Chapter 25: Calculating Launcher of Doom
"They call him Clod."
There was a short struggle between Marie and Clod, as Marie would not willingly give up her DNA.
Inka had thought about escaping while Marie was distracting Clod, but decided against the idea since she didn't want to leave the idol alone.
Despite her efforts, there wasn't much she could do against someone three times her size, so ultimately, Clod got a blood sample and extracted it into an empty vial. Afterward, he shoved her back in the jar, covering the lid with the boulder once again.
"You inklings are fierce little things," Clod remarked, though whether it was praise or an insult was unknown.
Inka watched as he moved over to the now-repaired terminal and typed something on the console. Then, a small panel on the central pillar opened; Clod gently placed the blood vial inside. The panel closed soon after, and the entire room lit up with a red hue.
Marie suddenly banged on the glass jar. "Hey! Sea-weed head! This is a violation of my uniqueness. You can't just make more of me!" She declared while gritting her teeth.
"Apologies, little squid. But the lord does not appreciate failure." Clod put a fin on the central button of the terminal, which Inka guessed would start the cloning process. "And I, for one, refuse to end up like his daughters."
Before he could press the button, the whole room quaked, scaring both inklings.
Clod held onto the terminal to keep himself from being thrown off balance. "What the?!" He looked up to see a portion of the cloning chamber's upper walls demolished. Then, multiple figures dropped from the newly formed hole.
One figure was holding another, and Inka immediately recognized both of them. "Akikta! Nakji!" She yelled in relief and happiness as Nakji set Akikta down.
"Thanks for that." He patted Nakji's shoulder before eyeing the glass jar.
"Marie!" Callie shouted, almost teary-eyed.
"Callie!" Marie shouted back, a wide smile spread across her face.
Akikta grinned. "Good, we're not too late after all." He looked up at Clod, who seemed surprised to see the group. "Whoa, he's pretty big," Akikta commented, seeing how Clod towered over all of them, even more so than Sal.
Akikta's eyes drifted over to the terminal behind the large salmonid, and he read the English words that flashed over the screen. From what he could gather, DNA had been successfully copied, and the machine was now awaiting confirmation to spread it to the other pods around the cloning chamber.
Obviously, this meant Clod had taken Marie's DNA. But Akikta was confused as to how the salmonid managed to press the small buttons on the terminal, considering his fins were huge.
The group had a short stare-off with Clod, only for the king salmonid to direct his attention to Ricky. "You!" He pointed. "You're the traitor Masu and Huchen let get away. Why have you done this?"
"What other choice did I have? Our clan is dying under the usurper's rule. I know you see this to be true, so why do you continue to help him?"
"Even a clam knows going against Lord Sake is suicide. He's too powerful."
"But don't you see this human is our chance?" Ricky gestured to Akikta. "He has evaded the usurper, as well as his spawn. And now look, he's standing here before you, ready to reclaim the colorful cephalopods." Clod looked at the group with an intense glare. "Listen to reason, Clod."
"Oh, I'm listening alright." He moved back, flipping his goggles over his pupilless green eyes. The group pushed forward in response to his slow retreat. "And compared to fighting Lord Sake, I have a better chance against you."
Ricky clicked his teeth after realizing Clod had backed up onto his UFO, which then hovered upward and circled the triangular platform everyone else was on. "Take cover!" Ricky hollered, only for Clod to launch three projectiles from a motor-like weapon that was in the center of his UFO.
Everyone scattered from the projectiles resembling dark green missiles. When they collided with the ground, they exploded into a green ink tornado.
Akikta recognized the ink strikes as the same ones that stopped Coral from ending him and Nakji back on Hammerhead Bridge. "So it was you..." He whispered to himself, seeing Callie run over to the jar from his peripheral vision.
"Don't worry, Marie! I'm gonna bust you outta there!" She said confidently, reassuring her cousin that freedom was coming. Unfortunately, she was so focused on Marie that she couldn't sense the danger behind her.
