Chapter 10: The Octo Shogun
"Live by the sword. Die by the blade"
"How did I let you convince us to do this."
"What can I say? I'm good at what I do." Cal said in a carefree tone, spiking a hint of annoyance within Sal.
Assuming Cal's navigation skills with the map weren't a complete bust, then they were currently deep within Beaker's Depot.
The facility wasn't vacant like Suction-Cup Lookout, but it wasn't exactly crawling with soldiers either. It was the perfect blend that allowed the team to sneak throughout the building undetected. Even Cal, whose stealth skills were questionable at best, slipped past the enemy octolings with ease. Though, that probably had something to do with the fact that every soldier they encountered were busy transporting crates outside of the depot.
"Dammit, Cal," Samuel muttered, hugging the wall same as everyone else. "How long 'til we get to the zapfish? It feels like we've been sneakin' 'round this place for an hour!"
"That's 'cause we have been sneakin' 'round here for an hour!" Samantha added on with a tired sigh.
"Chill out, guys. We're almost there. It should be in this next room." Cal assured, though all that did was cause Samuel to groan.
"You said that last time." He complained.
"Yeah, that was before I got turned around."
Sal raised a brow. "Cal, do you even know where the zapfish is?"
"Of course I do." He paused, realizing he answered that question a bit too quickly. "Well, maybe."
"Cal!" Samuel and Samantha whisper-shouted angrily.
"Okay, okay. Maybe I've been takin' educated guesses. But I really feel like it's behind this door." He said, pointing to the large double door at the end of the dimly lit hall.
"Oh yeah?" Samuel rushed past Sal, turning Cal around so the two were face-to-face. "I'm about to shove my foot somewhere. Don't worry, I'll let you make an educated guess where!"
"Aw, come on, Sam. Don't be like that."
Before the two could go any further, Sal came in between them, shoving them away from each other. "Can you two be any louder?" He said sternly before turning to Cal. "We'll go through that door since we're already here, but if the zapfish ain't there, we're getting out of here."
Cal nodded. "That's cool with me."
With that settled, the group made their way to the large doors. They were much bigger up close than the group thought they'd be, but that didn't stop them from opening them up. Or, at least, they tried to open them.
The doors were heavier than they looked—so much so that it took the combined effort of Team Hardbeak to open them halfway. It was enough for the team to squeeze through, so they didn't bother opening them further.
Once on the other side, the group found themselves in an enormous room similar to the one that held the Octostalker. However, they appeared to be on a massive balcony of sorts. Regardless, Sal figured with a room like this, the zapfish was bound to be here.
"I should've said something sooner." Samuel groaned, coming to the same conclusion as Sal.
Cal simply chuckled before making his way to the edge of the balcony. "Well, what do we have here?" His words beckoned for everyone else to peer down the balcony's edge.
At the bottom of the enormous room was a squadron of enemy octolings. As expected, they were transporting crates out of the room.
"Wonder why they're in such a rush..." Samantha commented, noting how the whole facility seemed to be hastily hauling any and all valuables out of the depot.
"Think it might have something to do with us stopping their warehouse operation?" Sal theorized. That was the only reason he could think of that would explain the octolings rushing to get out of dodge.
The crates they were hauling belonged to Oct. Co Facilities. He knew this 'cause the company's logo was on each crate. Their warehouse operation was clearly not the first time they stole from the company, but it might've been the one that alerted Urus of their theft due to the scene they made.
Seeing how advanced Oct. Co Facilities was, they definitely had the technology to track their stolen supplies. Maybe the octolings knew that and figured Urus might do something soon, so now they're rushing to get all the gear stored in a more secure facility? That was Sal's best guess, anyway. But if that were the case, then the whole valley would sort of be in trouble, wouldn't it?
"I don't know about that," Cal answered, tapping Sal's arm to get his attention. "But I do know I just found our golden egg." He pointed elsewhere.
At the center of the room was the zapfish they had been seeking, encased in its little electrical barrier. Surrounding it were two enemy octolings, and one octarian drone. However, the octarian looked different from what you'd expect from a regular tentacle soldier.
They had a humanoid shape, implying they were a highly developed severed tentacle. They were lean in physique and wore samurai-esque armor. Their most striking trait was the four arms they possessed, each one wielding sharp-looking splatanas.
"The shell is that?" Samuel muttered. "A samurai?"
Cal grinned. "An Octo Shogun, huh? This'll be fun!"
Sal shook his head. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not what it's called—" He looked over, seeing Cal in a crouched position, looking like he was about to jump. "Cal, wait, we don't have a—" He jumped, descending toward the enemies below. "And he's gone," Sal huffed through gritted teeth, growing increasingly irritated at Cal's impulsive behavior. He was the older brother—why does he act like a child all the damn time!
Samuel laughed. "Big Al's gonna get himself splatted one of these days."
"Yeah, if not me," Sal added before jumping in after Cal, followed by the Sam twins.
"Look out below!" Cal warned from above, gaining the attention of the entire enemy squadron. Despite his warning, one octoling wasn't quick enough to react, and he landed right on top of her, subsequently cushioning his fall. Her weapon flew right out of her hands as she slammed into the ground.
