Chapter 7: Attack

"GAAHHH!"

Agent A looked behind her to see Agent 3 flying towards them, with his blank expression and his sword raised above his head. Reflexes kicked in, and she kicked Agent 5 away before letting go of Agent 4's flying squid body. She narrowly dodged a swing of Agent 3's sword.

Agent 4 reached the Grapplink and immediately pulled out her Slosher, ready to fling at any moment. She watched Agent 3 hurdle towards her, still airborne. He appeared to be clicking a button on his belt...

Suddenly, Agent 3 flashed with light, his tentacles glowing brilliantly.. His body began coating with glossy blue ink, and a circular hologram appeared around her.

"Splashdown!" Agent 4 yelled, as she dived out of the way before Agent 3 hit the ground in a swirl of ink. Agent 5 slammed down beside her, while Agent A landed gracefully. They all readied their weapons.

The Splashdown faded away, revealing Agent 3 recovering from the attack. His expression stayed blank, but he emitted an aura of annoyance that the team could sense. He reached for another button on his belt, and he flashed with light once again.

The team gasped.

"He has his special again!" Agent 5 exclaimed. "How did he charge it so quickly?!'

Agent 3 pulled out an Autobomb Launcher and rested it on his shoulders. He began firing immediately.

"A different special, too?!" Agent 5 yelled, astonished. The team covered the ground in ink and swam around to avoid all of the bombs. Right before they could recover, they had to find a wall to hide behind to avoid the shots of Agent 3's Inkjet.

"There's no way we'll be able to fight him if he keeps spamming these specials!" Agent 4 said. "We have to get those hypnoshades off him!"

"Alright, but how do we—"

SLAM!

The team dodged an attack from the Ultra Stamp and began to run away.

"Someone has to get incredibly close!" Agent A gasped. "Agent 4, you try to get ahead; we'll distract him!"

Agent 4 nodded. She turned to see Agent 3 hurl the Ultra Stamp towards them. She took a deep breath and then leaped in the air. She focused on the flying projectile spinning towards her… and caught it right out of the air!

With a few midair spins, she threw the stamp back towards Agent 3. He barely dodged the counter-attack before he was hit with a wall of green ink from Agent 5, who had already made his way beside Agent 3.

He readied another fling and swung his roller again, but Agent 3 parried the attack with his sword. Agent 3 went for a slice at his torso, but Agent A shot him in the back before he could. The two agents peppers Agent 3 with green ink, but many attacks were dodged or parried.

The entire time the fight occurred, every prisoner on the other side of the hall cheered on the infiltrating side. Through the muffling of the gags, all the Inklings cheered on for the New Squidbeak Splatoon as they bombarded Agent 3 with attacks. This fight was their glimmer of hope.

The moment an opening was found, Agent 3 striked. He drove his boot into Agent 5's stomach as he prepared to fire and his fist into Agent A's chest. The two agents were launched backwards and landed with a heavy thump. The crowd of prisoners all groaned in response.

Agent 3 gripped his sword. He slowly walked towards Agent 5 and stood before his head. Agent 5 stared at his emotionless face as Agent 3, once more, raised the sword and prepared to strike—

Snip!

Agent 3 snapped his head around to see Agent 4 with a pair of scissors.

"What's up?"

WHAM!

Agent 4 threw a meaty punch at Agent 3's face, causing his head to jerk back and the hypnoshades to fall off. They both hit the ground with a SLAM, along with a now separated piece of elastic.

Agent 3 groaned and slowly stood back up, his eyes shut. The other agents came to Agent 4's side as he made his way to his feet. He stood without motion, but his fists were clenched and his torso was straight. His face was still blank.

"...Hello?" Agent 4 said, puzzled, as she waved a hand in front of Agent 3's face. "...Are you un-hypnotised?"

His hand suddenly grabbed her arm with a deathly grip. His eyes flashed open, to reveal a ferocious stare that could cut through diamonds. His eyes had changed from a deep blue to an acidic fuschia colour. Agent 4 hastily tried to pull her arm away without success. The other agents reached for their weapons, to find that they were flung halfway across the hall.

Agent 3 slowly leaned forwards, staring through her soul, until he was mere inches away from her face.

"...Bold of you to assume I was hypnotised."

...kept you waiting, huh?

Long story short, Octo Expansion caused me to nearly abandon this project. Also life and school and blah blah blah.

I've decided to make this story take place pre-Octo Expansion. I have some great new ideas as to where I can take the story using what I've set up for myself, and how it can lead to the Octo Expansion. However, I've had to scrap some of my old ideas. Most of them will still work in the context of this new direction, though.

I can't promise regular updates, but I can say that I probably won't take two years to update the story. Can't guarantee anything, though.

Thanks for sticking around, and if you have any criticism, please feel free to share it!

(I'll keep these footers short in the future I promise ;-;)