"Callie!" Marie called out, causing the pink idol to look over her shoulder. Within the time it took for Callie to run over to the jar, Clod had fired another missile, this one aimed directly at her. The jar would keep Inka and Marie safe. The same could not be said for Callie.
Her eyes widened in fear as the missile drew closer. "Callie!" Akikta shouted. He was nowhere near her, but he had to do something.
In a vain attempt to save her, he jumped and reached his left arm out. He expected nothing to happen since he was so far away, but he got quite the shock when his inky arm suddenly extended and grabbed the missile, which was inches away from Callie's face.
While in shock, his arm automatically reeled the missile back to him, only for the black ink to completely cover and absorb it.
Everyone who witnessed the spectacle was in a daze.
"W-what's up with his arm?" Inka muttered in surprise. She hadn't noticed his left arm's condition until now.
"I'd be lying if I said I knew..." Marie responded with the same disbelief her face held.
Akikta could only stare down at his black arm before feeling a surge of energy course through him. Then a revelation hit him like a brick. "Aha! New power, baby!" He fist-pumped the air in celebration of two things. One, for saving Callie. And two, for figuring out a small bit of how his power worked. It should've been obvious from the start, but of course, he didn't get it at first.
If he wanted to exploit his new ability's full potential, then he needed to absorb more ink! It was so simple. That's how Chaska grew stronger, so that rule applied to Akikta as well. The surge of power he got from absorbing the missile confirmed it.
Clod grumbled before firing a few more missiles at the group. Akikta took one good look at his inky arm before extending it toward the incoming missiles. One by one, his arm absorbed the missiles before they reached the triangular platform. With each missile he absorbed, the stronger and more energetic he felt. The feeling was liberating.
"Ha! Suck on that, Clod!" Akikta taunted, earning more annoyed grumbles from the king salmonid. Unfortunately for him, he had to reload his weapon, giving the group a much-needed breather.
His motor was a stationary artillery-type weapon, so it wouldn't be that big of an issue if they could get close enough to it. Problem was, Clod was flying around everywhere like a goddamn bat. Not that it mattered. Even if he was standing as still as a statue, Callie and Nakji were the only weapon wielders, and neither of them had the range to reach him.
But maybe...
Akikta looked at his arm again and transformed it into a crossbow. He steadily aimed at Clod before materializing an arrow and firing. To his surprise, his theory was correct—said theory being if Akikta were stronger, then so were any projectiles he conjured. Instead of turning into a liquid stream like last time, the arrow took on a more solid structure.
It whizzed by Clod's face, startling him. Akikta was a little off-target and continued shooting arrows. Unfortunately, after the first arrow missed, Clod was on guard and swiftly maneuvered around the various other platforms and catwalks in the cloning chamber, making it harder for Akikta to land a hit. The teen groaned in frustration.
He felt himself losing strength with each arrow he released, so he eventually stopped and eyed Clod, thinking of how else he could get the bastard.
As Clod hovered by a catwalk, a risky idea popped into Akikta's mind.
His hand could stretch to unnatural lengths and grab ahold of things, so what if he used it to swing himself from catwalk to catwalk? He looked over the edge of the central platform, seeing that same terrible abyss he had apparently fallen into with Nakji. That was what awaited him if he fucked up.
Akikta took in a deep breath. "No reward comes without risk..." He told himself before taking a few steps back. "That's fine. Just... think of it like a game. Yeah! Just a casual video game." He psyched himself up, shaking all the jitters out of his joints.
Nakji came up to his side, but before she could say anything, he took off running. "Aki!" She called out with a raised hand, and he leaped off the platform.
"Leap of faith!" He yelled and stretched his arm out. It extended and grabbed hold of a catwalk's railing. While screaming, he swung to another nearby platform, letting go of the railing and landing with a roll. He missed Clod completely, but his idea somewhat worked.
"I... am a living genius!" He praised himself, overflowing with confidence. Nakji couldn't help but smile, seeing what he was trying to do.
