Splatoon: Love Between Species

Chapter 44: Tower Takeover

It was the next day, and Yumi stood in front of Nex, holding onto a pair of black dualie squelchers that had blades and illuminated with blue ink to match her.

Nex: the Nex Tep Dualie squelchers! I hope you like 'em! It took me a little while to make them.

Yumi:....thank you....very much..

Nex: *shrugs* one of your dualies were destroyed. This one's from me, just because you played very impressively yesterday!

Yumi spun her dualie squelchers on her fingers as Amira and Coraline came into the store together, looking at her in concern.

Coraline: you ready?

Amira: it's almost time for our second trial.....

Yumi: where's Miles?....

Just then, the doors to the weapons shop opened up once again, and the girls looked over to see Miles walk in and hold his splatling in the process, letting out a tiny smile at them.

Miles: sorry....just checking up on Lux to see if she's alright from yesterday....

Coraline: was she?

Miles: yeah. She's still gonna participate in the next trial.

Yumi: what is the next trial?....

Amira: we're about to find out....

The 4 cephalopods walked out of the weapon shop and Nex waved at them as she watched them leave. The squad stood within cod Willows, and saw everyone gathering up in the same location where they first arrived, in front of a pair of two big red doors.

The phantoms walked together down the main sidewalk and stood within the crowd, looking up at Harlow, who was sitting on top of the two giant doors.

Harlow: w-welcome, my fellow cephalopods! It's time for your 2nd trial! Day 2 of the entrance exams!

Many cephalopods began to speak and Yumi gently felt on Bella's boater that rested on top of her head, letting out a tiny smile, but then her moment was interrupted by Charlotte, who walked past her and ignored her. Yumi looked at her in concern, but when she saw Charlotte make eye contact with her, she looked away to not cause any tension between them.

Charlotte:......

Ami: Char....are you sure you're good to go?....

Charlotte: yes.....I can still fight....

Even without her sense of emotion all that much, Ami felt Charlotte poke his cheek in an adorable fashion, and when he looked at her, he saw her eyes slowly shift away from him, but in a caring way as if she was happy to be with him, which only made him let out a tiny chuckle.

Harlow: if you all are ready, I'm here to introduce you all to the next challenge that awaits! Ladies and gentlesquids! Welcome to Tower Takeover!!

Harlow hopped of the red gates, and they opened up to show everyone a gigantic tower that looked exactly like the ranked tower for tower control. Miles looked up in disbelief at the size of the tower, seeing the very peak of it touching the clouds.

Miles:......oh.......

Harlow: allow me to explain the rules! You and your squad will split up into pairs once again! The first pair will be in charge of climbing the tower all the way to the top, dodging obstacles, enemies, and even salmonids!

Inklings and Octolings gasped as Harlow press on a button, then a gigantic hologram opened up above the whole crowd, showing everyone the tower along with two chibi inklings.

Harlow: after the pair is finished making it to the top, there will be an energy core waiting at the very tip of the tower. The first pair will pass on the mission to the next pair, who will climb the very last peak of the tower to reach the energy core to obtain it for their team!