It was the next day, and Yumi stood in front of Nex, holding onto a pair of black dualie squelchers that had blades and illuminated with blue ink to match her.

Nex: the Nex Tep Dualie squelchers! I hope you like 'em! It took me a little while to make them.

Yumi:....thank you....very much..

Nex: *shrugs* one of your dualies were destroyed. This one's from me, just because you played very impressively yesterday!

Yumi spun her dualie squelchers on her fingers as Amira and Coraline came into the store together, looking at her in concern.

Coraline: you ready?

Amira: it's almost time for our second trial.....

Yumi: where's Miles?....

Just then, the doors to the weapons shop opened up once again, and the girls looked over to see Miles walk in and hold his splatling in the process, letting out a tiny smile at them.

Miles: sorry....just checking up on Lux to see if she's alright from yesterday....

Coraline: was she?

Miles: yeah. She's still gonna participate in the next trial.

Yumi: what is the next trial?....

Amira: we're about to find out....

The 4 cephalopods walked out of the weapon shop and Nex waved at them as she watched them leave. The squad stood within cod Willows, and saw everyone gathering up in the same location where they first arrived, in front of a pair of two big red doors.

The phantoms walked together down the main sidewalk and stood within the crowd, looking up at Harlow, who was sitting on top of the two giant doors.

Harlow: w-welcome, my fellow cephalopods! It's time for your 2nd trial! Day 2 of the entrance exams!

Many cephalopods began to speak and Yumi gently felt on Bella's boater that rested on top of her head, letting out a tiny smile, but then her moment was interrupted by Charlotte, who walked past her and ignored her. Yumi looked at her in concern, but when she saw Charlotte make eye contact with her, she looked away to not cause any tension between them.

Charlotte:......

Ami: Char....are you sure you're good to go?....

Charlotte: yes.....I can still fight....

Even without her sense of emotion all that much, Ami felt Charlotte poke his cheek in an adorable fashion, and when he looked at her, he saw her eyes slowly shift away from him, but in a caring way as if she was happy to be with him, which only made him let out a tiny chuckle.

Harlow: if you all are ready, I'm here to introduce you all to the next challenge that awaits! Ladies and gentlesquids! Welcome to Tower Takeover!!

Harlow hopped of the red gates, and they opened up to show everyone a gigantic tower that looked exactly like the ranked tower for tower control. Miles looked up in disbelief at the size of the tower, seeing the very peak of it touching the clouds.

Miles:......oh.......

Harlow: allow me to explain the rules! You and your squad will split up into pairs once again! The first pair will be in charge of climbing the tower all the way to the top, dodging obstacles, enemies, and even salmonids!

Inklings and Octolings gasped as Harlow press on a button, then a gigantic hologram opened up above the whole crowd, showing everyone the tower along with two chibi inklings.

Harlow: after the pair is finished making it to the top, there will be an energy core waiting at the very tip of the tower. The first pair will pass on the mission to the next pair, who will climb the very last peak of the tower to reach the energy core to obtain it for their team!

The two chibi Inklings fist pumped as two chibi Octolings on their team climbed up the tower and acquired the energy core, letting out a "yay" in the process.

Harlow: after obtaining the core, there will be a giant mountain slide behind the tower that the pair will have to make it down with the core intact. At the very bottom of the mountain, lays the energy pillar! And that is where you will slam that core in and win the match!!.....

Miles: so....it's basically rainmaker?...but with extra steps?

Coraline: *shrugs* pretty much.

Harlow snapped her fingers and the hologram faded away, then everyone looked over to see a gigantic launch pad expand next to them.

Harlow: each squad split up into pairs, and once you're ready, the second pair shall use the launch pad to get directly to the top of the tower and wait.

Coraline:....who's going through the tower?

Yumi: I can.

Amira: no....leave it to me and Miles....

Miles: *nods* we need you two for the final stretch.

Coraline: are you sure?.......with...your injuries and all......

Amira: Isabella wouldn't complain.....

Miles: we can hold ourselves. We'll climb up to the top as fast as we can.

Yumi:........

Yumi was about to open her mouth, but before she could speak, Amira walked over to the Octo and gave her a hug, shocking her a bit, especially when she felt Amira slightly shake a little from sadness.

Amira:.........this will be the last time
I wield my E-Liter.....I'll......make it count.......

Yumi:........

Amira:......I deeply care for you, Yumi............this.........is for you........and Isabella......

