It seemed like yet another day at the Marooner's Bay. The rays of the setting sun drenched the small island in a warm glow. The murky waters crashed against the mud, some droplets breaking away from the waves to touch the dry land, before promptly returning to it's brethren. The large vessel that accompanied the dark land also received contact from the immense body of water, rusting metal creaking and groaning due to the corroding liquid. It was an eerie place, serving as one of the few remaining relics of a bygone era, a ghost of the past. Yet, despite the intimidating look of the place, a certain calmness could be found if one where to sit back and take in it's surroundings.
Unfortunately, said calmness was unable to be found by anyone in the locale at the moment, lost to the chaos and ruckus of two very different sea creatures.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Was a cry that reverbated throughout the island. It belonged to a small inkling boy, who at the moment was running for dear life from a flock of foul salmonids. His legs quickly alternated in position, one stepping after the other at an incredibly fast rate without any missteps, as if on autopilot, while the large brush he held drew a path through the dirtied environment. The scaly fishes relentlessly followed the boy, repeatedly lunging at him or reaching out with their fins and some even swimming over or trampling their brethren in order to get closer to the boy. Despite their efforts, none succeeded in taking him.
The inkboy swerved to his right and raced up a small wooden ramp, stopping and ducking just before a large frying pan made contact with his face. He then retreated and ran towards the shore on his left, leaving behind a bomb that burst into a shower of blue ink and took down his adversaries.
"What's with these slimebags today?" The boy wondered, all the while continuing on his path to the basket. "It's not even nighttime and yet they're way more jumpy than usual."
His musing came to a momentary end when he noticed a number of Salmonids gathering around one of his coworkers. Seeing the struggling inkling trying to hold back his attackers with the rather inefficient weapon spurred the boy into action, breaking away from his intended path to aid his partner. With a roar, he jumped into the fray, rapidly swinging his brush to splat the many salmonids that stood between him and his coworker.
After clearing out the mass of fishes, he approached the inkling and offered his hand, however they brushed it off and pulled themselves up.
"I had it under control," they said, dusting off their knees.
"Being overwhelmed and nearly splatted is 'under control' to you?" The boy replied, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"I just- that doesn't matter. Do you have the egg?"
"Yes! It's right… here?" The boy reached for the object on his back, but didn't feel anything save for his own life saver. The only thing he found was his loose net, the golden egg nowhere to be seen. "Uh…"
"Where are they?!"
The boy merely pointed in the direction he came from, both of the inklings staring at the blue salmonids scrambling to grab the golden orbs for themselves.
The taller inkling sighed, starting to run towards the site of the eggs, but not before giving one last look at the smaller inkling. "You really need to pay more attention to your surroundings, Khal," The inkling advised and promptly dove into the ink.
Khal was left stumped and couldn't find the words to defend himself, instead distantly watching his coworker effortlessly take out the blue fishes. "At least a 'thank you' would have been nice…"
He shook himself out of his stupor and resumed his trek across the island. There was still work to be done, after all, and Khal reminded himself that standing in the middle of a fight bummed out wouldn't help anyone. He was sure that if he didn't move in the next few seconds the raspy, screaming voice of Mr. Grizz would be heard in his communicator.
Khal ran, inked and swam all around the island, gathering as many eggs as he could and bringing them to the basket located on the bow of the vessel. It was a smooth and frankly uneventful cruise, since nothing ever really harmed or stopped him (in part due to his coworkers taking care of any Salmonids that stood in his way, and the other part due to him simply being too fast for them). Eventually, enough eggs were gathered so that only one more was needed to fulfill the quota, and luckily for Khal, that one egg would be his to claim in just a few short moments.
The dark skinned boy was a few paces away from a confrontation between another one of his teammates and a Steelhead, both seeming to be at a stalemate and evenly matched. No matter how much she slid and rolled with her dualies, the coworker couldn't land enough hits on the Steelhead's bomb before it was launched from it's head, not to mention that she was also dealing with the smaller fish as well. A hit from a chum's frying pan sent her reeling to the ground, all while the other salmons surrounded her. She barely had the strength to get up, and instead of firing the inkgirl used up all of her remaining ink and threw a bomb at her enemies; a bomb that would have saved her from imminent danger had it not been deflected by a cohock and sent to the murky waters below.
The inkgirl's green eyes looked at the gathered fishes and the Steelhead preparing another one of it's explosive bags, waiting for them to end her pathetic display and splat her into oblivion. Her request would've been fulfilled had it not been for the timely arrival of Khal. He rapidly swung his brush, splatting all of the lesser salmonids in a second, then swam to his coworker and pulled her away from the Steelhead. They managed to escape the large green bomb moments before it detonated, covering a chunk of the ground in dark green ink.
