Chapter 12: Chapter 9: Octo Expansion (IV) – Spinal Phase

X knew Zero would be purely focused on him, so he wasn’t worried about the red robot suddenly switching targets on a whim. He was worried about keeping their fight away from the Inklings and Octolings duking it out in the same arena, however, as a stray shot could be fatal, and all things considered, the arena wasn’t terribly large. He had to be careful.

He immediately backpedalled, allowing Zero to give chase as they took the fight to the back of the arena. Good, that’ll give them some breathing room.

X opened fire with quick shots from his buster, and Zero fired back in kind, the pair dash-dancing around each other and striking glancing blows.

Suddenly, Zero moved in close, drawing a beam saber weapon from his back, which ignited into a full-length energy blade. Thinking quickly, X activated Flame Sword, blocking an incoming strike. Good thing I used that energy core to recharge my weapon energy reserves…

The pair clashed multiple times, X holding off incoming strikes. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a sustainable method of countering the beam sword, as X had limited weapon energy. I was also kinda hoping my new upgrades would’ve helped give me an edge, but someone’s been keeping this guy up to date, based on my scanners… That beam sword is pretty new. Looks like I’ll have to fight smarter, not harder…

He jumped back, and switched to Time Stopper, charging up as he kept away from the blade and it it loose. Everything froze in place, and silence reigned. “Thank you, Flash Man… Let’s finish this quickly, th-”

Suddenly, Zero vibrated, breaking out of the freeze and attacking again with quick strikes, “nice try, but I’ve got that weapon data, too!”

Well, there goes that weapon energy cell, X thought to himself as the Time Stopper deactivated, and he side-stepped the incoming strikes as he found himself backed up into the elevator’s railing, wincing as the blade did a bit of damage to his armour. Gonna have to re-evaluate how to fight this guy… Problem is, he’s pretty aggressive, he’s trying not to give me any kind of breathing room whatsoever. If I try to aim with my buster, he’s gonna try and cut it off. Let’s see if I can try something else for some heavy damage…

He switched to Gravity Hold, also charging that up and letting it loose in a localised area around them. As he had hoped, Zero collapsed to his knees, struggling to move. He jumped back, switching to Napalm Bomb, and charged it up as well, circling around so Zero’s back was to the railing, and he unleashed several high-powered explosives. “Take this!”

Zero’s eyes narrowed, and he slammed his fist onto the floor, sending out a shockwave of energy.

The explosives and the shockwave clashed violently. X covered his eyes briefly, still on his guard as the smoke began to clear.

“Hehehehe… See, this was the fight I was hoping for!” Zero grinned, as he began to stand up. He was damaged, but not as much as X had hoped. “You’re not just some weakling. This’ll make breaking you all the more fun!”

“You don’t sound like you’re being controlled, despite that stuff on your face,” X’s eyes narrowed.

“The hell are you talking about?” Zero asked.

“Have you even looked in a mirror lately? You’ve got that muck on your face like Ethan and Ayane.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re-” Zero reached up to the side of his face, and his eyes widened. “This… This wasn’t…”

“Kamabo is controlling you,” X pointed, “you’re not your own master.”

“Oh, that damn telephone, screwing with my head!” Zero snarled, as he ripped the organic mass off of his head. “TO HELL WITH THAT!”

X initially thought this might actually let him end this fight peacefully. Those hopes were immediately dashed when Zero stared at him, grinning maniacally. He looked outright feral.

X winced. Aw, crapbaskets, that may have been a bad idea, he thought. He had thought that Zero would potentially stop fighting if the mind control was removed, but now he realised that another possibility for why the Telephone was using the gunk on him - he was too wild and insane to obey orders in the first place.

Zero cackled, charging X with even greater ferocity. X, thinking quickly, switched to Junk Shield and brought up a quick barrier of debris, holding off incoming strikes as he charged up, creating an outright wall of debris that stopped the saber in its tracks, and X launched it, sending Zero crashing back. He switched to Power Stone, and sent several large stones flying right at his opponent, causing the first few to crash right into Zero, but Zero recovered quickly and started slashing right through the rest. Okay, all I have to do is keep him at a distance, and-

Suddenly, Zero dashed forward, hacking through the debris and charging right at him with the saber. X stepped back, blocking with Flame Sword, only for Zero to suddenly fizzle out of existence. “Wait, wha-”

Zero suddenly appeared in his vision to his right. Zero had distracted him with an energy-based afterimage. X raised the sword to block again, but Zero delivered a powerful kick to his midsection instead, sending him flying right into a barrier.

