non-stop shooting of Ink was heard throughout the arena, but also specifically louder in one location. Charlotte blasted her 3 bursts of her Cherry H-3 at Yumi, and Yumi swiftly dodged Charlotte's shots, firing off shots of her own at her. Charlotte jumped in the air and fired 2 rounds of burst shots at Yumi, but Yumi avoided them both and saw Charlotte pull out her splashwall, then throw it at Yumi like a spear after landing back on her feet.

Yumi quickly moved to the side and pulled out her splat bomb, throwing it straight at Charlotte, and Charlotte responded by jumping over to the side, and the bomb flew past her and exploded behind her. but when Charlotte moved her body, she saw Yumi waiting for her with her dualie Squelchers, pulling the trigger and shooting at Charlotte, but Charlotte turned into her Octopus form and dove into the ink, swimming away from Yumi and jumping out of the Ink, turning back into her human form, glaring straight at Yumi from a distance.

Charlotte: not bad.....

Yumi:......

Charlotte: keeping yourself silent......just like before.....some things never change.

Charlotte's tentacles glowed, then she summoned her bubble blower, holding it behind her like a baseball bat..

Charlotte: especial stream.....

Charlotte blew a bubble and it instantly turned solid like a jawbreaker, the solid bubble was shaped exactly like a heart, and when Charlotte walked up to it, she gently touched it with her sharp finger, making it explode and create multiple sharp shards floating around her, then she raised her finger and pointed straight at Yumi.

Charlotte: Fallen shards from a broken heart......

The shards quickly flew towards Yumi, attempting to impale her, but Yumi quickly dodged the shards by running to the side and sliding with her dualie Squelchers. Yumi shot at one of the shards, then suddenly saw it explode near her.

Charlotte: my shards are made from explosive ink....one single touch with anything will cause it to explode....and if a shard impaled you.......it'll explode, splatting you from the inside out.

Yumi let out a grunt as she dashed and tried her hardest to dodge the shards and explosions that they created from impaling the nearby trees. Yumi noticed another jump pad near her, so she quickly ran over to it and jumped on it, bouncing high in the air as the shards followed her.

Yumi dove back down towards the ground, turning herself into her Octopus form and swiftly maneuvering through the shards, passing by all of them and turning into her human form again, turning around and grabbing a splat bomb and throwing it at the barrage of shards midair. The Splat bomb exploded the second it made contact with the shards, causing a huge explosion of ink in the sky.

Yumi shot down at Charlotte from the sky, and Charlotte jumped back just as Yumi landed on the ground, then instantly dashed straight towards Charlotte, giving her no time whatsoever. Yumi held her dualies straight up at Charlotte's face, getting ready to pull the trigger, but....Charlotte didn't have any sense of change in her face whatsoever. Just as Yumi was about to shoot her, she saw Charlotte tightly grip her bubble blower, making Yumi realize what was going to happen, causing her to hesitate a little.

Yumi jumped back from Charlotte and saw her loosen her grip on her bubble blower, making her predictions correct. Charlotte clipped her bubble blower onto her back, slightly surprised from Yumi.

Charlotte: so you knew that I was going to counter your attack?.....

Yumi:....

Charlotte:.....very observant....But....

Yumi saw Charlotte move way quicker than usual, actually catching her off guard. Yumi quickly turned her head and saw Charlotte right behind her, and in a split second, Charlotte clenched her fist and attempted to punch Yumi, and Yumi held one of her dualies up to the side of her head, barely managing to block the quick and strong punch.

Charlotte: now I'll start showing you what I'm truly capable of.

Yumi aimed her other dualie at Charlotte, pulling the trigger and shooting at her, but Charlotte was too fast, and she quickly jumped out of the way and took her bubble blower off her back again, blowing the two remaining bubbles and snapping her fingers, which made the bubbles glow.

Charlotte: especial stream......Burning betrayal.

The two bubbles turned solid exactly like Charlotte's previous especial stream, falling down onto the ground, then the two solid bubbles formed glowing demonic faces and razor blades all around them.

The two bubbles started to spin towards Yumi like the tire of a car, or the Octowhirl from Octo Canyon, boosting straight at Yumi and making her jump back to avoid them, running through the woods and seeing one of the solid bubbles straight behind her, so she jumped in the air and let the solid bubble hit a nearby tree, then bounce off of it like a pinball, heading straight back towards Yumi once more.

Yumi landed on one of her feet, then quickly shifted her momentum and body to BARELY manage dodge it. Yumi then saw the other bubble heading straight towards her quicker than the last, giving her barely anytime to escape from the attack. Yumi jumped out of the way, but got her arm slightly cut in the process, letting out a little grunt from it.