Yumi felt Amira let go of her, then walk back, and for the first time, she saw Amira give her a little smile, and with Miles by her side. Yumi hesitated, but gave her a nod, then her, along with Coraline, walked away and got on the giant launch pad with many other cephalopods that made their choices.

Within the distance, Yumi saw Yuka standing in the crowd, glaring at her, and showing that she was a part of the first group of pairs to make it up the tower.....

Harlow: alright! Let's get this show on the road! Second pair! Launch!

Yumi saw many cephalopods turn into their squid and octopus forms, then launch off together, and before she launched, she saw the determination in Miles and Amira's eyes, which made her smile a little, then ready herself before launching off with Coraline by her side.

After everyone launched off, Harlow looked at the remaining group, then smirked at all of them.

Harlow: alright.....first group......get ready......

Miles shifted his foot, Amira clenched her E-Liter, and the two let out a breath side by side, feeling their ink boil with determination.

Harlow: Get set!

Yuka stood motionless, and her tentacles flowed in the wind, only staring at the tower directly in front of her, and Sho spun one of his tetra dualies on his finger, not making a single sound like Yuka.

Harlow: GO!!

~~~

*Flounder heights*

Obsidian's door creaked open.....she gently grasped onto it and slowly pushed it, then peeked out of her room......her tentacles were ruffled....her eyes were slightly red due to her nonstop tears.....she looked like an absolute mess.

Obsidian:........Aryll?.......

Obsidian walked out her room slowly, walking down the hallway until she reached her main living room, where she saw Ginger eating out of her bowl of fruits.

Obsidian looked down at the turtle, and let out a look of concern as she watched Ginger eat up almost the last bit of her bowl. She kneeled down and used her finger to gently pat/scratch Ginger's head, to which the turtle accepted and pushed against her finger, asking for more.

Obsidian:....I'll refill it.....

Obsidian grabbed onto Ginger's bowl, pulling it back and walking away slowly towards her balcony, opening it up to see her plants, that were freshly watered for the day.

Obsidian:......she must've been doing all of my chores......

Obsidian picked some blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries, then placed them inside of Ginger's bowl, walking back inside and placing down the bowl back in front of Ginger, sitting down next to her.

It's been almost three weeks since Bella's defeat by Calvin, and ever since then, Obsidian has locked herself in her own room, only leaving to use the bathroom or tend to Ginger and Aryll, providing meals for them.

Her heart felt empty.....due to her link with Bella from being a code, she knew Bella was still alive, yet her heart beat was very weak.....she couldn't bring herself to see her.......she slouched on the couch deeper, looking down.

She was the only one who properly knew of Bella's medical condition, yet still allowed her to play against Calvin....all she thought within this time was her lack of strength and courage.....not willing to look out for her...

Obsidian:.....Bella......

Just then, Obsidian's wrist began to pulsate and send shocks of pain through her body. She let out a loud grunt, grabbing onto her own arm and seeing her numbers glow brightly.

She gritted her teeth and whimpered as her body shocked her more and more with sparks of pain, making Ginger concerned, which caused her to crawl over and rub her head against Obsidian's thigh.

Obsidian panted heavily, and when she looked at Ginger, the pain began to slowly fade.....she let out one pant after another.....looking down at her Code 010 on her wrist to see that it changed colors......to a much darker purple.

Obsidian:..........you're........alive......

~~~~

Miles and Amira dashed towards the big tower along with the whole crowd. Some inklings and Octoling's were ahead of others, and before they knew it, a large explosion occurred at the front of the crowd, shocking everyone and splatting some cephalopods.

Miles: what the hell!?

Harlow: I FORGOT TO MENTION!! THERE ARE NEUTRAL INK MINES PLACED AROUND!!  SO BE CAREFUL!!

Amira:......

Miles: let's just....take things a bit slowly....

Amira nodded and the two began to lightly run within the middle of the crowd, being very cautious and seeing explosions happen in front of them, signaling for them to avoid the path and move out of the way.

As the tower approached, many more screams and splats could be heard, and Miles along with Amira, picked up the pace by running a bit faster.

Miles: almost there....

Just then, Miles and Amira were caught off guard by an Inkling boy using his squid form to shoot ink and super jump herself directly forward like a missile, cutting in between the two.

Noticing the boy to be a part of the celestial squad, an inkling with a cocky grin. Miles stumbled for a second, and before he could fall, Amira extended her hand and caught him before he risked the chance of falling into a mine.

Miles:.....thanks......

Amira nodded and the two ran inside of the tower along with everyone else, getting to the first floor and immediately running into a room that had many canons.