"... That was terrible, wasn't it?" The female questioned in a hushed voice, looking down at the ground in disappointment.
"You were just overwhelmed, right?" Khal replied, flashing a smile at the girl. "I mean, that happens to all of us at some point during our job, so it's not really your fault. Besides, it's no biggie."
The inkgirl glanced at him, mouth slightly open and eyes wide in surprise, before taking on a more neutral expression. "I guess. It's just-well, this isn't supposed to happen. I never get surrounded like how I was right now."
"Then you just gotta be a little more mindful of your surroundings next time,ok?" Khal sat up, looking at the female worker more intently.
"Right. Maybe-"
The inkgirl didn't finish her sentence and instead lunged toward Khal, pushing him back and propelling them both away from what just became the landing site of another Steelhead bomb that soon burst into another splash of ink.
"Thanks for the tip, but we have a boss to splat and a shift to finish," the inkgirl said, standing up and getting into a battle stance.
"Right!" Khal cheered, getting into a stance of his own. He was about to rush the large fish, but inmediately stopped as soon as a troubling realization entered his mind. He looked up his companion once more, shoulders sunk and a look of worry etched on his features. "Wait, what is your plan, Jade? Our weapons don't have much range."
Jade, however, didn't pay mind to the boy and swam to another part of the ship; Khal was left alone, utterly confused by the girl's way of thinking and with his only "company" already preparing another attack. He called out Jade's name again, before dodging the Steelhead. The Steelhead loomed over the inkboy, walking menacingly towards him and forcing him back to the edge of the stern's beach. With no escape routes in sight, Khal braced himself for the imminent splash of filthy ink courtesy of the large salmonid. A green bag was formed on the Salmon's head, growing and expanding, and for a moment, the diminutive Inkboy closed his eyes and truly believed he was about to be drenched in ink.
Of course, his prediction did come true, just in a very different way than he expected. Sounds of gunshots and a burst of ink suddenly entered his ears, and Khal felt a swathe of warm liquid making contact with his body. Instead of doom, the surge of color brought him salvation.
Khal opened his eyes and saw the Inkgirl Jade landing on the same spot as the Steelhead that terrorized him mere moments ago. She grabbed two of the golden eggs left behind by the destruction of the Steelhead, tossing one to a baffled Khal in the process.
"Nice going, Khal!" The inkgirl cheered with a wide smile, already running back to the basket.
The inkboy's confusion only grew in that moment, expressed by a singular "Huh?" and a tilted head. Was she mocking him? It could've been the case since, admittedly, this recent display of helplessness was very poor, and his contributions to the overall team effort seemed...inconsequential. But Khal then thought about Jade's tone. It didn't seem malicious, nor was the smile directed towards him, and he even heard a hint of kindness in her voice. Why he received such a simple and perhaps honest compliment at this moment after such a stupid display of incompetence was lost on Khal, but one thing was certain; It was very pleasing to his ears.
Jade's words lingered in his head even after pushing them to the back of his mind, and still after a message from the third and final coworker on his team resounded on his tiny earbuds. While he made his way towards the egg basket Khal overheard the distinct rambling of said coworker.
"So many eggs to collect, so little time… Why do we have to do this, again?" Tiredness was evident in the third inkboy's voice, further proven by the audible sigh that accompanied his musings.
"To get those sweet 'n juicy bonuses, of course! Or have you forgotten about them too, Yzel?" The peppy voice of Jade chimed in,the girl already swimming towards Yzel's location.
"Sure, but why deal with these guys, specifically? And what's with the time limit?" Yzel whined. Judging by the muffled and garbled inkshots, splashing ink and snarls coming from Khal's earbuds, it sounded as if Yzel was in the middle of a confrontation with a batch of Salmonids.
"Think of it as a test," Jade reassured, dodging and splatting any fishes that came near her while closing the distance between her and the tanned Inkboy. "Splat as many as you can within a certain time, and you get paid for how well you do, and grabbing balls too, I guess.."
Khal skidded to a halt, stared at the entities that blocked his path, then inmediately turned tail and left the ship.
"Maybe if you hurried up with quota fulfilling instead of mindlessly inking turf, this would've been over a long time ago," The other inkling scolded, finishing off a Chum before also swimming over to Yzel's location.
