fall.

More chains were thrown at her as he thought about her words. He recalled something, and everything clicked together. "You... he mentioned you." Sal had mentioned he once trusted an octoling. It suddenly made sense now. "He trusted you. I won't make his mistake."

"It wasn't a mistake to trust me! It was a mistake to trust him!" She threw a jab at Akikta, only for him to catch it and swiftly headbutt her. The agent let out a painful moan as she stumbled back.

"He clearly didn't trust you enough to tell you there's more of us!" His statement perplexed the octoling long enough for him to get a hard kick on her, sending her rolling back.

"Stop..." she whimpered as Akikta stood over her. He took this time to catch his breath. "Being delusional!" she suddenly barked, swinging a mean uppercut into his chin.

The strength of her punch had his feet leave the ground for a few seconds, only for him to crash back down onto his back. He groaned in pain, then heard a small thunk as something landed beside him; his eyes gazed over at a mask. His mask.

The octoling approached Akikta, breathing heavily, though not quite as hard as him. As he sat up with a soft grunt, the octoling stopped in her tracks.

Her eyes looked uncertain. "Wait..." Shock, confusion, and possibly fear washed over the octoling's face, all at the same time. "You're...a human?" Her stance completely fell away; She was in total disbelief.

"Yeah..." Akikta balled up his fists, clutching the chain that wrapped around his hand when he fell, giving him a makeshift brass knuckle. "I am."

He jumped up and smashed the agent's face in. She screamed and flew back, violently bashing her head against the railing much harder than Frye did. She was knocked out instantly.

Akikta breathed heavily, looking at the fist he punched the agent with. It dripped with yellow ink, which he was sure was their form of blood. He shook his head; disappointed things had to come to this.

After re-securing his mask over his face, he heard another thunk of someone landing behind him. "Dammit! What no-" Akikta cursed as he turned around, halting immediately when his gaze met Coral's.

The captain crossed her arms, staring daggers at the teen. Any anger Akikta had was replaced with nervous hesitation. He didn't know whether to fight or run.

Coral's intense orange eyes drifted from Akikta to Frye, then to the octoling, before finally glaring back at him. She let out a small huff, which was Akikta's cue to choose something, and fast. He chose flight.

He turned on his heel and quickly darted up some steps to get higher on the main deck. Afterward, he ran through various twists and turns, ending up at the back of the ship.

Somehow, Coral was right there waiting for him. His head kept darting between her and where he ran from. He couldn't understand how she was able to not only outrun him but also cut him off too.

Coral began her eerily slow approach, not waiting for him to process anything.

Seeing he couldn't outrun her, Akikta threw his chain at her. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, she caught the chain with both hands. Then, with a low grunt, she swung the chain towards the ship's railing. Akikta's hip slammed harshly into the metal bars; a cry of pain escaped him as he dropped to the floor, letting go of the chains.

Midway through pulling himself back up, Coral rushed him and grabbed his throat, slamming him back onto the ship's floor. Despite the size and height difference between the two, she was handling him as if he were a doll.

She then let out a flurry of bone-breaking blows into his chest and stomach. He felt like a gorilla's personal punching bag.

With a shout, Akikta kicked the captain off and away from him. He used the brief opening he created to stand, wobbling to his feet.

That was all Coral allowed before she rushed him again, trying to get another hit on him. His adrenaline-filled body hurled itself out of each strike's way. His evasion annoyed the captain, as she let out an irritated grunt.

She swung at him again, this time rougher than usual. Akikta felt the wind rush past him as she narrowly missed her attack. Coral must've punched harder than she intended or expected, for she fell to the floor with a painful yelp after missing her punch.

Akikta quickly backed away, expecting her to get back up at any second. But she didn't. He thought she knocked herself out with the fall, but she was still conscious, letting out pained groans and whimpers.

When he took another step back, Coral's head whipped to where he was, making him jump. She barred her teeth at him and made some growling-like noise, not something he expected to hear from a squid.