Each canon began to shoot out burst bombs left and right, hitting multiple inklings and Octolings, Amira used her E-Liter, and Miles Shot his splatling. Together, the two shot and deflected the bombs one-by-one and saw a launch pad in the distance, which would launch them up to the next floor.

Knowing the simple trap on the floor they were on, the two knew that more difficult challenges would await them. From behind, Yuka ran through the floor, dodging burst bombs and splatting cephalopods in her way.

She approached Miles and Amira from behind, and aimed her splash at them, shooting directly at them, but Amira quickly grabbed Miles' jacket and pulled him away while leaning herself from the shots, aiming her E-Liter with one hand and shooting off an aggressive shot at Yuka, but she moved her head just in time, allowing the shot to Pierce straight though an Inkling girl's head from behind her.

The two girls stared at each other. Amira looked deep into Yuka's eyes.....she expressed her warning without any words, lowering her E-Liter slowly and running off with Miles once again, the sight of the two only made Yuka's ink boil with rage. she calmed herself rather quickly however, knowing that her poison would kill the two eventually, but before her thoughts could get too deep, Sho ran past her and dodged burst bombs on his own. Yuka glared at the boy in annoyance before extending her arm out to her side and catching a burst bomb that was flying in her direction, aggressively turning around and slamming into a poor cephalopod before running off towards the launchpad herself.

after hopping on the launchpad and soaring up, Miles and Amira found themselves in a room that was full of stingers, who were all shooting at the inkling boy that passed them by before, and by his side, the two saw an Octoling boy as well. the inkling boy wielded a squeezer, moving swiftly and fluently through the endless lasers while the Octoling boy wielded a carbon roller, dodging the lasers as well in unison with the inkling. the two made it through the room, and the inkling boy looked back at Miles, making eye contact with him, and for a second, Miles saw the slight sense of annoyance that was expressed from the inkling, redirecting his attention towards his celestial partner and nudging his head towards the launchpad.

the two boys super jumped off the floor, and Miles quickly snapped-to. He noticed Amira holding her head in pain, and he looked over at the stingers, seeing all of them direct their attention towards him and her. unlike in salmon run, the stingers weren't stationed in regular towers of pots as normal, instead, they all were within distant water, considering that the tower was massive, the room that they were in was massive as well, and all of the stingers swam around in the water before poking their heads up and firing from an unchallengeable distance.

Miles: dammit....we just have to run.....we can't take these things out!

Amira began to hear severe ringing within her head, and she let out a grunt while kneeling down and clenched her head harder. Miles grabbed her in concern and kneeled down beside her, hearing her pant heavily from the circulation of the poison.

Miles: Amira!

Amira: I'm alright......I just.....

just then, the stingers aimed directly for the two and began to Fire; Miles reacted quickly by grabbing Amira's hand and running through the room, feeling the heat from the lasers seep onto his skin, making him grunt slightly, but before they could get far, a burst bomb hit Miles' leg from behind, making him trip and fall onto the ground, dragging Amira down with him. with a slight span of time, Yuka ran up from behind the two, kicking Miles directly on his stomach wound as she passed him by, which made him yell out with a cry of pain. Sho jumped over Miles, but then stopped for a second after seeing what Yuka had done, and already seeing her use the launchpad to jump up to the next floor.

Sho struggled for a slight moment, but then shook his head at Miles, not because of him, but because of Yuka's ruthlessness. Sho ran off, leaving Miles and Amira on the ground. Miles noticed his vision slightly blur up from the sudden shock of pain he experienced. he noticed all of the stingers aim directly for him once again, getting ready to fire at him, and as Amira held her head and curled into a ball to soak up her own pain, Miles used his hand to try and push himself up. just as the stingers shot at Miles, chains wrapped around his and Amira's bodies, then a quick Inkling flashed past them, quickly pulling him and Amira along towards the launch pad and out of harms way.

Miles' vision began to straighten itself out, and from what he noticed, many cephalopods were reaching the level he was on, taking the attention from all of the stingers away from him. he looked at the Inkling who was looking down on him with a gentle smile on her face, helping him and Amira up together.

Miles: Lux....

Lux: are you okay, blue?

Miles:....uh....

Lux: she's so rude...someone needs to teach that Octoling girl a lesson!

Miles: It's okay....I...

Lux put her finger over Miles' mouth, making him stop and stay silent in front of her. he saw her look of concern grow as her smile began to fade from her face, letting out a tiny sigh towards him.