Charlotte: why aren't you trying your best?......I know you're holding back....

Yumi didn't reply to Charlotte, and continued to jump around and dodge her razor bubbles, but as Yumi started to get a little tired, the bubbles got faster and stronger, becoming more and more difficult to avoid. Yumi grunted after getting her thigh cut by another bubble razor when she jumped over it, and she quickly pulled out a splat bomb and slammed it straight into one of the bubbles, blasting it back and cracking it, but not destroying it.

Charlotte: the longer they're on the battlefield...the stronger and faster they get due to their bloodlust. Destroying one would take over 4 Ink Tanks worth of ink....it's useless.

The two bubbles began to chase after Yumi again, and Yumi dodged away while shooting at the bubbles, barely managing to shift her body to avoid getting sliced in half and splatted. Yumi looked over to her side and saw a jump pad on the ground, which she instantly ran to and jumped on, launching her high in the sky, and just as Yumi was about to catch her breath, she noticed someone above her high in the sky.

Yumi turned around and saw Charlotte high up with her, raising her leg up to kick her. Before Yumi could even react, Charlotte axe kicked her straight on her head, quickly launching her down onto the ground, destroying the surrounding dirt and grass.

Harlow: A SMACKDOWN FROM CHARLOTTE!! LOOKS LIKE YUMI JUST GOT DENIIIIIIED!!

Yumi's vision was blurry, constant ringing was heard from her ears, she couldn't stop shaking her body from the pain. Blood leaked from her forehead and even her nose, digging her claws into the dirt and trying her best to push herself back up, barely managing to lift her head and look forward to see a figure running towards  her while screaming her name.

Yumi: *pant*..........*pant*........*pant*...

Coraline: Yumi!!

Coraline kneeled down next to Yumi and saw the blood begin to trail from Yumi's mouth as well. Yumi coughed and her body shook more and more, and all Coraline could do was sit there and shake in fear.

Coraline: what h-happened?!!

Yumi:.....

Coraline: w-what do you want me to do?!!

Yumi:.....the......clam....

Coraline:......the what?

Yumi barely managed to lift her finger and point over in the distance to show Coraline the diamond clam that was laying in the grass.

Yumi: forget.....about me....

Coraline: but I can't!

Yumi: take the clam and deliver it to our basket!!!

Coraline:......

Yumi: take it and go!! We have to win for her!! For Bella-

Just then, Coraline was knocked back by the force of Charlotte rocketing down towards Yumi, kicking Yumi straight in the face and dragging her across the dirt with force.

Charlotte took her shoe off of Yumi's face and kneeled down to her, grabbing her by her tentacles and lifting her face up, looking dead at her face and putting her H-3 up to her head.

Charlotte:.......I can't believe I actually trusted you back then......someone so selfish and greedy.......I cared for you deeply back then......

Yumi:..........

Charlotte: throughout your whole life....you have never earned anything, Yumi.......all you do is take from others to benefit yourself.......i hate it.....so much.....how can you even live with yourself?...

Yumi:........

Charlotte: you stole your sister's pride....you stole my life........you stole my father.........who knows......you most likely stole Isabella from someone as well......you don't care for others....

Charlotte tightened her grip on Yumi's tentacles and slightly gritted her teeth at the Octo, still getting no response out of her.

Charlotte: what did you even see me as, Yumi?.....why aren't you going all out!?

Yumi:......I......

Charlotte saw Yumi slowly move her lips, but no words seeped through, making her scoff at Yumi before splatting her with her H-3.

Charlotte:.......I hate you......

Charlotte looked off in the distance and saw the trail of her team ink leading off in the woods, making her sigh and dash in the direction of the trailing ink.

Coraline ran through the woods with the diamond clam in her hand, but then, heard a loud rushing noise from behind her. Coraline turned around and saw the bubbles dashing towards her at rapid speed, making her panic and quickly jump up to avoid one. Coraline tried her hardest to avoid all of the rapid attacks from the two bubbles, but she still ended up getting slightly cut in the process.

Coraline tripped and fell on the grass, dropping the diamond clam, and just as she was going to go grab it, she turned around and saw the solid bubbles rolling towards her, ready to squish her. Coraline put her hands up and braced for the worst, but then....the bubbles stopped right in front of her randomly. Coraline sat and looked straight at the bubble that was 2 inches away from shredding her to pieces, but then, the bubbles randomly backed away from Coraline, moving away to the side to show Charlotte walking up to her, which made Coraline's body completely freeze up.