Then she tried to get back up, only to fall back down after standing for a few seconds. This would happen every time she tried to stand.

Akikta tilted his head in confusion, then noticed her ankle was a bright purplish red color, contrasting heavily with her palish skin. Her muscles must've twisted the wrong way when she threw that last punch.

It scared him, really. He didn't expect her to be so strong that her own body couldn't keep up with her strength. Her punches and kicks already hurt like hell, but what if that punch had hit him? She could've broken something. Hell, maybe she already did.

Either way, Akikta didn't want to wait to see how long it'd take for Coral to recover, so he went around her and headed back to the center of the main deck.

When he arrived, he found Nakji and Inka outside with Marie, who was still in the jar. "What are you guys doing up here?!" He questioned out of exhausted anger rather than concern.

"The lower decks feel unsafe," Nakji answered hastily.

"What? You couldn't deal with the rest of Deep Cut?"

"No, I took care of them. The immobilizer was a great help."

Marie butted in. "She cheated with that thing."

Akikta spread his arms out. "If you're telling me the only thing that made the lower decks unsafe is dealt with, then why are you here?! What happened to keeping Marie out of sight?!"

Nakji turned her head to Inka before replying. "Inka said she saw something down there during our fight." she gave Akikta a serious look. "And I felt something watching us... It was the same as-"

"Marie!" A voice called out from above. Akikta was so focused on his frustration with Nakji that he didn't realize the helicopter was now above them.

Three figures fell in front of them. Metta, that inkling with short hair, and... Callie? Now that he thought about it, the voice calling out Marie's name sounded familiar.

Now that she was closer, he could see the agent with the paint roller was indeed Callie. She wore an advanced-looking suit, same as Metta and the inkling agent.

"Bet you didn't expect this, huh?" Marie snickered. No wonder she was so calm about her kidnapping. She knew the platoon would mobilize to rescue her asap.

"Inka, stay behind us," Akikta ordered. Inka would listen and hide behind Marie's jar.

"You're in for it now, thief!" Metta snarled.

Before Akikta could reply, another voice boomed from above. "If you know what's good for ya, you'll let our girl go, yo!" This voice was new—and obnoxiously loud.

He peered up at the helicopter, barely able to make out the shape of two figures who stood at the open side doors of the helicopter.

One was tiny and wore a white sleeveless dress with pink tights. They might've been the one who spoke, but he wasn't sure.

The other figure was much taller than the other. Maybe even taller than everyone else aside from himself and Big Man. The only other noticeable feature was their darker skin tone.

"I'm only gonna say this once!" Callie spoke up; Akikta's attention shifted back to the agents. "Let Marie go!"

He turned to Marie, who shrugged her shoulders in response. "I'd listen to her if I were you."

Akikta scoffed. He couldn't imagine what type of jail sentence he'd be serving if he went down for this. "I've come this far. No point in turning back now." He balled up his fists again and took a fighting stance. Akikta was incredibly sore and tired from his previous fights, but even so, he couldn't stop now.

"Fine, then!" Callie raised her yellow paint roller, making Nakji back up.

"Remember, Cal! This dude is freakishly resistant to ink," Metta warned.

"Yeah, but is he resistant to a beat down?!" Callie jumped and swung downward, a messy wave of ink being flung outward at the same time. Nakji managed to dodge the splashes and immediately engaged in combat with Metta and the inkling agent.

Akikta would catch the roller with both hands, holding it and Callie up in the air. Before he could do anything else, she gripped the roller's handle tightly and swung toward Akikta, kicking him right in the nose.

He let go of the roller with a surprised and pained yelp, bumping into Marie's glass jar. "Woo. Get him, Agent 1," Marie said, half-assedly cheering for her cousin with a raised arm.

The unenthusiastic cheer actually made Callie fight harder as she attempted to whack Akikta with her paint roller numerous times. Each time he blocked or grabbed her weapon, she'd used the weight of the roller to swing herself to a blind spot of his and strike him hard.