X groaned as he tried to get back up.

Zero was on him in an instant, grinning widely and bringing his blade down.

X tried to raise his Flame Sword again, only for his weapon energy to run out…

❖

She knew Ayane was a Charger main, and she had been practising the use of her Saber to deflect Charger shots for quite some time in preparation for challenging her. She knew Iris didn’t really want to hurt Ayane, but her win condition right now was to defeat her. She just needed to knock her unconscious and remove that green ooze from her head.

Of course, that was easier said than done. As the Colonel advanced, spreading her ink around to allow for greater mobility, she was finding herself having trouble deflecting Ayane’s shots. That Hero Charger was no joke, and Ayane wasn’t just aiming for centre of mass, either, she was actively trying to keep the Colonel guessing as to where she was going to shoot. This meant she ended up taking a couple of hits on the approach. Her armour held up, but it wasn’t going to last a whole lot longer with the damage it had already endured from the last big fight.

She managed to get into range, charged her swing, and launched the ink blade projectile right at Ayane.

The agent responded by dodge-rolling to the side. With a Charger. And she immediately switched to her Hero Shot, opening fire immediately. The Colonel cursed herself for not seeing that coming, she did the exact same thing in their first fight, of course she’d do it again.

She raised her Saber, blocking some of the shots as she charged again. This time, she swung, but without releasing the projectile. Ayane fell for the feint, rolling again, but this time the Colonel swung a second time in quick succession, sending the ink blade at where her opponent stopped.

Iris panicked for a moment when the blade actually caused Ayane to explode into ink. Then she realised that meant there was a nearby respawn point, and right on cue, Ayane reformed right on top of the nearby UFO. Oh, come on, that’s not fair! She thought to herself, with some frustration.

The Colonel took over again, re-evaluating her win condition. Taking down Ayane just through brute force wasn’t going to cut it, if she took enough damage to be knocked unconscious or die, she’d simply be splatted and respawn, and she had no idea how much charge that respawn point had.

Then she realised that her objective wasn’t to defeat Ayane outright, but to at the very least remove the Telephone’s control over her. That meant destroying the ooze on her head. And that would be significantly trickier than just trying to splat her.

Ayane suddenly came down from the UFO with a Baller, charging right at the Colonel. She grit her teeth, as she backpedaled, trying to figure out how to deal with it, but she didn’t have many options. She didn’t want Axl to get caught in the splash zone, and she didn’t want to distract X, either.

So she made a desperate move, switching her blade to full power and striking. It cut right though, splatting Ayane immediately.

Iris only hoped that it wasn’t more painful than normal. Sorry, Ayane…

“Your potential demonstrates itself, Number 10,008,” Ayane said as she respawned. “You could be part of something so, so much greater. It’s not too late, you could be part of the formula for a newer, better humanity.”

“Stop using her as your mouthpiece!” Iris snapped. “How many people have you killed for your insane plan?!”

“How many insects have you trampled without even knowing it? Your kind is just as worthless to me,” Ayane spoke as she switched to her Charger, “this meat-puppet should be honoured to be my tool, as least her existence has some worth this way. Your entire quest is pointless, because when my plan is finished, I will have wiped all sentient life on the planet clean to start over as it should have been!”

“No. We’ll stop you,” Iris grit her teeth. “And when I find you, I will rend you into a thousand pieces.”

“Yes, well.” Ayane aimed, “good luck with that.”

As Iris dodged an incoming shot, she knew Ayane wasn’t gonna come down again, not when she could simply out-range her with the Charger.

The Colonel decided to take a different approach, hurling a Splat Bomb right up on top of the UFO. That should at least force Ayane to move.

Except Ayane didn’t do that. If anything, she let it splat her, and soon respawned. Then Iris realised what the Telephone was doing - as long as that respawn point was active, she could just respawn as many times as needed to outlast her. Her only option was getting up close to attack the gunk on Ayane’s head, but that was impossible if Ayane just stayed out of range.

Then Iris noticed Zero kicking X into a nearby railing, and rushing to follow up. Without thinking, she dashed over through her ink, leaped out, made sure her saber was on energy blade mode, and blocked the incoming Saber strike. “X, are you alright?”

X charged up his buster, thrusting it outwards past her, and firing off a standard charged shot, sending Zero crashing back. “Thanks for the save, Iris.”

“I can’t get to Ayane,” Iris said. “She’ll just keep respawning, so I can’t just defeat her, and she’s staying out of my range to rip off that goop on her head. Can you get up onto that UFO?”