"Oooh, great idea, Salem! Too bad I can't deliver any because I'M SURROUNDED BY THESE SLIMEBAGS WHO WON'T STOP COMING AND KEEP ON BLOCKING ANY PATH I MAKE!"
"Sheesh…" Despite the harsh tone of Yzel's words, Salem remained unfazed and got to the beach below the port of the ship. Soon, he was met with an annoyed Yzel surrounded by various Salmonids of different shapes and sizes. Salem eliminated a Drizzler, while the tanned inkboy shot a faraway Snatcher and simultaneously dodged a series of frying pan swings. The two dealt with their numerous opponents in tandem, and with additional support from Jade's dualies, the trio managed to eliminate a horde of salmonids, leaving behind a bountiful supply of precious golden eggs.
"This would be easier if I had my slosher.." Yzel sighed, lazily holding and looking at his loaned weapon, the turquoise Jet Squelcher.
"Does it matter? We still beat them," Salem picked up a nearby egg, giving a confused glance at the tanned Inkling.
"True, true. At least I wouldn't have to worry about the little buggers as much."
Just as the trio of Inklings were about to return to the basket with their haul, a frowning Khal walked up to them, not looking very pleased.
"You're late," Salem reprimanded, before turning his gaze to the sea on the horizon.
"Figured as much," Khal muttered, his downcast demeanor quickly changing to a more nervous look. "Hey, about those eggs-"
"They're in good hands and nothing's gonna take 'em away!" Yzel confidently said, grabbing one of the golden orbs and hitching a ride on the propeller elevator.
"It's okay, Khal. We took care of most of the enemies," Jade reassured. Unfortunately, her words did little to calm the smaller inkboy.
"T-there's a Steel Eel surrounding the basket!"
"What?!" Both Jade and Salem exclaimed. As if on cue, a screaming Yzel was knocked back from the ship and sent flying towards the beach, crashing just next to the three. His cap seemed to have been blown off too, landing on top of his chest.
"... And it's flanked by two Scrappers…"
Sure enough, the twin Scrappers revealed themselves, leaping from the ship and into the beach below. The quartet scattered, with Yzel even managing to recover in time and safely roll out of a Scrapper's landing zone, and got ready to take on the new duo.
"Two, huh? No problem," Jade boasted, twirling her Dapple Dualies and dashing towards one of the Scrappers.
The salmon runners fought the scrappers in groups of two, Khal distracting one from the front as Jade shot at it from behind, while Salem and Yzel respectively did those same motions on the other scrapper. Both quickly burst into splashes of ink, however there was no time for celebration.
The deep sound of a horn echoed several times throughout the island, and the inklings knew all too well what that entailed. Salem was the first to react, walking a few paces ahead of the others and turning towards them.
"Let's go; If we stay here we're gonna get surrounded easily," he ordered.
"But what about the eggs?" Yzel questioned, moments after shooting another Snatcher without looking back in it's attempt to hoard the many leftover rewards.
"With that boss surrounding the basket, I doubt we can get all of them before time runs out."
Suddenly, a blinking green circle appeared below the inklings' feet, notifying them of the arrival of one of their more tricky enemies.
"Come on!" Salem exclaimed, swimming towards the nearby ramp that connects to the ship, the others following suit. Yzel gave one last look at their bounty of eggs, now nothing more than scattered, useless trinkets being taken away by their former owners.
"That's okay. I didn't want the eggs anyway…" Yzel sarcastically muttered before joining his companions.
There were many things Khal expected when he re-entered the rusting floor of the ship. The increasingly numerous hordes of Chums and Cohocks that were rising from the water and closing in on them was nothing out of the ordinary, nor where the barrage of missiles that struck the earth, forcing the team to scatter. The various bosses that would soon unleash their sweeping, deadly attacks would be no problem if they played their cards right and quickly eliminated them..
No, what he didn't expect was for the salmons to adapt to their weaknesses, spring a trap effortlessly, corner them and finish them all off one by one, like a stack of dominoes.
Once the barrage of missiles ended, Yzel found himself in the buried stern, surrounded by many Chums on all sides. He shot at any Salmonid who lunged at him, but his efforts proved to be in vain as for every fish he splatted another would instantly appear. Only when he saw the circle of Salmonids around him did he realize that his situation was not favorable.
"Aw, man…" He whispered, ceasing his constant shooting. In mere moments, the Chums rushed at him all at once, slapping, hitting and bashing into his body, until he finally burst into a puddle of green ink. He was the first to fall.