He would occasionally ignore the weapon and grab Callie directly, but every time he thought he had her, she'd pull off some baffling maneuver and escape his grasp, hitting him in the process. She even bit him a few times, which was quite painful, given her sharp teeth.

Since she was an idol, he expected Callie to be a terrible fighter. His assumption was dead wrong. She fought much better than him. Then again, that wasn't exactly hard to do.

Still, even for an agent, she fought a little too well. The same could be said for Metta and the inkling agent. He had little experience with fighting the other inkling, but he remembered Metta being manageable, even for him. However, when he caught glimpses of Nakji's conflict, he saw Metta was outclassing her badly.

He then noticed Metta's headphones. The headphones were like the ones on the inkling agent. Even Callie had a pair on over her reflective helmet. Akikta only noted their headphones because the octoling agent didn't have any, nor did the members of Deep Cut. That, and during a few of Callie's strikes, he could hear a faint voice from the other side.

He's seen this in a movie before. Someone was telling them how to fight. But who?

Before any guesses were made, the loud propellers of the helicopter momentarily interrupted the fight. Now that it was closer to the ship, Akikta could see the figures on the aircraft a little clearer.

The short one, which he now identified as an inkling, held a small mic and looked like a little kid. What is a child doing here? He thought, baffled that the New Squidbeak Splatoon would bring a child to the battlefield.

Next to the short inkling was a taller octoling with silvery-teal eyes and reddish-pink pupils; like Shiver, the octoling's pupils were in the shape of infinity symbols. Given the slightly revealing attire of this specific octoling, he could tell they were female. Her tentacles were the longest he's seen on an octarian, as they extended down to her waist; They also were a dark shade of purplish-brown with teal edges. Speaking of teal, the tips of her brown fingers were the same color, giving the impression of painted nails, which he found odd since none of them had fingernails.

He watched the octoling's lips move. She was speaking, but the small inkling did not react to her words. No one else was close enough to hear her but that child, so who else could she be talking to?

He felt a sudden whack in the back of his head by a heavy-ish object. It was Callie with her damn paint roller again. Her audacity to attack him while his attention was elsewhere enraged him.

He spun around faster than she expected and quickly jabbed her three times in the face. The third sent her tumbling across the ground.

"Hey! Don't hit her so hard!" Marie demanded.

"She's the one with a weapon! Oo- ah." Akikta's sudden attack strained his bruised muscles, causing him to grab at his sides and wince.

Marie gave a small 'ha' at his pain. "Serves you right," she commented.

Akikta shook his head before looking back at the duo on the helicopter. The small inkling saw what he had done to Callie, their face visibly angry. "You'll pay for that!" They declared while pointing at him.

As Akikta felt the urge for that child to shut up, something about their mannerisms reminded him of someone. Wait... His eyes squinted at the inkling and octoling, only now noticing the stylish headphones around the octarian's ears and the large pinkish-crown atop the inkling's head.

There was no mistaking it. The two on the helicopter were Off the Hook, another popular group he had recently discovered. If his memory served him correctly, then the inkling was Pearl, the band's hyperactive rapper, who was not a child. And the octoling was Marina, a certified DJ.

He didn't expect them to be agents of the platoon. Or were they only affiliated with the group? Regardless, they were here, and Akikta had a pretty good idea who the enemy technocrat was now.

Marina had been holding a laptop in front of her this whole time, typing away on it occasionally before her lips would move. He noticed every time she spoke, Metta, the inkling, and Callie would abruptly move and attack in surprising ways.

Marina's worried expression also matched the icon that appeared on Inka's glitchy phone. He was thankful no one went for Inka. But at this rate, they'd get clobbered. Something had to be done about Marina.

He heard Callie get back up. She attempted to hit him with her paint roller. Instead of blocking, he jumped back and kicked the paint roller, sending it and Callie rolling a short distance away. By now, he figured out that the weapon wasn't heavy to him, but had some weight over Callie, so he used that against her.

