The Escape from Octo Valley (IC)

[agent8(hachi)]

Striker: (looking at shark) Are you trying to make a joke ? (pulls out his slosher) Because you are simply Bailing!

 

[Cephalobro]

Shark: Heh, anything to keep our spirits up.

 

[HighColorSunset]

Lana spreads her canopy and launches it out, running after it and advancing toward a group of Octocommanders and Twintacle Octotroopers before they could splat the Octocommanders behind her.

Noah strafes around some enemies and takes them out. "How are you doing right now, Lana?"

"I'm doing okay," she replies as a single Brella shot takes out an Octotrooper. "Look out behind you!"

Before he can fully turn around, a bout of crimson ink hits his back and he is suddenly nothing but a puddle.

"NOAH!" Lana grits her teeth (er, beak?) and charges at the remaining Octarians with all her might. "No...no one does that to my brother and gets away with it. NO ONE!" She lets out a scream and a Splashdown seals the fate of many a Crimson Octarian.

Soon enough there are only a few Octarians left, and Lana collapses, spent. Rebekah arrives and covers her with an Ink Storm.

 

[Cephalobro]

Coral, Kelp, and Clam charge directly toward the enemy Octarians in front of them. Coral draws out his Octo Shot and starts shooting at the enemy Octocopters and Octohurlers. Kelp slams her Carbon Roller at the other enemies coming at the group. Clam starts attacking the enemy with more force than ever before, could it be out of pure malice or revenge for the power-hunger of the Crimsons that caused his and Coral's parents' death? Meanwhile, General Anemone and the other Octohurlers on their side spit Rolloniums at the highest speeds imaginable, wiping out rows of enemy Twintacle Octotroopers in fell swoops. Thanks to the efforts of the Brella users, the Octocommanders and the Octolings using Splatlings managed to charge their weapons up and let loose on the enemy, mowing down a huge chunk of the enemy army.

Coral: Nobody will get in the way of our escape!

Kelp: We will make sure we can get to the surface!

Clam: And these sea scraps aren't gonna stop us!

Suddenly, an enemy Octocopter grabs Kelp by the torso and lifts her up, intending to drop her from a huge height.

Kelp: Aaahhh! Coral help!

This immediately made Coral panic.

Coral: What do I do?! I need to find a way to save her before it's too late!

Clam: I'll give you a boost to your super jump.

Clam turns his tentacle to make some kind of seat for Coral, then Coral turns into his octopus form and super jumps toward the enemy Octocopter, with Clam's force providing extra speed to the super jump. Once caught up to the Octocopter, Coral opens fire on the Octocopter, splatting it. Both Coral and Kelp start falling. Coral turns back into his humanoid form and holds Kelp in his arms as they fall back down.

Coral: Hold on!

Kelp: Eek!

Meanwhile, Clam is getting overrun, while he is managing to keep the enemy away, the enemy is starting to get an advantage on him.

Clam: Coral, I'm going to need some help here soon. I don't know for how much longer I can keep them away from your landing spot!

This is when for the first time ever, Coral activated his Inkjet. While Coral launched explosive shots at big enemy clusters, Kelp jumped safely back down to help Clam keep the enemies at bay.

The Octospartans are awaiting orders from Shark to jump in and start wiping out the enemy. Shark's voice sounded through their communicators, "Alright, bros. Splat the fools!", the Octospartans wasted no time to jump right into the battlefield and went on to splat the enemy units.

 

[HighColorSunset]

Eventually...

"Are we all clear?" Rebekah asked. "Can we blow this joint?"

A whoosh.

Rebekah aimed her brush. "What? Who's there?"

The pitter-patter of feet running away.

Rebekah made a noise between a groan and a sigh. "Show yourself. Coward. Face me like a man. Or woman," she added as an afterthought.

That whoosh again, but this time less mysterious. A petite young Ringed Octoling with short magenta tentacles, her expression terrified, goggles resting atop her head, rather than a sharp gaze peering menacingly through hypno-shades. Rebekah lowered her brush, but only a little. As innocent as the pale creature looked, she could be working for the enemy.

"Don't do anything funny," Rebekah snarled, "or you're going with the facility."