Khal broke off from the group, dodging the series of missiles that exploded behind him until the last one landed. The relief from danger was temporary, however, for as soon as he set his sights forward he yelled in surprise and inmediately skidded to a stop. The same Steel Eel that wrapped around the basket was now mere inches from his body and about to close it's metal jaws on him. Luckily, Khal managed to dodge them in time, and inmediately ran the other way, the Steel Eel now in pirsuit.
Khal maneuvered around the various Salmonids that tried to whack him and hoping to get away from the Steel Eel that chased him. The twists and turns he made allowed him to easily dodge and counter the many attacks he received, while also helping him keep his distance from the mechanical eel that was on his trail.
As an unintended side effect it also allowed the Steel Eel to more easily corner his comrades.
Back on the beach, Salem splatted any Salmonid that came near him, while also trying to keep as large of a distance as possible between himself and his enemies. During his fight, a smallfry leapt up and bumped unto him, making him stumble backwards right into the clutches of a Cohock. It wrapped it's greasy, sticky fins around the inkling, holding him in place for it's brethren to beat up. Despite the unfavorable odds, Salem didn't panic and quickly retaliated, activating his inkjet and taking off to the skies, soaking his captor in orange ink and splatting it in the process.
Salem continually fired at the crowds of Salmonids below, and for a few moments managed to succesfully repel his attackers. Of course, those precious instances of relative safety were promptly ripped away from him, when a trio of smallfry and chums jumped to the inkboy, each fish clinging to his leg and bringing him closer to the ground with their added mass. This was followed by a thin beam of green ink piercing through Salem's body, damaging his jetpack and grounding him. Salem could only yell in pain as he suffered under the constant beating and bashing of the lower Salmons and the burning sensation of the distant Stinger's beam, until finally the metal teeth of the Steel Eel snapped shut around his body and crushed him, putting the inkboy out of his misery.
The two remaining inklings were on their own and just barely able to survive against the increasingly large number of Salmonids on the field. Another series of missiles struck, and despite the constant barrage of attacks, they both managed to stand their ground and splat a few more Salmonids in the process.
And yet, no matter how many enemies she splatted or how much orange ink she laid down, Jade was powerless against the army of fishes. Her movements became sluggish and she was starting to breath heavily.
Close to the piers, she was backed to a wall of the ship, face to face with a Cohock and panting. Just before it attacked, Khal jumped from above and repeatedly swung his brush at the Cohock, splatting it.
"You OK?" The boy said.
"There's too many of them…" Jade glumly said, straightening up.
"We can take them on!" Khal exclaimed, standing in front of Jade. "If we give it our all, I'm sure we can beat them and win!"
"Look around you, Khal," Jade ordered, making Khal look back at her. "We won't accomplish anything if we just stay and fight."
"But-" Khal's protest was cut off by a reverbated screech. The two inklings inmediately dove to their left, only narrowly dodging the dreaded Steel Eel's head bash. Khal led the Steel Eel away from the other Salmonids, allowing Jade to sneak behind it and fire at it's pilot, destroying it.
"We've done enough! Let's go!" The girl shouted, motioning Khal to return to her. This time, he didn't object and ran from the long pier where he led the Steel Eel to, back to where Jade stood.
The inklings pushed through the Salmonid hordes, Khal speeding ahead on his inkbrush and leaving behind a trail for Jade to follow, the girl swimming closely behind him. They mostly evaded any enemy that tried to harm them, however when one got too close for comfort, Jade popped up from her ink and quickly eliminated the attacker before sinking back in. The duo travelled from the piers to the buried stern and were now reaching the twin grated bridges (The propeller elevators were inoperable due to the large amount of Salmonids blocking them). In their struggle, the basket was left unguarded and unobstructed by anyone, and they would only need to cross the small gap to reach the basket.
They were about to pass the bridge when Jade was unexpectedly grabbed from within her ink and pulled up. She quickly shifted back to humanoid form and kicked her captor, momentarily freeing herself before she felt her leg being grabbed by many small fins. With a pull, Jade tripped and fell to the ground. Just when she felt she was about to be dragged off, she felt her free hand be enveloped by another hand in a tight hold.
"I got you!" Khal grunted, pulling with all of his strength to stop her from being dragged away.
"Don't worry about me. Just get to the basket!" Jade shouted.
"No-" Khal's feet slid across the floor a little, but he quickly recovered, firmly planting himself and not moving an inch. "I'm not leaving a coworker behind! We could deliver the eggs and beat these guys if we stay together!"