As she rolled away, the roller bumped over some rope left on the ground from a couple of days ago. Akikta's imaginary lightbulb suddenly lit up.

He grabbed the pile of rope and looked to Nakji, who seemed to be just barely holding her own against Metta and the inkling agent. When the two agents were aligned, Akikta football tackled Metta into the other inkling. Both flew off the ship; Metta barely caught the ship's railing, her bow dropping into the waves below. The inkling grabbed onto Metta's leg.

With all three inkling agents temporarily dealt with, Akikta held out a hand to Nakji. "Nakji, let me borrow your blade for a minute."

"Huh? Alright..." She was confused, but obliged to his request anyway.

After handing him the katana, Akikta wrapped the handle of her blade in multiple layers of rope. When he was certain the blade wouldn't slip out from the binds, he looked to the duo.

"What are you doing?" Nakji questioned.

"Evening out the playing field." He pitched the katana into the air. It traveled quickly toward Marina's laptop.

The octarian, still typing away on her keyboard, had no idea the blade was coming. "MARINA!" Pearl shouted, gaining the attention of Marina at the last second as she shoved the octoling out of the way.

A horrid shriek broke the tense atmosphere.

Had Pearl not pushed Marina out of the way, the blade would've struck her directly in the head. Unfortunately, she was still too slow to move her fully out the way, so the katana sliced a whole tentacle off Marina. It plopped onto the helicopter floor, wriggling like it was still alive.

Pools of teal-ish ink poured from Marina's wound as she cried out in pain and held her head, dropping her laptop on the helicopter floor.

"Heh, nice shot Aki." Nakji complimented before tugging on the rope, pulling her katana back to her.

Akikta was frozen in place. "I...wasn't aiming for her..." He mumbled, horrified that he almost killed someone with his own hands.

His target was Marina's laptop, not her. But his aim was bad, horrendous even. He internally thanked Pearl for pushing her bandmate out of harm's way, though maybe he shouldn't thank her yet.

After trying to console Marina, Pearl shot a nasty look at Akikta. It was as though the devil himself looked right at him. He jerked backward out of fear, practically feeling the furious aura radiating off the small squid.

"YOU!" Callie started, attempting to slam her paint roller down on Akikta. Luckily, Nakji stopped it with her blade, barely holding it off. "How could you do that to her!" she yelled, mad on Pearl's behalf.

Before Akikta could explain himself, Metta kicked Nakji to the side, followed by the inkling agent hauling off and punching Akikta straight in the face. He fell back roughly, then tried to speak. "Hold on-" Ferocious strikes from all agents interrupted him.

They jumped him like a pack of hungry wolves. His bruises got worse as he was beaten, smashed, slammed, stomped, pounded, and even bitten by the three squids. The more Akikta tried to fight back, the worse his beating got. There was basically nothing he could do to stop them.

The only bright side to the beat down was Nakji being spared from the worse of it, only getting a taste of the action whenever she tried to save Akikta.

Eventually, he was thrown right into Marie's jar, smashing into the glass but somehow not breaking it.

Inka kneeled to him. "Are you alright?!" Utter worry was prevalent in her tone. Nakji smashing right into Akikta abruptly interrupted her concerns. Inka helped Nakji get up before he responded.

"You kiddin'? I could... do this all day..." He jokingly panted, wobbling to his feet for the dozenth time. It was a miracle he could stand without the need of something supporting him. Though, His legs felt like they were on fire, ready to give out at any moment.

His muscles ached, his vision blurred, and his clothes were in tatters. He never got whooped so badly before, let alone by creatures he used to eat. Perhaps this was karma for all those times he gorged out at his favorite seafood place.

Suddenly, the floor behind the agents dented with a loud smash. The agents backed up, only for something large to burst from beneath the deck. It was Shiver, Big Man, and her large shark, whom she called Master Mega.

Nakji gritted her teeth and groaned. "Didn't think she'd recover anytime soon."

Akikta looked to his left to see Coral hobbling down the ship deck toward's the group. It seemed her ankle had partially healed to where she could at least walk. That spelled doom for them.