Somehow both on the verge of tears and grateful, the Octoling nodded. "But...you won't splat me now?" she said in a soft, brittle squeak; if a butterfly were to talk, that would be what it sounded like.

"I'll have mercy on you for now, unless you go and prove yourself untrustworthy."

"No, ma'am! I won't fail you!" She saluted heartily; though some of the trembling was gone, her voice was no less little-girlish.

 

[Cephalobro]

Once the battle was won with only a few Octolings splatted, General Anemone waited for them to respawn. He looked at the battlefield, seeing ink of a variety of colors everywhere, he was actually nervous because he was putting everyone at the base out there. Upon counting the tentacle Octarians in his army, he was relieved that none of them got splatted, though they were close due to being covered by enemy ink. "If this wasn't a coordinated plan like I have done, this would've been so much worse, I'm thankful that Octolings respawn after being splatted." he added.

Meanwhile Coral, Kelp, and Clam are breathing heavily because this was a longer battle than they were used to. Coral is curious about Clam's spike in anger. He took this as an opportunity to talk to him while he waits for his Octoling comrades to respawn back at the base.

Coral: So Clam, did something annoy you?

Clam: What are you talking about? Do you think Octotroopers can't get angry?

Coral: Whoa there, I'm just trying to help!

Clam: I had it for a long while now, actually. I would tell you, but you might not like what I say.

Coral: Just tell me, it's going to make you feel better afterward.

Clam: This may sound screwed up, but I kind of hate it that you're an Octoling. I feel like my only purpose is to be your bodyguard and once you are able to defend yourself, what purpose will I have? Will I be nothing? Do we tentacles matter less than Octolings?

Coral: Well, the first thing you said was definitely screwed up. But how could you say that about yourself and the other tentacle Octarians? You and the other Octarians matter as much as us Octolings.

Clam: Then why is General Anemone prioritizing Octolings to be saved?

Kelp: Oh come on, my uncle knows the entirety of the Octarian kind matters the same amount.

Coral: It's just that we are in a bit of a crisis right now. I hear Octolings giving you guys praise all the time as thanks for your efforts of saving them from being octonapped all the time. Heck, you helped me save Kelp from an Octocopter who was octonapping her! Also, General Anemone literally has a rule banning the use of weapons inside the base because the tentacle Octarians can't respawn, not because of numbers advantage, but because he cares about everyone in the base, you can see that whenever he gets angry or agitated when something goes wrong, that's him being worried for all of us. Besides, us Octolings will make sure that you and all the tentacle Octarians will be accepted in Inkopolis somehow.

Clam: I didn't see it that way. Thank you for your kind words. I'm not so jealous anymore.

 

[HighColorSunset]

Noah respawns and immediately sees the Octoling by Rebekah, with her Octoling armor and the goggles atop her hair. "Crimson!" he yelled, launching himself at the girl.

"Calm down, Noah!" Rebekah held him back. "We're sparing her. The Squid Sisters' song may have affected her too."

"The Squid Sisters..." the girl muttered, then looked up. "Is that what they're called?"

"Yeah," Noah replied nonchalantly. "What of it?"

"They saved my and my friends' lives," she replied with a small smile, "so I'm so happy...I finally know who they are! The Squid Sisters!"

"I mean, I figured most people knew that," Noah muttered.

"I'm Natalie Rubina," she added, "an engineer and machine operator assigned to Octavio's 88th unit until now."

"Until now?" Lana was curious. "What do you mean?"

"I ran away," the young Octoling admitted. "I started fighting back against the influence of Octavio's music, and I couldn't focus any longer on the task at hand, so I just...abandoned ship, so to speak." In an undertone, she added, "Not that Octavio will notice much. After all, my kind is...expendable."

 

[Cephalobro]

General Anemone saw that Octolings who were splatted respawned back at the base, he talks to everyone through the communicators "Great job everyone, come back to the base for a much-needed break. We'll talk strategy after the break."

 

[HighColorSunset]

Natalie follows Rebekah a bit gingerly, unsure of what General Anemone's squadron is doing.