Before he could second-guess himself, he jumped again. Like before, his arm stretched, he grabbed, swung, missed, and landed. Each time, he kept going at it. "Woo! I'm like Spiderman!" He yelled happily.
"Who's Spiderman?" Nakji yelled back.
"I'll tell you about him some other time!" He assured her as he continued trying to swing onto Clod's platform.
Clod moved his UFO out of Akikta's trajectory each time, causing him to constantly miss. Eventually, the king salmonid finished reloading and opened fire, this time solely focusing on Akikta.
Akikta was understandably nervous after the first few missiles narrowly missed him. But then he remembered that before, ink never actually hurt him, and now, it would only strengthen him.
His fear of screwing up and falling was heavily outweighed by his cockiness and desire to catch Clod. So much so, he stopped landing on the platforms after each swing and started changing trajectories mid-swing. This made it more difficult for Clod to maneuver away from Akikta. At the same time, Akikta's aggressive offense forced him to concentrate harder. It didn't help that he had to watch for the missiles still coming at him.
To Clod's dismay, the longer Akikta did this, the better he got at it. He got so good, in fact, that he was eventually able to absorb missiles in mid-air whenever his arm wasn't latched onto a railing.
Everyone on the central platform watched in awe as Akikta used the cloning chamber as his own jungle gym.
Honestly, Akikta himself was surprised at how well he was doing. After all, this was his first time using his powers on the field, and yet he was already utilizing it as if he were an expert. He couldn't explain it, but his movements sort of came naturally. It was like second-hand nature to him.
Clod grumbled again. "Hold still, will you?"
"How about you?" Akikta barked back.
"I see why Lord Sake has had so much trouble catching you. Not only are you a nuisance, but you're also as slippery as a colorful cephalopod."
Akikta's eyes squinted at Clod's comment. "Using fighting words, huh? Just wait until I get over there! I'll kick the fish scales right off ya." He exclaimed, then felt the breeze on his bare feet abruptly vanish. No, wait, that was a half-lie. The breeze disappeared from one foot, but not the other.
Akikta looked down mid-swing, only to see his right foot covered in black ink, mimicking that of a shoe. He almost panicked but managed to keep his cool by reminding himself the ink was another extension of him.
After dodging another missile, Akikta realized the ink only formed around his foot when he threatened to kick Clod.
As a test, he thought again, this time about punching the king salmonid. His right arm was then enveloped in black ink.
His right arm looked slightly different from his left, being more muscular and having claw-like fingertips. "Whoa, that's freaky," Akikta commented before another ink missile flew right at him. Since his left hand was preoccupied, he instinctively used his right hand to snatch the missile out the air. The missile was then absorbed into his being, like all the others.
Akikta surprised himself at how quickly he reacted—considering the missile was in point-blank range.
While he swung, he became a little absentminded to the fight at hand and admired his right arm instead. His left arm acted independently, automatically swinging Akikta from catwalk to catwalk.
"Huh, so I can spread the ink throughout my body..." He noted, trying to spread the ink through the rest of him to form some kind of armor. It started from his right arm, but stopped at his pecs. His eyelids lowered as he frowned. "Must not have enough ink." That was the only explanation that made sense. Otherwise, he should be able to shift forms entirely.
Hold on, shift forms? Well, yeah, that sounded right. He'd be covering his entire body in ink, so he'd imagine he'd look different. Wait—he could be just like the agents with his own squid or octopus form! Though he wasn't an octopus nor a squid, so he doubted the form would resemble either of them. What should he call the form, then? His human form? No, that's just dumb. Hmm, what about battle form? That was a step in the right direction, but it didn't have enough 'oomph' to it.
"Akikta!" Marina called out, and his eyes focused ahead of him just in time to see the side of Clod's UFO rapidly approaching.
Akikta had no time to react and banged his forehead against the platform hard. His mask absorbed most of the damage; surprisingly, it didn't break immediately. Whatever Nakji and Marina used to repair his family's heirloom, it definitely wasn't spit and glue.