"I told you to look out," Cal chuckled.
His chuckling stopped instantly when he noticed the octoling hadn't made any pained noises. In fact, they didn't even look like they were hurting, instead grappling at his feet to pry him off.
Cal's confusion lasted for a moment, only for the sight of the Octo Shogun to jolt his alertness. He leaped backward, dodging a swift horizontal strike meant to slice him in half. "Woo, that was a close one."
Seconds after Cal's descent, Sal and the Sam twins dropped right next to him. By then, the octoling he landed on had already recovered, and the rest of the soldiers were taking aim.
It didn't take long at all for Sal to realize they were out in the open. "Shit!" He turned, spotting a stack of crates the enemy had yet to finish moving. "Guys! To the crates!" He pointed.
Samuel and Samantha nodded and rushed to the crates, but then the enemy opened fire. Samuel dodged the incoming projectiles, bobbing and weaving with his inkbrush. Samantha was a little slower, but luckily for her, Cal and Sal provided cover fire.
Of course, their ink didn't do much. Cal's rate of fire at least pushed a few back, but none of the enemies were splatted. Thankfully, Sal didn't have to worry about being splatted himself. Though, the Octo Shogun, who ran at him, worried him greatly.
"I got this one!" Cal shouted confidently, pushing Sal out of the way. After a quick rev of his hydra splatlings, he unloaded a torrent of ink onto the Octo Shogun.
The Octo Shogun narrowed his green eyes, and his big purple lips curled into a frown. Sal thought that meant Cal had him, but instead, the warrior outstretched his four arms and started spinning his splatanas as if they were helicopter blades! Sal wasn't sure how he was doing that, but it successfully blocked all of Cal's ink.
After Cal's first volley ended, he frowned. "Okay, on second thought, maybe I don't."
Sal let out a frustrated grunt before lobbing his splattershot at the crates, which was swiftly caught by Samuel. Afterward, he snatched one of Cal's hydra splatlings from him. "Go!" He demanded, using the hydra splatling to slow down the other octolings and the Octo Shogun.
Cal rushed to the crates while Sal backed up inch by inch. Like he wanted, every enemy soldier focused on him, giving his brother the opportunity to get to cover safely. Once Sal was sure Cal had made it, he created a path of ink to the crates and swam over.
Once his ink tank was full, he unsubmerged and continued firing back at the opposition. "What now, genius?!" he yelled, referring to his idiotic brother who thought charging in with no plan was a smart idea.
"Good question," Cal said in a carefree tone, staring blankly ahead. After a short delay, he opened the crate he used as cover, discovering it was filled with splat bombs. A devilish grin appeared on his face. "What's in y'alls crates?" Samantha quickly removed the lid, finding the same thing. Once Samuel relayed this information back to Cal, his grin grew wider. "Then let's start chucking!" He grabbed two and tossed them at the octoling soldiers. Samuel and Samantha gave each other a short stare before shrugging and following his lead.
Pretty soon, the whole area turned from a battlefield into a minefield.
The octolings were tossed back and forth from the explosions, if not stumbling. While it didn't splat any of them, it gave Sal a much-needed reprieve from being pelted with projectiles. It never hurt when ink splattered him in the face, but that didn't make the sensation any more comfortable.
His respite period lasted until the Octo Shogun stepped up to the plate once again. Before, he had been dashing around the area, avoiding the splat bombs where possible. However, he suddenly got the bright idea to use his blades as bats and started hitting the bombs right back at them—taking a page right out of Cal's book.
It wasn't long at all before one bomb he hit back landed right in the Sam twins' crate. Samantha's eyes widened before she screamed, "Run!"
Everyone but Sal got the memo, and by the time he turned around, a large explosion launched him off his feet.
He tumbled violently across the ground, landing face up. The next thing he saw was a splatana diving right for his eyes.
"Holy—" His reflexes kicked in, and he threw himself out of the way, watching the blade drive itself into the ground like a cleaver through meat.
Sal wasted no time getting back up, but the Octo Shogun was relentless, throwing strike after strike at him. He barely managed to dodge all of them, getting nicked a few times.
"I gotcha little bro," Cal called out, using Sal's splattershot to shoot at the Octo Shogun.
The Octo Shogun got hit with the first shot before flailing his blades around. Sal stepped back, seeing the Octo Shogun precisely blocking each and every ink shot. Such precision no doubt meant the octarian concentrated hard to keep himself safe.
...Which also meant his attention was no longer on Sal.
He grinned, focusing on the long tentacle that acted as the shogun's ponytail. Without restraint, he jumped and grabbed hold of the tentacle, yanking it with all his might.
The Octo Shogun was thrown off balance, allowing Cal to land a few hits on him. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to splat the octarian. What's worse, the shogun was now fuming with rage.
They swung their four blades wildly, trying and failing to hit Sal, who held onto their tentacle while staying directly behind them at all times.
Eventually, Sal's grip loosened, and he was forced to let go and hop back, but not before a terrible grating noise invaded his ears. It sounded like metal scraping across metal. The noise was brief, but Sal tensed up all the same.
