Better Eight Than Never

Chapter 11: FOREIGN CONTAMINANT

[Camp triggerfish]

[Make it rain!]

Splattershot Sundae VS The Stormbringers

Splattershot Sundae – Mint ink

Simon- Slosher Deco - A

Jill - Splattershot pro - B

Bato - Inkbrush Nouveau - C-

Toda - Splattershot jr. - C-

The Stormbringers – Purple ink

'3K' - E-Liter 3K scope - A+

'Carbon' - Carbon Roller - C+ .

'96' - .96 Gal Deco - B

'Tentatek' - Tentatek Splattershot - B-

---

"Alright, look alive." Simon said, turning to look at their team. "They've got an E-liter, that thing can easily take you out across any divide. Plus the fact that they have two inkzookas in their arsenal means that we cannot let them take the rainmaker, at any cost; They'll entirely out range us."

Jill, Bato, and Toda all nodded their understanding.

Simon looked between the three of them, then nodded again, turning back to face the turf. The ride here had been long, and Hachi had fallen asleep as soon as they'd arrived a few matches ago. The fact that they weren't keeping a close eye on her was bugging them, but honestly they were glad she wasn't coughing anymore, they were stressed out enough avoiding places they knew Bato had inked. He'd brushed against the sleeve of their coat earlier, they'd had to take it off to stop their skin from crawling. He was contaminated; he was bound to start coughing in the next few days.

[GO!]

Simon blinked, then sloshed some ink ahead, cursing. They'd spaced out. Hopefully they'd be able to get a big enough lead that this second of hesitation wouldn't matter. Glancing over their shoulder they saw Bato forking off to the right to sneak into enemy turf. Any other day they'd be frustrated and asking 'why' but today was not one of those days. They dropped down and inked two rapid sloshes to the left clearing to get some of their special ready, while Jill inked ahead with her longer range. From the sounds of charger fire that echoed through the open air, the other team should be getting close to the rainmaker by now. Cursing under their breath, they followed Jill to the shield. She was recovering ink and about to throw a bomb at the shield when they caught up with her, popping out of the ink. "Jill wait, throw it across the gap." They said. "Bato's going to be coming soon!"

Jill paused, then nodded with a smile. "Distraction." She whispered, chucking the bomb over the moat.

Simon nodded in agreement, sloshing the rainmaker's shield once the bomb was on the other side. There were shouts of 'GET DOWN' which caused them to smirk. That was always a good sign.

Toda popped up alongside them. "Bubbler's almost charged." He reported.

"Good. We're going t-" Simon started, then stepped back as the bubble swelled with purple ink. The 3K must have shot it. "Focus fire!" They ordered, sloshing ink as fast as the bucket would fill, but inkzooka shots rushing over the bubble proved how futile this was. They squidded and jumped back, squeaking in alarm, but alas the shield exploded and caught all three of them in the blast. *SPLAT* *SPLAT* *SPLAT*

---

"Ow..." Jill moaned as she respawned. "Hey, at least I got the E-liter before the bubble popped!"

"Let talk, more action!" Simon replied, gesturing out at the field. "One of you two super jump to Ba—" They saw a shot from the rainmaker, and then a kraken burst out of the blast, swimming toward one of the walls. "PEDESTAL, NOW!" They barked, pointing rapidly in that direction. They couldn't go that way, it was all Bato's ink.