"There's always next time, Khal! We're in no position to fight back, you need to- AAHHHH!"
The boy's efforts ended up being in vain, as with a great collective tug, the Salmonids managed to rip Jade away from Khal's grasp. The arm he held moments ago quickly disappeared, and he could only clutch the rubber glove that slipped away from it's wearer during the tug. The girl landed in the sandbar, and the Salmonids quickly formed a circle around her.
Jade thrashed and flailed around in an attempt to push her attackers back, however that too ended up being in vain. A chum suddenly lunged at her and bit her arm, it's snaggled teeth digging deep into the inkling's flesh and even drawing some ink, before being violently thrown away by a wave of Jade's arm. The rest of the Salmonids rushed her all at once, beating her up until she splatted.
Khal stared at his partner's painful elimination, and then to the world around him in disbelief. The Marooner's Bay was soaked in putrid green, and nearly every square inch of it was occupied by the various scaly, squirming, grotesque fishes that terrorized Khal and his coworkers in the last few minutes.
In that moment, Khal realized that his partner was right and mentally berated himself for not heeding her words sooner. If only he'd been more careful and didn't drag his teammates into his problems, then none of this would've happened!
From the corner of his eye, Khal noticed a small green cylinder flying towards him and quickly jumped out of the way as it hit the ground. Several more missiles were launched into the air, each consecutive impact along with the advancing hordes pushing Khal back more and more.
Out of desperation, Khal threw his one egg at the basket's hatch just before a missile hit the ground, it's blast wave sending Khal back. He skidded on the metal surface until there was no more ground. Nevertheless, the boy managed to grab onto the ledge with both of his hands just before he fell to the waters below.
Khal struggled to pull himself up, and when he almost did he wished he never looked up. A few moments ago, if he were smart and played his cards just right, he might've stood a chance against the seemingly endless Salmonids with the help of his partners. Now?
Any shred of hope or opportunity for a comeback went right out the window. Enemies were plentiful, coworkers were defeated and helplessly hopping around in their lifesavers, and his only means of defense was surely lost to the tainted sea. Khal glanced to the beach below and witnessed the last of the golden eggs being taken away by the blue-haired snatchers. One of them even noticed him and sent him a mocking gesture before diving into the sea with its prize.
With a sigh and a deep frown, Khal turned his sights to the bow of the ship once again, and saw a gathering of Salmonids bashing and clawing into the basket almost mindlessly. To Khal, it seemed as if all hope was lost and the current shift would end in failure for him and his partners, until he turned his attention to the basket. He noticed that it was stuffed full of golden eggs, but more importantly was it's antenna; The tip of it was shining a bright green.
Success! Despite all their struggles, the team still managed to collect enough eggs to fulfill quota! Khal's face instantly brightened up, and his surprise was so great he involuntarily gasped.
Unfortunately, his sound just so happened to be loud enough for the Salmonids to hear, and in doing so gained their attention. A few of them swam slowly towards him, a Cohock raising it's frying pan up in the air, ready to strike. Khal closed his eyes and awaited his end…
But nothing came. Not when a certain jingle played across the island. Khal opened his eyes and saw the basket retreat back into it's compartment and the Salmonids that were about to splat him were instead retreating to the sea. One by one, each fish in the area dived into the water and disappeared, until none remained. The Marooner's Bay was completely clear of any Salmonids.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Khal tried pulling himself up once more, but inadvertently slipped and lost his grip on the edge. Khal screamed his lungs out as he fell towards the tainted sea, he screamed so much he didn't hear a series of beeps come out of his lifesaver's transmitter.
The other scattered lifesavers also emitted the same beeping noise, and all three of them jumped high into the air and back into the boat that brought them here. It also affected Khal, making him involuntarily turn into his squid form. He repositioned himself upward, and just as he touched the burning water, he was launched into the air and eventually landed in the white and red boat, just as it was departing.
When all was said and done, the boat slowly sailed away from the derelict vessel, back to it's home. Silence gripped the land in that moment, and the Marooner's Bay found peace and quiet once more.
Author's Notes
Hey there.
Thank you for taking your time to read this little story I came up with. Might not show it much, but I appreciate it. Hope you enjoy...
Reviews would be nice, and if there's anything that could be improved I'd like to know. Though, I'd also like to give you, the reader, a little warning if you're expecting this story to be continued:
Don't expect frequent updates.
Many things get in the way of my little life, which means that this won't get updated and continue as much as I want it to. It also means that you won't see this as much. All you have to know is that it will be a long time before a new chapter is posted. I can assure you that...