Akikta still took a heavy blow to the noggin, despite his mask cushioning the impact. "Damn!" He cried out in pain and lost his grip. His body spun as he plummeted to the abyss below.
"Whoops..." Clod murmured loudly, watching Akikta fall through the cloning chamber. Before the darkness engulfed him, he felt something violently smash into his ribcage, sending him hurling to the side.
After a moment, he crashed onto another platform, skidding to a stop. The object and the impact didn't hurt nearly as much as they should've. What hit him in the first place?
He looked at his chest to see a small yellowish octopus-like creature on top of him. Before he could speak, it morphed into a familiar face—Nakji.
"Nak!" He said happily. Her face did not match his tone.
"Akikta!" she barked with a stern glare, causing him to flinch. "You need to pay attention. This is a life or death situation!" She exclaimed, simultaneously angry and worried.
He didn't appreciate her yelling at him and felt the sudden urge to kill her.
Wait, what?
Why'd he think that? He loved Nakji almost as much as he loved Chaska. He'd never hurt her! Besides, she was right. It was entirely his fault he nearly fell to his possible death. Just because he survived the fall once doesn't guarantee he would a second time, even with these new ink powers.
"You're right, I'm sorry. I'll focus this time." He promised, and after a small glare, Nakji's expression softened. She finally got off him and helped him back up to his feet. Then they both looked to Clod.
Sal's strategic lieutenant apparently lost sight of Akikta after he fell and didn't care enough to look for him. Figures. Sal might've wanted Akikta alive, but that didn't mean his loyalists did. Then again, to call Clod a loyalist would be a stretch. From how he acted, he was more like a rat choosing the side that was most likely to live.
Clod had redirected his focus to the group on the triangular platform, and there wasn't much they could do, given the situation. Thankfully, because Akikta had depleted most of his ammunition, Clod had to reload again, giving them another breather.
"He might be a big target, but he's really good with that UFO. Seriously, I can't get near him!" Akikta placed a hand on his chin.
"He doesn't know where we are. We could strike him now while his attention is on the others." Nakji suggested, but Akikta shook his head.
"I had an idea in mind. One that would get rid of him in a single blow. But I know the moment I try to do it, he'll see me. He always does! I need a distraction..."
Akikta was broken out of his thoughts as Nakji patted his back. "All you had to do was ask." She said with a smirk before transforming back into an octopus. Then, to his amazement, she launched upward at insane speeds, leaving Akikta on the lower platforms of the cloning chamber.
Clod jolted in shock when Nakji suddenly landed on his UFO. "Gah! Slimy little octo!" With a slight gesture, he made the platform spin rapidly in an attempt to throw her off. Nakji, refusing to give up so easily, dug her blade into the UFO's flooring. She kept a fierce grip on the handle. "A stubborn one, are you?" Clod snarled before ramping up the speed of the platform. Nakji ended up losing her footing and held onto her katana for dear life; Unfortunately for her, the blade gradually slipped out from the platform. Clod wasn't holding onto anything, so how he wasn't thrown off, or at least dizzy, was anyone's guess.
After about half a minute of this, the blade finally came out, flinging Nakji across the room. She slammed into the pillar of the central platform back first and fell to the ground with a pained moan. Callie and Marina rushed to her side, both with worried looks.
Clod stopped spinning the UFO and squinted his eyes at Nakji. "Dumb octo. What were you hoping to accomplish with that stunt?"
Nakji let out a weak chuckle as Marina helped her to her feet. "I distracted you, didn't I?"
Her sentence confused Clod briefly; then his eyes widened in a panic. He frantically looked around for any source of danger, but never up. Then, Clod's large head violently jerked downward at a diagonal angle. The cause? Akikta.