Lux: you told me years ago that lying will only grow the pain in your heart.....

Miles:....

Lux: you're not okay, Blue......you need to accept that.....

Miles:......I know.....but.....that won't stop me from winning this......nothing will...

Lux:.....good....so I'll see you at the top?

Miles: who said you were making it up there first?

Lux let out a little giggle before poking Miles' forehead and turning around, throwing up a piece sign before super jumping to the next level. Miles let out a smile, but it faded rather quickly when he noticed the group of cephalopods gaining on him. he turned towards Amira, seeing her take a deep breath before removing her hand from her head.

Miles: ready?....

Amira gave him a nod before following behind him and super jumping to the next floor by his side. the two arrived on the next floor, seeing nothing but a giant oasis of green water like the previous floor. Miles saw Lux at the very end of the floor, super jumping already to the next level because of her speed.

Miles:....cod, she's fast....

Amira: it's quiet.....what's going on?.....

Miles and Amira looked directly ahead and saw nothing but a straight and narrow path in front of them, being their only form of land to travel across to reach the launch pad at the other end. Miles hesitated....but then took a step on the narrow path, and with Amira, traveled across carefully. Miles kept his eyes straight forward, and unlike him, Amira allowed her eyes to roam the area and look into the dirty, green water.

From the corner of her eye, Amira saw something emerge from the water. She looked over and took a better glance at it, seeing it to be a little fish bobble that roamed above the surface of the water, slowly approaching them, but then the bobble began to speed faster, and faster, and faster from it's distance.

Amira's eyes widened and she quickly grabbed Miles' jacket, aggressively pulling him back just in the nick of time, and from the water emerged a whole Maw, jumping up and over the narrow path, attempting to bite Miles and drag him into the water, but just barely missed.

Miles saw the Maw's massive frame and teeth slip past his body, and with that, fell into the water on the other side of the narrow path. Miles fell back onto Amira, and clenched his splatling as his color drained from his body.

Miles:......my life just flashed before my eyes.........

Amira looked at the bobble rush on the water's surface, but then, she saw another bobble emerge from the water, and another. She looked to her other side and saw another bobble, noticing multiple in many different angles.

Amira:.....we need to get out.....now....

Miles: way ahead of you!!

the two ran together as fast, yet as stable as they could so they wouldn't fall to their doom. The Maws jumped up one by one to try and splat the duo. Miles slid under a Maw while Amira jumped high above another, using her E-Liter and stabbing it into the gigantic salmonid, lunging herself past it. Miles turned his head around and saw cephalopods entering the room and getting immediately swarmed by the Maws, getting splatted left and right, letting out a nice sigh of relief knowing they weren't the only ones being targeted.

Amira: Miles!!

Miles, after getting slightly distracted, looked back ahead of himself to see a Maw lunging directly at him. He panicked, he was moving too fast to stop himself from getting chewed to bits, he was going to run directly into the giant's mouth. He gritted his teeth and tried to stop himself regardless, but it was too late and Miles fell directly into the mouth of the Maw. he landed on it's slimy tongue, and he felt it's jaw close onto him, and he closed his eyes, accepting his fate.

suddenly the Maw stopped before encasing him in darkness to splat him. Miles opened his eyes and saw that he wasn't splatted after all, and he felt the Maw twitch and roar towards him. Next to the clumsy Inkling was Amira, who was also now inside of the Maw's mouth, holding her E-Liter vertically and pinning the Jaw of the salmonid in place, making it unable to close it's mouth to finish him off. Amira locked on her trigger and her E-Liter began to glow, and with one swift pull, released her devastating shot and pierced directly through the mouth of the Maw, stunning it and making it roar in pain.

Amira grabbed Miles and jumped out of the Maw's mouth, seeing it wail before rolling over and plummeting into the water. Miles was about to speak, but Amira didn't give him the chance to, grabbing onto him and dashing straight towards the launchpad, super jumping to the next floor.

Miles and Amira landed on the next floor, seeing no salmonids in sight, but rather Yuka, Sho, Lux, her squadmate, and the two celestial squad boys from earlier. Miles looked at Yuka, seeing her holding a key, but it was quickly snatched away by Lux. behind the group of fighters stood a door that led to the launchpad.

Miles: looks like that key is our way to the next floor.

Amira: at least this delayed them and allowed us to catch up...

Miles looked at Amira, then down at her E-Liter, letting out a little smirk towards her after noticing it's design and model.

Miles: I got a plan....

