Upon seeing the sanitized octoling within the elevator, Edward’s memories from his time at Deepsea metro immediately kicked in. He drew his dualies and aimed them at the woman. “Woah woah, cool it kid! Don’t shoot, I’m on your side.” She said. “I’m just another bystander who got sucked into this thing like you. I take it you two followed Marina’s voice here too?”
The duo were surprised by this. Yes, Marina does have friends, but few of them know about the memverse project, and none of them were with the three of them when Marina began the program.
“You know Marina too?!” Pearl exclaimed. The inkling-turned-drone floated towards the elevator, implying to the Octoling boy to follow. Edward did and entered the elevator alongside Pearl and the mysterious woman. The doors closed and the machine began to bring them upwards.
“First things first. I’m Acht. And as for me and Marina…let’s just say we go way back.” The woman, now identified as Acht, said. “Really?! You should’ve started with that before he decided to drop you!” Pearl said to Acht. “Anyways, I’m Pearl, and this is Edward.” She motioned one of her “arms” to the boy. Acht nodded before explaining what she was doing here. “I’ve been in this area since I came to. I heard Marina’s voice at the top of the spire and went to find her. But then I got attacked by those bony fish. I call them Jelletons. That’s why I’ve been trapped in the elevator. This spire’s filled to brim with those things and this wound they gave me hasn’t healed yet so I’m stuck here.
“Yeesh, things aren’t looking too good for the home team eh?” Pearl said to Edward, trying to make the boy at least crack a smile, but he remained silent and brooding. Thankfully, Acht quickly broke the soon-to-be awkward silence by speaking again. “Hey don’t count us out yet. I’ve been waiting for an octoling with a drone. Said your name was Edward? You’re the one I needed to see.” In a move that could rival a magician’s trick, she pulled a light pink card from seemingly nowhere and presented it to the duo. “Ok, check out what happens when you put this color chip into that palette.”
Pearl raised an eyebrow. “A palette? Am I supposed to know what this is?” She asked before her face lit up. “Oh! You mean this?”
“Yep, now put this in there.”
“Ok,” Pearl said warily. “But whatever happens is on you. Ed, put that thing in there.” Edward pressed the color chip, as it’s called, into the first slot and saw it automatically snap into place. Pearl then exclaimed. “Woah! Is it just me or did your weapon get stronger?!” The idol then moved erratically, clearly energized by the sudden power up. “Hahaha! If you get a whole bunch of those chips, we could steamroll those fishy freaks!” Pearl said, relishing in the newfound power. “No doubt. If you play your chips right, you might make it to the top of the tower.” Acht added. “In any case, whatever’s going on with the city, Marina is in the center of it. I guess.” The sanitized octoling then looked down at her arm. “With this injury, I’m sidelined, so that leaves our strike team as you two.”
“Don’t sweat it Acht.” Pearl then turned to Edward, toning down her tone. “Alright Ed…I know that you don’t like to fight, but…we have to save Marina, alright? So…let’s go find Marina?” She asked hesitantly, trying to make it seem like she’s ultimately leaving the decision up to Edward, but the boy knew he had to get Marina, no matter how much he hated what he had done.
First floor was up, and Edward entered the arena. He saw what appeared to be a hill in the distance. “Every floor has an objective, this one needs you to destroy that portal.” Acht spoke through comms. Edward squinted his eyes and saw a black orb atop the top of the hill. “Also, that chip you put in your increases your damage from a distance. There’s a practice dummy to your left if you wanna check it out for yourself. If not, then that cage ahead of you will take you where you need to.” Edward hopped in and felt the cage move before it reached its end. It disappeared, resulting in Edward falling to the ground. “Waaahhhhh!” He exclaimed. “Unph!” He grunted as he hit the ground. The impact hurt a little, but he was fine. He got up and began to climb the hill. He saw the portal beginning to emit a strange noise before spawning in jellotons. He sped up his pace to get to the portal before more spawned in and overwhelmed him. He dispatched the ones already there and quickly climbed the ramp leading to the portal. He began to shoot at it with his dualies, but due to the slow fire rate, it was taking too long with the rest of the enemies coming from behind. Edward then had an idea. He dodge rolled and that sped up the fire rate, allowing him to destroy the portal before he could be attacked.
“Nice work, Ed.” Pearl said to him. “Yeah, learn to make the most of your color chips and you’ll be going to big places,” Acht said. “Speaking of which, there are different kinds of color chips that you get from completing a floor. Let me show you.” Then, a screen materialized before Edward, showing him the next floor and the color chip it offers. “That chip is poison ink. I’d explain it but it already says it right there.” Edward clicked on it and it gave him the chip before going in.