“I can, but not with him attacking me constantly,” X said, getting up, his auto-repair systems kicking in. Zero was already back on his feet, and about to rush them again.

“I’ll hold him off,” Iris volunteered. “As long as I fight defensively, I think I can keep him busy for just long enough. Get to Ayane, and get that stuff off her head.”

“You realise this is a huge gamble, right?” X frowned. “But I trust you. Just… Don’t die, please!”

X immediately rushed towards the UFO. As Zero attempted to give chase, Iris moved to intercept, parrying his blade as he tried to strike. With a primal glare, Zero began refocusing on her, striking relentlessly.

Remember the basics, Iris - it’s all about positioning, footwork and awareness of your enemy’s movements, Iris thought to herself as she deflected each strike with expert finesse. At first his vicious strikes were forcing her to take steps back, but as she became more used to his attacks, she was able to stop him in his tracks. His problem was that, while he was stronger and faster than her, and certainly had martial skill, the way he was using that sword in that primal state of mind was, to put it lightly, amateurish. Swinging a sword wildly against a trained adversary was more likely to get your butt handed to you than get you anywhere. Zero clearly had finesse and skill, but his skill was degraded by madness and sheer bloodlust, as if he was just so impatient to get to killing her that he didn’t want to even put much thought into the ‘how’ he would do so.

It’s either that or he’s not taking me very seriously right now. Neither of those possibilities is very comforting, she thought to herself, as she continued to parry and deflect, playing it safe. She was mindful of the fact that Zero’s weapon was almost weightless, and could be redirected fairly easily. Once X handled Ayane, he could come back and they could handle Zero together.

That’s when Zero raised his Saber high into the air, screaming as he brought it down with both hands.

Thinking quickly, Iris slipped into the ink at their feet, slipping between his legs and struck at his back with a quick vertical slice, creating a nasty gash into his back. When he spun around to retaliate with a quick horizontal slash, she parried the incoming attack, sent the momentum of the blow right over her head, and struck again, ripping into his torso armour, seamlessly flowing into a stance to deflect any further strikes.

Zero stepped back, looking down at the damage, as if finding it difficult to comprehend that he was actually taking so much damage. But then he stared at her, with a wide grin, and took on a proper martial stance, a new clarity in his eyes.

Oh dear. He’s actually taking me seriously now, Iris thought, but took on a stance of her own. I just hope I can hold out for long enough…

❖

Axl side-stepped Ethan’s opening gambit, that being a vertical Roller fling that splattered ink in a mostly straight line. This was going to be a dicey close-quarters duel. He could expect his armour to perhaps hold up at least one or two times against a direct hit from that Roller, any more and he was done for.

He was forced to backpedal as Ethan advanced, firing from just outside of Ethan’s range with the Octo Shot’s ink spray mode, hoping to end the fight swiftly. He was more than a little startled when Ethan actually dodge-rolled out of the way. With a Roller.

Wait, what am I thinking? He did the same thing in our first fight! Axl thought to himself as he dived out of the way of a horizontal fling, getting a bit of Ethan’s ink on himself. Still, he managed to keep his aim trained on Ethan, realising that Ethan wasn’t as quick as he was in that first fight, giving him an opportunity to strike.

Ethan took a couple of shots, forcing him to raise the Roller to block. He then activated a special weapon - specifically, an Inkjet, shooting into the air and firing off a shot. Axl dashed to the side, taking on a bit more ink, but started spraying around him quickly, dipping into the ink to stay ahead of Ethan’s aim. The moment the jet wore out and Ethan was launched back to his starting position, Axl opened fire, knowing exactly where he’d land.

Unfortunately, Ethan got splatted. Which only meant one thing. Axl swore to himself, and proceeded to ink the ground around him quickly in anticipation for Ethan returning to the fight.

When Ethan did indeed respawn and jump down, he did it with a Splashdown, forcing Axl to move quickly to avoid it.

Axl knew he couldn’t hold out forever, not when Ethan could respawn. He had only one option available to him, and that would require getting in range of that Roller.

He focused, gathering up all the ink around him, allowing it coalesce into a solid form around him. Once more, he took on the form of Quick Man.

Ethan seemed confused at first, but resumed his attack, charging and swinging his Roller. Axl zigged and zagged, evading the brunt of the ink coming his way. He had been trained to move and strike quickly, even when surrounded by enemy ink. Quick Man’s form just made it easier.

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As he entered the Roller’s melee range, he held his left hand behind his back, and braced for impact.