Charlotte:.........so.....my predictions were correct........

Coraline:........

Charlotte: you......were indeed the inkling that I saw on the train....and in the cafeteria yesterday.........Coraline.

Coraline saw Charlotte walk over to her even more, then kneel down in front of her, reaching out to her, which made her shake even more, but then felt Charlotte gently place her hand on her cheek, looking her in her eyes in an emotionless state.

Charlotte:.......why would you associate yourself with someone like her?......

Coraline:.........I.............I-I.......

Charlotte:........

Coraline:.......*looks away*....

Charlotte:.......I see.......I'm not surprised that you're still scared of me......after all....

Coraline saw Charlotte back away from her, then look down at her own claws, letting out a tiny sigh.

Charlotte: we are the monsters that crawled up from the underground, correct?....

Coraline:.........

Charlotte picked up the diamond clam and turned away from Coraline, but turned her head slightly at her, looking at her from the corner of her eye.

Charlotte: you don't belong here....you were never meant for the battlefield.

Coraline:........

Charlotte: go back home........you're not strong enough......go and enjoy your life outside of this war zone.

Charlotte began to walk away, but then heard Coraline let out a scared battle cry, dashing up behind her and shooting at her. Charlotte quickly dodged Coraline's shots and grabbed her wrist, preventing her from shooting her N-Zap anymore.

Coraline:....*grunts*.....

Charlotte:.........fine......

Instead of splatting her, Charlotte dragged Coraline by her wrist and forcefully threw her through the woods, then pointed towards her with her bubbles by her side.

Charlotte: keep her away from me....

Just as the bubbles were both about to dash towards Coraline, both of them were shot and pierced by a stream of sharp ink, but luckily Charlotte was able to jump out of the way, only to see her bubbles shatter and sink into the ink on the ground.

Charlotte:......who.......

???: e-excuse me!!

Charlotte looked over and saw an Inkling girl whimpering and holding her Luna blaster and shaking in fear from just looking at her, which only confused Charlotte from the girl.

Cosmo:.....m-my name is cosmo! And....I......

Charlotte:......

Cosmo:....p-please....can I get.....that clam in your hand?......

Charlotte:.....excuse me?

Cosmo: I-I'm sorry! It's just....I don't wanna....hurt you.....so please give me the clam and we can go our separate ways please!

Charlotte:.......you really are a pathetic warrior.....you expect me to just give you the clam without any type of challenge?

Cosmo: b-because I don't wanna.....cause any harm to you....

Charlotte: you make me sick.....

Cosmo: huh!?

Charlotte: get out of my face before I splat you.

Cosmo:......*whimpers* I-I refuse! I need that clam! I can't let them down!

Charlotte:.......huh......so be it.

Charlotte dashed at Cosmo, making slight ripples in the ink at her feet, then she aimed her H-3 straight at Cosmo's head, shooting her with all three shots, then Charlotte slid on the ink, stopping herself and standing with the diamond clam trailing behind her, victorious, yet disappointed from the quick and easy battle.

Charlotte:......*tsk*......how do weaklings like you even get in here?

Cosmo: d-don't....*sniff* call me a weakling!

Charlotte's eyes widened in shock and she slowly turned her head around to still see Cosmo standing and holding in tears, confusing Charlotte and seeing Cosmo slowly and unsteadily lift her Luna blaster up at her.

Charlotte:......(how.......is she still standing?..........I shot her.....with all three shots.......)...

Cosmo: mmm...t-take this!

Cosmo whimpered and shot her Luna blaster at Charlotte, but Charlotte quickly dodged to the side and dashed at Cosmo once more.

Cosmo: g-gah! Why are you so fast?!

Charlotte: (must've been a misfire....)

Charlotte quickly thrusted her H-3 forward and punched Cosmo straight in the stomach with it, shooting her weapon once more and hitting all of her burst shots at point blank range, but Cosmo.....didn't explode in ink, she instead was knocked back and began to sniffle even more from Charlotte.

Charlotte:.......the hell?........

Cosmo: p-please stop shooting me! I just want the clam!

Charlotte:...........hm......now I see......

Cosmo: s-see what?...

Charlotte: that's your especial stream.....extreme durability.....isn't it? You can take more damage than any average cephalopod.......

Cosmo:.......

Charlotte: I'll just have to break through that durability of yours. everyone has a limit to their especial stream.....and my power will exceed your defenses

Charlotte gripped her H-3 harder and her tentacles began to glow once more, Staring down Cosmo as her low tide flowed throughout her body.