Upon exiting the elevator, he was greeted with a more complex hill and three portals now. “Same drill as before right? No problem!” Edward stepped onto the cage and felt it move. When it disappeared, he fell again, this time landing on his feet but stumbling forward. He went forward, Pearl following closely behind. The first portal spawned a large jelloton. Edward expertly aimed one dualie at it while the other fired at the portal. This tactic worked as it slowed the enemy just long enough for the portal to be destroyed. Once it was gone, he dodged backwards from an incoming attack and used the increased fire rate the decimate the large enemy. “Be careful, those larger enemies will try to ram you.” Acht warned. Edward made his way to the second portal, which, thankfully, hadn’t had a chance to spawn any enemies. As he got to work on destroying it, in the dualie dodge stance of course to minimize the time needed to destroy the portal, he saw a horde of large jellotons coming towards him. Once the portal was done for, he saw a wall he could ink. He did so and climbed up it, leaving the third and final portal defenseless as the enemies were forced to climb back up the ramp to get to him. The last portal got destroyed with ease, thus completing the level.
“I gotta say, you two are handling things like pros. Maybe you do have what it takes to reach the top.” Acht said. “Thanks. Also, I was just wondering, how do you know so much about this place?” Pearl asked, floating next to Edward. “Fair question. I’m pulling everything I know from the elevator’s console.” Acht said, gesturing towards the device. “I learned the trick from the same place Marina did, but I’m not gonna blame you for being skeptical.”
Next floor was up, and Edward had acquired the lucky bomb chip. Gazing out at the hill in the center of the arena, lied a teal color can with Marina’s eyes on it. “Huh? What’s that?” Pearl asked, squinting her eyes to get a better look. “From here, looks like a canned special. Collect it to fill your meter halfway.” Acht explained. “Cool! So if Edward gets swarmed, he can just pop out with his reefslider!” The aforementioned octoling hopped onto the platform and carried him as far as it could go. Once it disappeared, he fell again, this time landing on his feet again but stumbled backwards, landing him on his rear. Before he hit the ground, the canned special absorbed into him, filling his meter halfway. He got to work on doing what he needed to do for the past two floors:Destroying the portals. The first one was easy as not that many enemies had spawned yet. After the first one was done, he moved to the second. Acht informed him that there were many enemies on this floor. Edward saw this as there was a horde of small jellotons heading for him. Realizing the portal he was on wasn’t halfway to being destroyed and that the horde was slowly growing closer, he deployed the reef slider. Since he wasn’t too far, vehicle slid only a foot or two. Once it detonated, the portal was weakened and the horde that would have surrounded Edward were gone. After a couple more shots, the portal was down, leaving one remaining. He ran over and dualie-dodged, aiming his guns over the ledge and at the portal. Then, as quickly as it started, it was gone, allowing for another successful level completion.
Edward tore his way through the levels that followed, completing them with soldier-like determination and skill, all the while he hopes that all this will end soon. Ninth floor was done and Edward stepped into the elevator before leaning against a wall. The doors closed and Acht spoke to the boy. “Jeez kid, it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone as young as you move like that. Did you go to the academy too?” Upon hearing that, Edward gripped the dualies tighter while his eyes shot open and his breathing sped up. Acht quickly realized what she had done. “Ah jeez-I’m-um s-sorry kid.” The sanitized female stammered out. Edward curled his mouth into a grimace as he closed his eyes tight, seeming as though he was trying to bury some bad memories that had resurfaced. He took a deep breath and composed himself. Acht, regretting what she had said, quietly pressed the button to the tenth floor.
The ride up was short, but felt like it took an eternity, each second crawling by like a turtle in a race. Eventually, they reached the tenth floor. Acht was the first to speak. “Ahem, alright top floor is here.” Acht said, speaking in the equivalent of walking on eggshells. “This is where we’ll find Marina right?” Pearl asked, speaking in a similar manner. “Yeah…” The older octoling replied, still ing the “incident” from a few minutes earlier. “Alright Ed, this is it. Time to get Marina and figure out what’s going on.” Pearl said in a tone that sounded like she was trying to cheer Edward up, but deep down the inkling knew that was a futile attempt. Acht opened the doors and, with a sigh, followed Edward out of the elevator.
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Bit of a long chapter eh?
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