The Power of Girls

With the promise of the end goal fueling my every action, I got to work passing the remaining tests. I ascended towers full of Sanitized Octarians, kept my balance as I slid along thin ride rails, carried another one of those Rainmaker weapons, and kept my patience when guiding more of those wretched 8-balls. As I participated in these exercises of the mind and body and consumed the mem cake rewards, my sense of being became increasingly developed. No longer did I feel as though I was a larva lost in the vast ocean. I was now 98% aware of who I was and what history I experienced. As a side note, I also became moderately proficient in hearing Inklish. I was still awkward with my speaking skills, however. But that is besides the point. Going back to my psyche, why was I missing 2% of it? That was because I still had 2 more tests to finish. Pearl confronted me in the messaging app, saying that there was no need for me to complete every single mission that was available, but I disagreed. Not only did my thoroughness ensure that I reclaimed all of my memories, but it also greatly pleased both C.Q. Cumber and Iso Padre. In my eyes, those are benefits that make the tedium of this whole journey worthwhile. Now, with success in sight, I took a deep breath and made my way to the penultimate challenge area.

"Applicant 10,008," said C.Q. Cumber as I entered the station, "Your ride is almost completed. Fitting of the situation, this will be one of the most challenging trials you'll ever endure. Allow me to brief you on what you must do, please." He raised his frontal section towards me, explaining, "Your goal is to play defensive. A consortium of Octolings will be approaching you from every direction. They will not be so focused on splatting you as they will be on damaging and destroying an orb in the center of the room. You must not allow them to do this; protect the orb for 5 minutes or you fail. In order to prevent your enemies from winning, you may use the weapon that best suits you; a selection can be found past that turnstile. Do you understand?" I gave an affirmative nod and answered, "I fully understand." The sea cucumber lowered his head and said, "Excellent. Do your best out there." I smiled before using my card to pay the entrance fee. It was nice to see that the conductor was taking a liking to me.

I ended up on the other side of the doors to see an array of weapons organized on their shelves. I noticed the likes of a Splattershot, Blaster, and a Slosher, among other things. "Say," stated Cuttlefish, "Why not take that Bamboozler over there? I remember my glory days in the war; that trusty weapon never failed me!" Pearl said to me in her language, "Choose the Splat Dualies! You'll be styling all over these folks with your sick rolls!" Marina then suggested in the same language, "Personally, I would take the Splat Brella. It's always good to have protection!" I tapped my cheek, trying to think about which choice was correct. After some pondering, a light switched on in my brain. Why did I not think of this sooner? I walked confidently over to the Octobrush and held it up, stating, "This is my choice. I remember using the Octobrush well in my earlier life." Marina responded, "Oh, that weapon? It's a little simple, but you sound sure of yourself. Go get em, Basstian!" I allowed my purple ink to flow into the bristles of the Octobrush through my palms before using the launch pad in front of me to leap to the arena.

As soon as I arrived, I saw jets of green ink erupt from a wall in the distance. "Ahoy," exclaimed Cuttlefish, "You've got trouble inbound at 12:00!" I pressed my Octobrush to the ground, a calm smile on my face. Splatting the invader would be a cinch with my weapon's speed. So, I dashed to the north, using my ink to hasten my steps. Once I reached the Sanitized Octoling, who was using a Splattershot, I promptly smacked it to death with my tool's bristles. I spun my Octobrush around and floated, "Simple as that. I believe that this test will be quite easy going forward." As I was saying that, I heard an urgent beeping sound coming from the center of the arena. Alerted by this noise, I ran over to the orb to see that it was being slammed by an Octoling that was using a Splat Roller. "Woah, wait a second!" I shouted, "Get away from there, you fiend!" I confronted the enemy, quickly eliminating it before it could do any more harm. Before I could rest for even a moment, a powerful shot of greenish ink struck the sphere. I looked in the direction that the stream came from to see that another Octoling was sniping from a perch! I was forced to run over and paint the wall leading up to the ranger, swimming upwards so that I could splat the pest. Not even a tic later, yet another Octoling with a Blaster approached the orb, causing major damage to the object with its exploding bullets. I jumped down and sighed heavily. How were these people arriving so quickly? I wound up my Octobrush and prepared to teach my unwanted guest a lesson before discovering an unfortunate fact: I had ran out of ink! "Dang," said Pearl, "That sucks." While I was trying to refuel, the sanitized creature kept blasting away, eventually causing the orb to turn from a bright white to a dull grey. "Test failed," said C.Q. Cumber as a balloon inflated on my back, "You've let the orb get destroyed." I gave one last glare at the greenish Octoling, who was standing stone-still, before I was blown up.

