Great Turf War

Day 13

Cuttlefish's arms weakened. Wahoo's body crumpled to the cold, stone floor. Cuttlefish was delirious, his mind racing. He poured ink onto Wahoo, trying to regenerate him.

"COME ON!" Cuttlefish screamed. "Wahoo, why...?"

He slammed his fist into the ground. The adrenaline made him numb to the pain. In a fit of rage, Cuttlefish grabbed his bamboozler and started taking shots at whoever came into his line of sight.

He took a wave of ink from an enemy slosher, yet he couldn't feel it melting his face off. Cuttlefish laughed. He felt immortal! He would murder every Octoling until there were none left! Lines of Octoling soldiers fell before the crazed Inkling. For a few moments, the Octolings and Inklings were evenly matched.

It wasn't until he saw Coral, that he snapped back to reality. Fear slowly crept onto his face as he saw his fellow Inklings fall beside him. You could train for however long you wished, but nothing could prepare you for the moment when everyone around you died. A dark thought wedged its way into his mind.

What am I doing? We've already lost.

The thought seemed to literally manifest into a tall, muscular man. But this nightmare was real. Way, way too real. Ichi, the first lieutenant of the Octoling army, stood in the very center of the Octoling forces. He wore a special outfit--a platinum Octoling uniform with a badge that resembled a closed fist. Why was Cuttlefish so afraid? What happened to that wrath which consumed him once before?

"Hm, Inklings still out here?" Ichi inquired. He made a special signal to an Octostomp which led it to run next to him. Although the Octostomp was much taller than Ichi, it still seemed a bit afraid. Ichi then proceeded to grab the hulking Octoweapon with two hands, lifting it up over his head. With his special weapon, the Ink Gauntlets and his own monstrous physical strength, he did something no other Octoling or Inkling could do.

Both realizing what he was about to do, Cuttlefish and Coral ran for it as the insane Octoling threw the machine at them. The two were able to avoid it by a hair, but Ichi wasn't done yet. The lieutenant made the same signal from before and another Octostomp waddled up to him. He launched another bulk of metal at the duo again but this time they avoided it by super jumping away.

This won't do. Ichi thought. He changed into a running stance, and closed the distance between the Inklings in mere moments. The two, alarmed by the swiftly approaching Octoling, got their weapons out and shot at Ichi, but he was able to outmaneuver the predictable shots and finally got in range for a Sunday punch.

He aimed his fist at the bewildered Cuttlefish, but he blocked it with his bamboozler, which unfortunately broke in the process. Then, Coral fended the Octoling off with mini splating shots. Ichi raised one arm to block most of the shots and ignored the ones that hit his legs. After the splatling fire was over, he winded up his other arm to punch Coral right in the face. In response, Coral knocked his arm to the side and detonated a splat bomb on his face. As Ichi was wiping it off, Cuttlefish managed to explode another bomb, this time behind the first lieutenant. His armor took some damage, but the Octoling was still unfazed.

Ichi decided to target Cuttlefish, who had no weapon. He targeted the soldier with a barrage of punches. Cuttlefish could only run and throw some frantic counter punches against this assault. He was weary of Ichi's ink gauntlets detonating. Ichi didn't punch, but instead used his right leg to flip kick Cuttlefish; this time, there was no escaping.

At least get through one hit! Cuttlefish thought. He tensed his muscles and used both arms to guard himself, bracing for major damage. The kick sent Cuttlefish flying, blowing through his measly guard and proving that he did not need his weapon. Ichi leapt forward to finish Cuttlefish for good, but his lack of spatial awareness allowed for a disruption in his seemingly unstoppable attack.

Coral had been recharging ink the whole time, and now she could execute her plan. One exploded at his feet, hindering his escape. One exploded at the back of his head, staggering him and blurring his vision temporarily. Three more detonated on the back of his armor, easily shredding it to pieces.

Ichi was quick to react, however, and dashed to the side. This time, he had both of them in his sights. Coral's sixth and seventh bomb missed, and detonated on Cuttlefish. Fortunately, this allowed Cuttlefish to regenerate a little and get back on his feet.

"Well played," Ichi commended.

I'll have to eliminate one of them soon. He thought. Although he was tough, he was not invincible. Coral's bombs had not only destroyed his armor, but also ruptured his flesh. That would take quite a while to recover from.

Ichi dived into his ink to regenerate, but was met with splatling fire. He didn't want to waste his Ink Gauntlets' remaining charges on survival, but he only had seconds left. Ichi pummeled the ground, and a purple shockwave of ink expanded quickly around him. Cuttlefish and Coral were cornered momentarily, but Cuttlefish created space with a bomb of his own. Coral would not have the time to create three bombs again, so she opted to use her mini splatling.

Cuttlefish, on the other hand, had another idea. They would have to take advantage of Ichi's half-broken armor if they wanted to win this encounter. Cuttlefish picked up his broken bamboozler and submerged deep into his ink. He then shot into the air blindingly fast. So fast, in fact, that when Ichi tried to intercept him, Cuttlefish was already behind the first lieutenant.

Ichi realized that Cuttlefish's mobility was much greater than Coral's. Plus, Coral was charging her mini splatling in a corner. Thus, Ichi started running towards Coral, who promptly responded with splatling fire.

However, Ichi closed the distance between them way too fast for her to defend herself or escape. Ichi winded up his arm, ready to obliterate Coral. Even if she tried to flee in the ink, she would still get caught in the explosion radius. Having no other choice, Coral used her mini splatling as a ram, connecting with Ichi's ink gauntlets.

Although the mini splatling did offer some protection, the Ink Gauntlets' blast crushed it as if it were a tin can. Next was Coral, who flew into the wall. In a fraction of a second, she was reduced to nothing but fine mist.

Cuttlefish stood there in silence, unable to process the death of his friend. He looked around. There were no familiar faces in sight. Cuttlefish was facing the entire Octarian army all alone. He was beat. Accepting his defeat, he ran away from the army, although he had resolve. Resolve to get stronger , resolve to get revenge against the Octolings, and resolve to not let something like this happen again.

For whatever reason, Cuttlefish picked up the body of his friend and ran through the castle. Maybe he wanted to bury it himself. Or perhaps, it was a reminder of his failure that he preserved, so that one day, he might destroy the Octolings.

Cuttlefish activated the barely intact life jacket function of Wahoo's silver hero armor and dived into his ink. He could hear Octarian weaponry blazing behind him, but they were too late; Cuttlefish superjumped back to base with Wahoo in tow.