Charlotte:......especial stream.....Low Tide enhancement.......burst rush.....

Charlotte quickly dashed straight at Cosmo, too fast for the inkling to even react. Charlotte quickly aimed her H-3 at Cosmo and began to unload a barrage of burst shots straight at her, hitting her over and over again. Within mid burst, Charlotte summoned her bubble blower and kicked Cosmo straight in her stomach, high into the sky.

Charlotte: Ruinous......

Charlotte summoned her three bubbles and they all combined into a giant massive bubble, Charlotte pierced the bubble with her H-3 and the bubble absorbed into her weapon, making it glow. Charlotte aimed her H-3 at Cosmo in the sky, glaring at her with her finger on the trigger.

Charlotte: Retribution!

Charlotte fired her H-3, and instead of a burst, the shot came out as a strong single shot that pierced into Cosmo's body, causing a massive ink explosion in the sky. Charlotte's low tide faded from her eyes as her hair stopped glowing, grabbing her chest and breathing a little heavy.

Charlotte:.......that's enough.....I must conserve energy for my centerline match.......I'll hold out for now......let that be a lesson to you.....

Charlotte began to walk away, but just as we turned away, Cosmo landed back onto the ground and stood right in front of Charlotte, wiping the tears from her eyes and whimpering even more, but Charlotte just stood there....completely stunned from the girl.......without a single scratch on her body whatsoever.

Charlotte:.....(impossible......I didn't even faze her.......)

Charlotte looked down at her H-3 to see it slightly letting out steam from it's previous attack.

Charlotte:......(.....even durability has it's limitations......I would've at least seen some damage inflicted onto her somehow......but nothing)......

Cosmo: *sniff* I warned you....I warned you!....y-you're being such a meanie! Why won't you just give me the clam!?

Cosmo started to cry and whine, and more tears came flowing down her face, stomping on the ground like a child and pointing straight at Charlotte.

Cosmo: COMEEEEET!!

Just then, Charlotte felt the dark presence of an Inkling behind her, and Charlotte quickly turned her head around to see the barrel of a splattershot pro right in her face, but before the trigger was pulled, Charlotte quickly pushed the weapon upwards, but then she received a hard slash across her hip, making her grunt a little as the black figure dashed past her and stopped next to Cosmo.

Charlotte held her hip in pain and looked over at Cosmo to finally get a decent view of the figure. The cephalopod was very short and had light skin, with a hood covering their head. Charlotte saw the figure hold up the diamond clam to Cosmo and gently hand it to her, making Cosmo stop whimpering and hug it while sniffling a little.

Charlotte, shocked, quickly looked behind her to see that the diamond clam was gone, with the figure taking it from her so fast that she didn't even notice.

Charlotte:.....(she.............but how?).....

Cosmo:....t-thank you....little sister....

Charlotte saw the girl turn around and slowly take off her hood to show her galaxy looking tentacles along with her purple eyes. The girl held a kensa splattershot pro, glaring straight at Charlotte, but Charlotte didn't flinch in fear, she instead corrected herself by correcting her stance with her H-3, then looked straight back at the girl.

Cosmo: T-This is comet! My cute little sister! And now she's gonna kick your butt!

Comet:.......

Charlotte:.....well then.....this just got quite interesting.

Charlotte quickly dashed at Comet and shot her H-3 at her, and Comet moved to the side, jumping in the air and shooting down at Charlotte. Charlotte pulled out a splash wall and ran with it like a riot shield, blocking Comet's shots, then she quickly threw her splash wall at Comet, seeing her use her kensa pro to hit and deflect it, placing her feet on the trunk of a tree and launching herself at Charlotte, throwing a splat bomb at her.

Charlotte kicked the bomb away and aimed her H-3 straight at the dashing Comet, shooting at her, but Comet turned into her squid form and swam through the ink, undetected by Charlotte.

Charlotte:.....(Ninja squid......)...alright then...

Charlotte closed her eyes and focused on trying to hear where Comet was, then, Charlotte heard a splash out of the ink, signaling that Comet emerged to attack from behind. Charlotte quickly turned around, but was met face to face with a splat bomb.

Charlotte:.....(neat trick.........but I'm not that foolish)

Charlotte held out her hand with the intent on using a splash wall, but nothing appeared in her hand, shocking her when she heard a beep from her ink tank, signaling that she didn't have enough ink for her splash wall. Charlotte turned around and saw Comet removing her hand from her ink tank, extracting a lot of her ink.

Charlotte: (she took the ink from my tank!?.....)