Miles whispered to Amira while Lux dashed with the key in her hand, but from her own speed, she noticed Sho slightly catching up to her, shooting at her, but when Lux shot back, her ink would never touch him, shocking her before a celestial Inkling boy surprised Lux and quickly took the key from her.

Lux: shoot! who was that!?

Monarch: the name's Monarch, sweetheart~ my buddy over there is Chase~

Monarch spun his squeezer and shot it at Lux, making her dodge and counter with her own shots, swinging her chains as well towards him.

Monarch let out a cocky chuckle as he dodged her shots, tossing the key over to Chase, who silently took it, but was instantly met by Sho, who pointed his tetra dualies at him.

Chase moved his body and swung his roller, making Sho move his body while lifting up his leg and swiftly kicking the key out of Chase's hand.

The two silent octoling boys looked up at the key within the sky, and Monarch looked up as well along with Lux. The four of them jumped all at the same time and tried to grab the key, with the first one to touch it being Lux, but her hand was hit by Sho, who threw an auto bomb directly at her.

Sho and Monarch, then Chase, all grabbed the key. Monarch kneed Sho's stomach, which made him loosen his grip a little due to the pain, then Monarch and Chase snatched the key together, with Monarch kicking Lux down to the ground, and Chase hitting Sho down as well.

The two celestial squad members were the only ones left in the air, and just as they were about to fall to the ground, Yuka came up towards them. Chase swung his roller at her, but Yuka grabbed it with one hand, then delivered a lethal kick to Chase's head, making the Octoling plummet to the ground.

Yuka stared at Monarch, and when he threw a punch at her, she dodged and thrusted her Octoling claws at him, catching him off guard by her murderous intent, but he barely managed to move his head out of the way in time.

Monarch: watch it!! are you actually trying to fucking kill me!?

Yuka: it's one less problem to deal with.....

Yuka pulled the key away from Monarch, and just as she did, Lux's partner jumped in the air and slapped it out of Yuka's hand, making the key fall to the ground.

Lux: haha!! Yes!!

Octoling girl: take that!

Just then, Yuka kicked the Octoling straight in her stomach, making her grit her teeth and yelp from her severe roughness. The Octoling fell to the ground, and before she hit it, Lux quickly caught her in her arms, then the octoling gave her a tiny thumbs up.

Octoling girl: did I....do good?

Lux: *smiles* definitely, my fellow comrade!

Yuka and Monarch aggressively shoved each other away in mid air, landing on their own two feet, only to see that the ground was coated in ink...specifically enemy ink that confused them.

Just then, within the distance, everyone looked over to see Miles holding onto the room key, then looking at all of them with a glare.

Lux: Blue!!

Monarch: you again?.....

Miles didn't respond to the group of powerful cephalopods in front of him, he instead turned his head to see the gate to the launchpad. Miles began to bolt towards the gate, and everyone began to chase after him.

Miles felt all of them getting closer to him, which made him sweat a bit from fear. The gate became more and more visible. Miles looked behind himself to see Lux and Yuka directly behind him.

Miles:....Sorry about this, Lux....

Lux: huh?

Miles: GO AMIRA!!

The ink began to rumble, and as Miles continued to run, Amira emerged from the ink and unleashed her mighty strength of her kraken. Everyone was caught off guard by Amira's sudden change, but before they could react, Amira pierced directly into Yuka's body, drilling into her and splatting her, then hit Lux, Monarch, Chase, and splatted them all in one big swoop.

Miles: it worked!

Amira roared in her kraken form before turning back into her normal inkling self. Miles quickly used the key to open the gate, gesturing Amira to run inside to get on the launchpad, which she did and the two super jumped away, leaving everyone in the dust to respawn at the checkpoint near the beginning of the room.

Yuka was the first to respawn, and she couldn't help but feel a dark, burning hatred for those two squids, clenching her fists and making veins pop out of her head in the process.

Before they could make it over to the gate, it shut on all of them, trapping them. From the ceiling emerged another key to fight for once again.

Lux: awe what!? A Kraken!?

Monarch: that damn inkling.....fuck

Miles and Amira landed on the next floor, then they both gave each other a tiny high five while letting out a "booyah" in the process.

Miles: nice one, Amira! Hah! Well their key fighting will buy us some time to climb this tower.

Miles looked ahead and chuckled, looking at the next floor of obstacles that awaited them.

Miles: alright! Now let's see what this floor has in store for us-.............

Amira:..........

Miles:..............oh....

~~~~~~

*extra story art*

Yuka by Fireghost647
Check out their story as well. U-U