 

[Cephalobro]

Everyone went back to the base, talking about various things as they took their break to calm down a little before finally tackling the final facility. Coral, Clam, and Kelp meet up with Ocean who during the previous battle, launched Splat Bombs at the enemy.

Coral: This is it, the final showdown.

Clam: We have come a long way, didn't we?

Kelp: We faced countless scares along the way.

Ocean: I wonder what kind of reward that my uncle prepared for us.

 

[HighColorSunset]

Natalie sits down and takes off her goggles. "I want to thank you again for sparing me," she told Rebekah. "I was terrified. I thought you'd show no mercy."

"Something about you is familiar," Rebekah replied. "You're like a lot of the other Octolings who want to escape. It's like you're more...innocent."

 

[Cephalobro]

Shark looks out at the horizon, wondering how much longer will the tentacle Octarians in General Anemone's army would have to keep putting their lives on the line just so Octolings are able to escape to the surface. He then gets an idea and wastes no time on telling General Anemone about it.

Shark: Sir, I have an idea for one of the things we should do once we get to the surface.

General Anemone became interested in what Shark had to say, "I'm happy to hear your idea as long as it doesn't put us into any conflict with surface dwellers."

Shark: We should have a statue honoring the tentacle Octarians. The Octospartans wouldn't have been able to protect the other Octolings without their help.

General Anemone seems to agree, "That's a good idea, everyone here has done their absolute best, so everyone here deserves some recognition in their efforts. While Octolings are the priorities to escape to the surface, a statue honoring the rest of us will make sure that our efforts of getting them to the surface will not be forgotten."

 

[HighColorSunset]

"How long have you guys been trying to get to the surface?" Natalie asked curiously.

"As long as you have," Lana replied, figuring it was the battle between Agent 3 and DJ Octavio that set off Natalie's chance at rebellion.

 

[Cephalobro]

General Anemone looked at everyone around him, he appreciated the fact that they followed through from the beginning of joining him. The appreciation also goes to Coral's group and how they allowed the first defected Crimson Octoling to join his army, setting the precedent of many others to join in as well, along with many of the tentacle Crimson Octarians as well, this is what makes him go through great lengths to make sure everyone makes it to the surface at all costs, even sacrificing a little bit of sleep to make sure nothing wrong happens. "I hope I'm able to keep my promise that they all make it to the surface, they have suffered for far too long under these domes." General Anemone says under his breath. "During this next battle, I will go all out for this one, sending everybody and everything we have. If things start to go south, we will use the secret weapon."

 

[HighColorSunset]

(If Ringed Octolings are the ones that look like Agent 8 (e.g. have rings on their tentacles), then Natalie is technically a Ringed in the Crimson Army.)

 

[Cephalobro]

General Anemone looks at the time and says "Break's over, we still have one more battle to get through before we can journey to the surface. This strategy might be risky, but everyone will need to rush into the facility. We will have the Charger users, Splatling users, the Octosnipers, and the Octocommanders guarding the entrance of the facility to make sure no enemies make it to our base. If things start to go south, play the secret weapon. We will show that DJ that messing with us sealed his fate, now go out there and rescue everyone trapped inside that facility! Good luck and make me proud, warriors.", General Anemone then gives a salute to his army.

 

[Cephalobro]

Coral, Clam, Kelp, and Ocean head towards the final facility along with the other members of General Anemone's army, a little bit nervous about what's going to happen. Meanwhile, Shark set up along with the other Charger wielders and the Octosnipers along with the Splatling wielders and Octocommanders. Once at the entrance, Coral and the rest of the army with him stops right at the front door. Some Octocopters came to the roof to plant signal jammers to lessen whatever unknown signal would be waiting to doom the army.

 

[agent8(hachi)]

(DID YOU NOT LISTEN TO MY POST?)

 

[agent8(hachi)]

Grant: (following behind the others) Uh excuse my language but WHAT THE **** IS THAT? (pointing up)

 

[Cephalobro]

Clam notices a huge antenna sticking out from the top.

Clam: That's their brainwashing antenna, which gives us all the more reason to destroy this cursed facility.

Coral: Well, this time, it's all or nothing. We have to win this if we have a chance to escape before the domes collapse in on us.