Splatoon 2: Octo Rising

75) ...and Marie

Tess' POV:

I had finally made it to sector five. What lay before me was a vast pool of purple ink - almost recognizable as a form of sludge, which lay at the bottom of the platforms, begging for more falling victims. Atop the area, was a long and vast series of platforms which were either stationary, narrow, moving, linear or even bouncing. This was all truly a test of my strength. If I wanted to even make my way through one point to another, I had to risk my life traversing through these various forms of flooring. Squid-jumping proved a threat in this area as well, as without any electricity to spawn me back, it all became a do-or-die situation.

After finally making it to the sector, I saw Marie. Was it time for us both to beat the Octarians together? My mind raced to those wondrous thoughts and I slowly but surely crossed the platforms so that I could gain her attention towards me. I jumped across one of the many moving circular platforms and waited. Tension arose as I could slowly see the figure of Marie getting closer. 

The boss kettle was a prominent part of the final sector. Unlike the previous ones before it, this one was a challenge to reach. It would require a series of meticulous jumping and gunning to reveal invisible pathways and reach the area. With all of this, it did not help that below us was a pool of purple ink. This combined with the tension of the final battle, made my shivering body worsen in a nervous wreck.

Finally, I reached Marie. I slowly watched as her head stared towards the open final boss kettle - then turned towards me. The wind blew. My tentacles swayed in the aroma of dread that came packaged in the moment; although the dread could already be found before I had reached this place. It was strange. It looked as if Marie was prepared to help me, so why was it that I could still feel a sense of this looming defeat? Finally, words were spoken. 

"You know, when the power went out, I knew - I just knew you would be the first one to recklessly abandon home to finish what you started. Are you ready to finish this, Tess?"

"I guess I'm agent 4 again, huh?" I sweat dropped a little in embarrassment, but I could see Marie was in no mood for joking with me. "Sorry, let us finish this together. I know I said I would I would never do all of this, but Zen convinced me that it was time to take action."

"So she did?"

"Yeah," I took out my dualies and looked at the boss kettle, then at Marie. "would you like to lead the way?"

"Do you have you're dualies?"

"What?"

"Put them in an open position. We need to make sure that it benefits us that they are easy to reach."

Something was off about Marie. I know Zen had warned me, but something within my conscious made me want to believe Marie was an ally. She seemed ready to take action. I suppose she was just taking extra measures. In following her orders, I made my dualies more prominent in my stance and allowed her to lead the way. She walked slowly to the entrance of the kettle, then stopped on top of it without transforming into her squid form.

"Tess?"

She caught me off my guard. "What is it, Marie?"

"I'm sorry-"

As soon as she finished those words, were as soon as she cut herself off to launch a full assault on me. Without realizing, in a flash of mere seconds her hands thrust into my dualies, snatched them, threw them across the moving platform that had passed us, and she began to lay solid punches on me. I could not recover. Half my mind was questioning the events that were taking place whilst the other half was failing to keep up with her movements. Her speed was incredible. I felt each of her forceful thrusts of pain penetrate my body as I failed to react. We were nearing the edge of the boss kettle's platform, where I was soon to be shoved off to my doom. I knew this. In an act of desperation, I ran in a pathetic circle around her and tried to grab my dualies that were soon to vanish into an unreachable distance via the moving platform. However, Marie pulled onto my leg and tripped me up, making me fall towards the ground.