"Oh, damn," Cal said in the distance, apparently seeing what had happened. Sal turned, quickly piecing together what had transpired.
In the Octo Shogun's attempt to slice him, he unintentionally sliced through one of his allies, who got a little too close. The incision on their stomach was as clear as shallow water, which would've made Sal freak if that was how ink weaponry worked... The octoling should've splatted. Why didn't they? And where did that metal scraping noise come from?
Sal's questions were quickly answered when the top half of the octoling's body slid right off, crashing into the ground with a metallic thunk. His eyes widened at the sight.
There wasn't blood like he or anyone else expected. Instead, there were circuits. "W-What?" Sal said, flabbergasted. Sparks continued flying out of the severed cords as the bottom half of the octoling collapsed. They're machines?! He screamed internally, unable to process what he just witnessed.
The information, while jaw-dropping, certainly explained a few things, such as how the enemy was practically immune to ink and why they all possessed a paper-white skin tone, which Sal originally thought was the super-resistant ink armor.
But why? And how? Kuda didn't look like a robot, nor did the Octo Shogun. Were the bots simply the foot soldiers?
Before Sal had a chance to digest anything, the Octo Shogun rushed him, still brimming with anger. He narrowly dodged the first strike, leaning all the way back to do so. Unable to catch himself in time, he fell to the floor, and by then, the Octo Shogun was already throwing another swift strike.
Just before the shogun's blades turned Sal into a kabob, Cal tackled the warrior away, making them drop two of their splatanas. Without giving the shogun a chance to recuperate, Cal proceeded to manhandle him, easily overpowering the shogun with his raw strength alone.
Cal slammed the Octo Shogun into the ground repeatedly, holding him by his tentacle. Then, in another impressive display of strength, he tossed the shogun into the crowd of enemy octolings. When the shogun impacted the wall, the velocity alone was enough to splat them, making them explode in a not-so-pretty way.
"Strike!" He cheered, resulting in Sal rolling his eyes.
"This is a fight! Not bowling."
Cal extended a hand, helping Sal off the ground. "You're welcome." He said with another sly grin.
Before the two brothers could banter, Samuel and Samantha came up to either side of them.
"Well, I'll be." Samuel gasped. "You tellin' me we've been fighting machines this whole time?"
"Seems that way." Sal sighed. "That explains why ink doesn't do squat against them... How has the splatoon not figured that out?" He turned, watching as the rest of the octoling soldiers closed in on them. They weren't firing, which Sal guessed was because of their close proximity to the zapfish.
"What do we do now?" Samantha questioned in a worried tone. "All we have are ink-weapons!"
Cal looked down, only to make a smug-looking grin. "You guys can sit back and look pretty." He bent over, picking up the two splatanas left behind by the Octo Shogun.
"I'll handle it from here." He declared with confidence.
Before anyone could stop him, he rushed at the group of enemies, slicing and dicing.
Cal was nowhere near as fast or as graceful as the Octo Shogun, but the enemy had a hard time dodging all the same. What's more surprising is that, despite being ink-weapons, the splatanas seemed to be the only thing capable of severely damaging the machines.
Now that Sal thought about it, whenever the Octo Shogun attacked, ink slashes never came out from any of his blades. Were those even splatanas?
"So, we're just gonna let him have all the fun?" Samuel crossed his arms, looking at Sal.
Of course, Sal didn't want his brother to handle the rest of the mission himself. But what could they do?
"We're not super strong like Cal, and like Big Sam said, all we have are ink-based weapons. What do you expect us to do?"
Samuel frowned, turning away from Sal's gaze. That's when his eyes caught sight of something else. "Hey, remember how we used to pass golden eggs to each other during our runs?"
Sal raised a brow, confused. "Yeah? What does that have to do with anything, though?" Samuel gestured to the side with his head. He turned, seeing the zapfish trapped in its little barrier. After a few moments of staring, he figured out Samuel's idea. "That might work."
That was all Samuel needed to hear before breaking the barrier. From there, the three took turns tossing the zapfish to and from one another.
As Samuel expected, physical contact with the zapfish negatively affected the enemy octolings. Instead of supercharging them like the great octoweapons, the zapfish's electricity completely overloaded the octolings' systems, making them inert. This was just the edge they needed!
After a few minutes of tossing the zapfish back and forth, most of the robotic octolings were down. Only one remained. Cal charged right at them, completely oblivious to the work the rest of the team did.
The octoling opened fire, only for Sal to slide right in front of the ink, taking all the hits for Cal while simultaneously breaking his charge. Sal pitched the zapfish right at the octoling. It electrocuted the machine upon impact, and the soldier crumbled to the ground.
Sal turned, seeing Cal shake his head while shrugging. "They were mine."
Sal scoffed. "Like the rest of them?" He pointed.
Cal looked, seeing the carnage Sal and the Sam twins had done while he was busy slashing like a maniac. "Hey! Thanks for the assist, lil' bro!" He dropped the blades, patting his brother on the back.
Sal turned away with a huff as Samuel walked over to them. "Yeah, whatever." Samantha picked up the thrown zapfish, lightly rubbing its head to calm it down. "Now, let's get out of here before they send reinforcements."