Just as the splat bomb was going to explode, it quickly shifted and moved to another location, exploding away from Charlotte. Charlotte looked over and saw Sho jump from the trees and shoot down at Comet, but Comet quickly jumped away from his shots and landed on her feet just as he landed next to Charlotte.

Sho:....*looks at her*.....

Charlotte:.....I'm fine.....thank you...

Charlotte looked behind herself and at her ink tank, but she didn't even see her ink regenerating back into her tank, making her let out an annoying sigh.

Charlotte: careful......she can extract your ink from your tank.....and once she does.....it'll limit you, and you cannot get it back....

Sho:.......*looks at her tank*.....

Charlotte: I'm down to only 30% of ink now......I cannot provide splash walls, but I can still lend assistance.

Sho:.....*nods*.....

The two stared straight at Comet, who readied her kensa splattershot pro, but just as the three were about to engage in battle, the speaker of the commentator stands sounded off, catching everyone's attention.

Harlow: HALFTIME HAS BEEN MET!! HEAD BACK TO YOUR BASKET FOR A 5 MINUTE BREAK, THEN WE'LL SWITCH TEAMS!!

Charlotte:.........*tsk*......

Charlotte looked over at Comet and saw her already walking away with her hands in her pockets, and as she was glaring at the small inkling, Sho tapped her on the shoulder.

Charlotte: what?

Sho: *points up*

Charlotte looked up at the scoreboard and her eyes widened in disbelief, seeing the Nebula squad already in first place with the deliverance of the diamond clam.

Charlotte: they got the clam in their basket........

Sho: *nods*

Charlotte: that kid....she was just distracting me so the crying one could get away with it.....dammit.....

Sho: *grabs her shoulder*

Charlotte:.....you're right......this is only just the beginning......

Miles sat near Yumi and saw her gently wiping her nose from the blood from before, letting out a tiny sigh, but looking up a the board and seeing their squad now in 6th place.

Yumi: the best we can make it up to now is 2nd...

Miles: yeah....dammit, I wasn't expecting them to actually get that diamond clam.

Yumi:.....the Nebula squad......

Miles: I didn't hear anything about them until now....I forgot about them, but then they just....came out of the shadows and won with ease.....

Yumi: Otto told us about them....he said to mainly watch out for the girl named Comet.....but we'll have to worry about them in the next event....they won this one....

Yumi handed her red headband to Miles, and he handed her his blue headband in return. Yumi looked over and saw Coraline holding her headband and letting out a little sigh just as Amira walked over to her and gently tapped her.

Coraline:......

Amira: we still have a long way to go.....

Amira held out her blue headband to Coraline, and Coraline looked down at it, then silently took it and handed her red headband over to Amira.

Amira: rest...

Amira tied the red headband over her head and walked up to Yumi to see one of her dualie squelchers leaking a little bit of ink from a crack on the side.

Amira: Yumi.....your weapon...

Yumi:....I know....Charlotte.....punched it.

Miles: wow...

Yumi:......I just need it to last for the rest of this match.....

Amira: do you believe you can handle this?

Yumi: yes. Get more points for our team....remember.....this is for Bella.

Amira and Miles gave her a nod, then looked up at the timer to see it slowly ticking down from 10 seconds.

Harlow: Alrighty!!! Get ready for round two!!

Miles and Amira readied their weapons and stared off into the woods as more clams spawned into the map and all of the previous ink disappeared, with everyone getting ready to blitz into the woods.

Harlow: 3....2....1.....GO GO GOOOOOO!!

The squads dashed in for round 2, running straight into the woods and instantly inking their turf. Ami and Yuka ran into the stage and Ami couldn't help but smile as he fired his tenta brella.

Ami: alright Yuka, I believe we should mainly focus on trying to maintain our score by getting some more golden cla-

Ami looked over and already saw Yuka heading in a whole different direction from him, making him sigh and shrug to himself.

Ami: the fourth squadmate is always the weirdest one....well, looks like I'll just have to save the day.

Yuka dashed through the woods with vicious speed, completely obliterating any squid or Octo in her path, grabbing them by their faces and slamming them into nearby trees whenever they tried to challenge her.

Yuka ran until she saw a basket with an Octoling girl and Inkling girl standing right in front of it. Yuka quickly ran up to the Octoling, throwing a strong and mean punch towards her, but the Octoling quickly evaded the punch and readied to cut Yuka with claws of her own. Yuka jumped away from the girl and couldn't help but give a tiny smile after seeing her face once more.

Yuka:.....Yumi.....

Yumi:.....Yuka...

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*chapterly art*

Chibi Char?