Ethan brought the roller down on him, with a painful strike that destroyed the ink construct and heavily damaged his armour. Axl grit his teeth, however, and dived forward, tackling Ethan to the floor.

There was one part of the guise that Axl had shielded from the attack, specifically his hand. He pinned down Ethan with his right arm, and immediately lunged for the green ooze with his left hand, using the ink construct around it as a protective glove as he held on tight and ripped it off of Ethan’s head, tossing it away.

There was a tense moment as Axl waited with baited breath. He just hoped his desperate gambit didn’t cause any permanent damage.

“Ow… Geez, you could’ve been more gentle, my dude,” Ethan laughed weakly, his eyes returning to normal. The only evidence that the ooze had been there to begin with was just a greenish-blue stain on the right side of his head.

“Oh thank cod,” Axl panted, getting off of him. “You alright?”

“Yeah, kinda, feeling a bit woozy but that’s it,” Ethan said, getting up slowly. “Okay, we gotta get that stuff off Ayane and take down that red robot.”

Axl surveyed the battlefield. First thing he noticed, was that Ayane was currently sticking to the UFO, and sniping at Iris from there. X was in a pitched battle with Zero.

And then suddenly X and Iris switched places. Seems Iris had the same realisation that Axl had - she wasn’t going to be able to help Ayane if she couldn’t reach her.

Ayane attempted to snipe at Iris, but X body-blocked the shot with his armour, and was rushing towards the UFO when she suddenly grabbed the rope holding the tied-up Cap’n Cuttlefish, and unhooked it, dangling him over the abyss below, forcing X to stop. “Stop right there, or I’ll drop him.”

“Aw, carp,” Axl frowned. “This ain’t good.”

“You think you can pull off that fancy shapeshifting trick again?” Ethan asked.

“Probably, though it’ll be tricky the further away the ink is from my body,” Axl said.

“Good. I’ll distract her. Grab the Cap’n. Don’t let him fall. When you’re done, focus on Zero. You might need this,” Ethan said, tossing a special weapon can to him, and super-jumping towards the UFO, “AYANE! Snap out of it!”

That actually surprised Ayane, causing her to freeze up. “E-Ethan…!”

Axl caught the can, recognising it as a Splashdown, and rushed towards the UFO as well, spraying as much ink as he could before forming another construct around his arms, and forming Quick Man’s legs, allowing him to run faster.

He leaped and extended his arms forward, just as Ayane let go of the rope.

The arms managed to grab onto the Cap’n just in the nick of time, and he retracted them quickly, causing a bit of a tumble as the old man collided with him.

He groaned, sitting up, and looked up to see Ethan and X pinning Ayane down, the latter tearing away the green mass from her head.

Then he heard Iris scream in pain. He spun around to see Iris struggling to hold back Zero - she had taken a nasty gash to the chest.

Thinking quickly, Axl gripped his Octo Buster, switched to buster mode, and charged Zero, firing off a charged shot, which hit the red robot in the back. He charged again, and with a second shot, as Zero spun around, he knocked the beam saber out of his hand. “Don’t you dare hurt her-”

Zero just laughed, dashing forward and tackling Axl to the ground, and started punching him, causing Axl to scream in pain as he raised his arms to protect his head.

He was cornered, and wouldn’t last long at this rate. So he did the only thing he could think of. He activated the Splashdown.

He shot into the air, surprising Zero, and came back down on top of him, roaring in pain and fury as he slammed himself down onto the red robot with an explosion of ink.

Then he realised that Dr. Light didn’t include a special limiter in his new gear. So he abused it for all its worth. He struck two more times, slamming himself down onto Zero and covering him with more and more ink.

He panted as he stood over the battered body of his opponent. Zero groaned, trying to reach up towards him, before he went limp, body powering down.

“Is… Is it over?” Iris asked, stumbling over to him.

“Y-Yeah. I think it is,” Axl nodded, as X, Ethan and Ayane rushed over.

❖

The elevator began to move again as the four agents made good use of the medicinal sprays, taking the moment to have a well-deserved rest.

Iris could feel the lingering pain from her injuries, but she felt much better already. It was over. They had actually won.

“Hey. Sorry about all that,” Ayane said. “That red robot showed up, and then that stupid Telephone surprised us. I really should’ve smashed that thing up when we had the chance.”

“You didn’t know it could do that to you,” Axl shook his head. “We managed to get through this in one piece, so it could’ve been worse.”

“No kidding! Oh, man, I am STARVING after that big fight!” Ethan laughed. “I wanna take you guys on in a proper Turf War, you’re really skilled!”