During Nakji's distraction, Akikta used his inky appendages and climbed to the upper levels of the cloning chamber. By the time he had reached as high as he could go, Clod threw her off his UFO. Akikta's original plan involved dropping down and using the speed from the fall to dive-bomb Clod off his own platform. However, after witnessing Nakji launch upward in her octopus form, he got a similar idea and coated his legs in black ink.
By now, Akikta figured his limbs wrapped in ink exerted more strength than normally, and he was correct. Like Nakji, he blasted off toward Clod at an insane velocity, barely having enough time to reposition his leg before he collided with the king salmonid.
The momentum, paired with the strength of his leg, sent Clod hurling off the UFO. Not only that, but it broke Akikta's fall, and he dropped safely down onto the UFO.
Clod smashed into a platform, destroying a few pods as he rolled across it. He slid right off its edge and landed on a catwalk. The catwalk caved in immediately upon impact, sending Clod falling to the abyss below with a shrill roar.
Akikta looked over the edge and watched Clod fall into the pitch-black darkness. After he completely disappeared from view, his roar grew fainter and fainter, fading into silence. "Death from above, baby." Akikta fist-pumped the air again, relishing his victory.
He quickly calmed himself and jumped down to the central platform with the others. The drop was long, but after figuring out he could cover parts of his body with ink, he kept his legs completely covered. As a result, he felt no pain when his feet impacted the ground.
By the time he reached the others, Nakji and Callie had pushed the boulder covering the jar's lid down into the abyss. Soon after, they all worked together to untwist the lid, freeing Inka and Marie.
"Callie!" Marie embraced her cousin in a giant bear hug, nearly lifting Callie off her feet.
The action completely went against the cool and composed attitude Akikta knew Marie for, so he had to stifle back a laugh, letting out a snort instead, which she thankfully didn't hear.
"I can't believe you came!" Marie put her cousin down after she hugged back.
"Of course I came! You did the same for me, after all. I wouldn't leave you high and dry."
Nakji walked to Akikta's side as he smiled at the cousins' reunion. He felt a humongous weight lift off his shoulders.
While Callie and Marie had their little reunion, Inka tackled Nakji and Akikta into a similar hug that Marie did, hanging onto both of them tightly. "I thought I'd never see you guys again!" She wailed, and it was then Akikta realized she was literally crying.
"Sorry it took so long. You wouldn't believe the amount of obstacles here in Atlantis." Akikta nervously chuckled as Inka looked into his eyes.
"I-I don't understand. What happened to you? What's with your arm? Where are your translators? And is that your mask?"
"Well—"
Marina interrupted him before he could respond. "Where did you learn to move like that? Have you been holding back on us this whole time?"
Akikta shook his head. "No, not exactly." He admitted, and she gave him a confused look. Her confusion was understandable. Until a few minutes ago, Akikta had been a novice at best when it came to fighting. The ink's raw power alone wouldn't have helped him move the way he did. "I don't know, really. It just sorta...came to me."
He said with a shrug before Ricky moved over to the group. "As much as I'd hate to ruin the moment, we're not in the clear yet."
Marina's face suddenly shifted from one of curiosity to one of pure focus. "He's right. We got Inka and Marie, and we defeated Clod. Let's leave now before our luck runs out."
Marie held out a hand. "Wait!" She pointed to the pillar. "Before we go, we gotta get rid of that vial that's in there."
Callie turned to Marie with a raised brow. "Vial?"
"Yeah. Sea-weed head managed to get some blood out of me and stuffed it in there."
Ricky went over to the terminal, and Akikta followed. He typed something on the console with his slick fins, then the same panel containing the blood vial opened.
"Huh, that was easy," Said Akikta, reaching out to grab the vial.
"N-no! Wait!" Ricky blurted, but it was too late.
Akikta had already yanked the vial out from the pillar, and the moment he did, all the lights began flashing red. Following the seizure-inducing display were loud sirens blaring all across the Superiority Complex.
The whole group gave Akikta an annoyed look; all he could do in response was let out an awkward chuckle. "Haha... my bad y'all..."