"Well, hey. You had a good run." Marie said, adding insult to injury.

As much as Akikta didn't want to admit it, this seemed like the end of the line. The platoon and their affiliates backed the trio all the into the ship's side rails. There was nowhere to go.

Nakji was nearing her limit, and Akikta had reached his a long time ago. Still, he couldn't give up! Not yet. "I didn't come this far... just... TO LOSE!" He shouted defiantly, refusing to give in.

Suddenly, the ship rocked hard, causing everyone to stagger. Coral and Callie completely lost their balance.

What was that? Akikta thought, not believing his shout caused the whole ship to shake. He looked ahead and noticed something massive blocked out the sun, casting a shadow over everyone.

Shiver, Big Man, the agents, and even Master Mega stared up at whatever broke through the waves behind him. In unison, Akikta, Nakji, Inka, and Marie turned around and looked up at what had to be a monster.

Seawater poured from the creature's scaly skin as it rose. Chains wrapped around what had to be its neck, jingling, and clanging as they bumped together. Its two large pupilless eyes beamed down at the group below. The beast's spiky-red mohawk vaguely reminded him of the snatcher he had seen days ago.

"What..." Akikta couldn't even begin to describe what he was seeing. Judging from everyone else's expression and the ensuing silence, they couldn't either. Even the captain looked somewhat phased.

The Manta Maria rocked violently again; This time, something else emerged from the waters on the other side of the ship.

This next monster was equal to the first in size. It even had the same pupilless eyes. However, this one was longer and had all types of electronics, lights, and wires trailing across its snake-like body. It was... flying.

Both goliaths stared down at the group before shattering the silence with thunderous roars. The fat one's roar was low and monstrous, while the long one's roar had an electronic echo.

After their war cries, loud horns blared all throughout the area. Then, many smaller entities of various shapes and sizes started hopping onto the ship.

Most looked like battle-hardened versions of the snatcher, with some being bigger than others. The really small ones looked identical to Little Buddy, the only difference being they wore green pants and wielded tiny green spoons. Then there were those that Akikta couldn't find a resemblance in at all. Regardless, he assumed they were salmonids. They had to be, right? They all looked similar... enough.

The large fat salmonid jumped high into the air, revealing it had on pants as well. Everyone shouted as they moved out of the behemoth's way, not wanting to be crushed. When it landed, lots of green ink splashed everywhere, similar to how ink splattered everywhere when Coral landed on Akikta and Nakji back at Hammerhead Bridge.

Once out of the way, Akikta noticed all the salmonids were attacking only the New Squidbeak Splatoon and their affiliates. Could this be the help Sal was referring to? Akikta had expected him to send human soldiers, but he guessed their existence should still be kept a secret. After all, why send humans when you have all these pets? Well, were they even pets? They were more like military animals.

He heard a small shifting noise from his side and turned to see Inka and Marie being taken away by smaller salmonids with propeller hats on their heads. "Akikta!" Inka called out, reaching for him.

Akikta was about to grab her, but he also felt himself get picked up by a group of these things. Nakji was also grabbed, but they had to restrain her a little since she fought back.

Akikta was too exhausted to put up much of a fight, and besides, if they were with Sal, they were probably bringing them to him.

While they were lifted off the Manta Maria and carried away, Marie hurled a flurry of curses at no one in particular and repeatedly banged on the glass of her container, luckily not putting even a scratch on it.

Akikta looked back to the ship one last time to see most of the platoon and their affiliates were fighting the oncoming horde of salmonids. Though he didn't wish for them to die, he didn't see them getting out of that situation alive. Especially not after witnessing the long salmonid, who also wore pants, spit out a large green ball that exploded into a gigantic mass of ink once it touched the ground.

All Akikta could do was breathe a sigh of relief. He was nearing the end of this painfully long journey. "Don't worry. I'll bring you back soon, Chaska." He said, reminding himself why he put up with any of this to begin with.