“Thank you,” Iris smiled. She glanced at Zero, still covered in ink and inactive. “X… Are you sure we shouldn’t destroy him?”

“As long as he’s covered in ink, he won’t have enough power to reactivate on his own,” X said. “I know someone who can fix him up. Maybe make him sane again. I just hope deep down he’s not a bad guy. If he is… Well, I’ll deal with that if it comes to it.”

The elevator stopped, and the railings retracted, revealing the way out - a long, white ladder leading to a hatch up above.

“Iris. You can go first,” Axl smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be up there with you. You’ve been wanting to reach the surface the most. I think it’s only fair.”

Iris nodded, and took a deep breath, as she walked over to the ladder, taking the long climb up. She was exhausted, but this was the final stretch. She needed to do this.

She groaned as she reached the peak, the ladder taking a 45-degree turn to reach the hatch. She could see the sunlight peeking through. But if she fell-

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

She blinked as a hand reached out, clasping hers. Right above her, surrounded by the dim morning light, was an Inkling girl. She recognised that voice from the radio - it was Artemis. Iris gasped. “Y-You’re…”

“Nice to finally meet you, Iris,” Artemis smiled, as she grabbed onto Iris’ arm with both hands and pulled her up. “We were watching that whole fight on the way here. We only just got here, otherwise, well, we would’ve helped.”

Iris then realised that she was surrounded by other Inklings - three boys, and three girls. They wasted no time with helping Axl, Ethan, Ayane and the Cap’n up and onto the surface, along with helping X haul Zero up as well.

Iris barely acknowledged what was going on behind her. She was too busy staring off into the distance. The early morning light illuminated the city in the distance, and the water surrounding the facility. She could feel the wind against her face. Tears began to well up. “Please tell me I’m not dreaming…”

“I could slap you if you want me to,” Artemis said, supporting her with her shoulder. “Would that help?”

Iris giggled. “No, thank you… My earlier injuries are painful enough, but I appreciate it.”

“YOOOOOOOOOO! IRIS!”

Walking over to them were Pearl and Marina. Granted, Iris had never actually seen Pearl before, but the voice was enough for her to recognise her. “It’s finally over! You guys were amazing!”

“We can finally breathe easy, now,” Marina smiled. “Welcome home, Iris.”

Iris let the tears flow. “Marina… Thank yo-”

And then Pearl proceeded to completely ruin the moment by rushing past them and immediately continuing her rap battle with Craig. Though, in a way, Iris didn’t mind. They needed the levity after all of that. Also, another Octoling rushed past, to check on X. Wait, isn’t that Ciel from the robotics depart-

“Looks like Gramps really is taking his new hobby seriously,” remarked a new voice. Walking over in their own Hero Suits, were…

Oh.

OH.

Iris squealed in delight. “You’re… YOU’RE THE SQUID SISTERS!”

“Did you say the Squid Sisters?!” Axl rushed up. “It is them! AYO!”

“Oh, cool, we have Octoling fans!” Callie grinned. Though then she laid her eyes on Axl, and started blushing. “O-Oh, nice to meet you…”

“He’s pretty cute, isn’t he, Callie?” Marie smirked.

Callie grumbled something about “throwing my words back in my face” as she looked down, flustered.

“Agent 1, Agent 2,” Ethan said, walking over and saluting with a grin. “Thanks for coming to pick us up.”

“Hey,” Ayane came over with a wave.

“Wow you guys look terrible,” Callie said. “Is Gramps alright?”

“Got tied up again, but other than that, could be worse,” Cap’n Cuttlefish remarked, as he walked over. “Agent 1, Agent 2… Good work holding down the fort while we were gone. Sorry if I worried you.”

“As long as you’re okay, Gramps, it’s fine,” Callie smiled.

“We’ll have time to socialise later. Let’s get you to Inkopolis,” Marie said, gesturing to the hover-truck close by. “You can take the truck or the heli, your choice.”

Iris took note of both the truck (driven by a horseshoe crab who waved to them) and the helicopter hovering nearby, the latter of which carried a black platform, likely some kind of mobile stage. “Well, I-”

Suddenly, the entire facility began to shift beneath their feet. No words were needed, everyone scrambled either for the truck or super-jumped to the helicopter platform. Most of the agents and X opted for the latter, while Pearl and Marina retreated to the chopper itself.

As they got clear of the facility, it rose out of the water, revealing an enormous statue that looked almost marble… And in the likeness of a human being.

They weren’t out of the woods just yet.

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