"Wow," said Marina as I appeared back at the entrance, "That was…a lot." She was absolutely correct. At first, I thought that going on the defensive for 5 minutes would not be very taxing, but it was clear now that this test would take a lot of skill. "Y'know," said Cuttlefish, "I wouldn't rely too much on that Octobrush, if I were you. A good battler uses everything at his disposal, including your bombs!" I opened the sub weapons compartment in the handle of my Octobrush to find a Splat Bomb. I shook my head in embarrassment before saying, "Oh, yes, my mistake. These tools slipped my mind." I faced forward and marched towards the launch pad, continuing, "Thank you for the reminder, Cuttlefish! I should be ready now." I Super Jumped back into action, telling myself that this test, while challenging, would not be overly difficult. After all, I was still only asked to last 5 minutes, was I not? I would be fine.

I did not do fine. Although I was given 5 chances, I ended up failing 3 more times. Every attempt was the same, too; I ran forward with my Octobrush, splatted the 1st Sanitized Octoling that appeared, ran back to the orb to make sure that no one was attacking it, splatted anyone that did, refilled my ink reserves, ran towards another Octoling that jumped in, and repeated the process. Yet, I kept on messing up at some point during all of my attempts. I simply could not run fast enough to handle the incessant Octolings without wasting all of my ink. Now, with one attempt left before I had to repay the entrance fee, I was starting to lose my patience. "Confound it all!" I said angrily while clutching my afro, "Why must this be so difficult? I am a master with this Octobrush! Why am I failing so often?" I paced around in frustration, my arms crossed behind my back as I formed negative thoughts. "Hey," said Marina, "Could I offer a suggestion?" I looked at the floor and grumbled, "Any help at all would be appreciated." Marina then stated, "I think the problem is that you're being too offensive. When you run around all willy-nilly like that, you distance yourself from the thing you're trying to protect! Not to mention that your sliding wastes ink. Why not just chill out and act as a sentry?" I halted my steps. Act as a sentry? Could that work? I thought about it; staying still did not seem right to me as a melee-user, but I was running out of options. "Now that you mention it," I answered, "This could be a good idea. I shall try it." With that, I jumped back to the orb for what I hoped to be the final time.

I landed and, unlike the previous times, refrained from rushing the first enemy. Instead, I allowed it to approach before cutting it off with some slaps from my brush. Because I did not move from my spot, I was able to notice an Octoling approaching from the right with its Splat Roller. After handling that nuisance, I was in position to detect and throw a Splat Bomb at an Octarian that tried to approach with its Splat Charger. "See that?" said Marina, "There's no need to rush things. As they say, the best offense is a good defense!" As I splatted an Octoling that was pushing with a Blaster, Pearl retorted, "Yeah, but 'they' also say that the best defense is a good offense!" I replenished my reserve as Marina countered, "Pearlie, which do you think is more important in this case?" I prepared myself to handle a Slosher-wielding foe as Pearl answered, "A good offense, duh! What, do you want to have a Splatfest to decide?" As I wondered what exactly a Splatfest was, Marina replied, "Come on, Pearlie, let's not go there. But…if we did have a Splatfest, I would definitely win." The two friends continued to argue, causing Cuttlefish to intervene, "Settle down, girls, Agent 8's trying to focus!" I finished slipping behind and defeating an Octoling that was holding a Splat Brella before replying, "Do not worry about me. I have learnt the strategy by now! These sanitized scourges are just throwing themselves into the grinder at this point. How much time do I have left, anyhow?" Marina answered, "Let's see…oh, you only have a minute left to go! How time flies." I smiled; things were really looking up for me.

At that moment, everything seemed to die down. I began to wonder if I had eliminated every opponent before I saw one final jet of ink coming from in front of me. "Hold on," said Marina, "Is that what I think it is?" She paused. "Oh, carp!" she exclaimed, "There's an Elite Sanitized Octoling over there! And she's rolling straight to your location with a Baller!" Pearl added, "Now's the time to switch gears, Basstian. Get off your butt and go splat that fool!" I hurriedly jumped down and used my fluids to dash towards the incoming enemy. Once I reached it, I smacked the Baller with as force as I could muster, hoping to either slow it down or destroy it. While I was unable to achieve the former, I was making progress with the latter. Still, the seaweed-wearing Octolings kept on moving, and I was starting to run low on energy. When the Baller was halfway to the orb, Cuttlefish shouted, "Keep on pushing, Agent 8! You can't throw in the towel just yet! Stay focused until the very end!" The Inkling's motivational words, which were somewhat unexpected coming from him, spurred me to accelerate my actions. Letting out a battle cry, I squeezed some extra fluid out of my ink sac and swiped harder than I ever did. The Octoling was now inches away from the orb, and it looked about ready to activate its self-destructed mechanism. However, by exerting myself as much as possible, I was able to disable the special weapon, causing the Baller to break apart along with the Sanitized Octoling. "Congratulations," said C.Q. Cumber, "You have passed. Please return to the station." Everyone cheered as I sat down in exhaustion, thoroughly tired from all the work I did. After collecting myself, I raised my fist to the ceiling and declared, "I have won!"