The Sky is Not the Limit

Chapter 8

As the team got closer, they discovered that the island was, in fact, an inactive volcano. Coming out of the top of it was a tall, black tower. They could only assume that this was the lair of the squid ruler.

"Hm. A volcano and a tower. Sounds familiar." Mitch rolled his eyes. "Anybody got a ring?"

They scaled the slope that went to the tower, and caught sight of two guards standing at the front gates. Looking closer, they appeared to be Pokemon, two Pikachu.

"Oh doods, me and the fish'll handle this." Ian said excitedly. He took out a red hat and flipped it backwards, pulled out a pokeball, and sent out his beloved Charmeleon. "Let's do dis!"

As Ian and Quentin charged forward and challenged the guards to battle, the others snuck past them and entered the tower. The ground floor was relatively empty, and only had a stairway that led up. Jerome walked around, frowning at the complete waste of obsidian.

Mitch spotted Jerome standing on pressure plates. "Jerome! Look out!" Mitch shoved him out of the way as the floor disappeared beneath him. Jerome got up, and gasped to see to see a gaping hole that had opened where he had just been. "MITCH!"

Mitch fell down the deep pit, and was about to drop into a pool of lava below, but was caught by a layer of cobwebs above it. He struggled to move, but was completely immobile and helpless as his weight made him sink closer and closer to the lava. "Get me out of here!"

"You guys go on ahead." Jerome told the others quickly. "I've got this." They nodded and ran up the stairway.

Jerome pulled out his fishing rod. "Don't worry, Bacca's coming!" He cast the line down, hooking it to Mitch's jacket. After a lot of pulling and reeling, he managed to free him from the webs and easily bring him back up.

"Are you okay buddy?" Jerome asked him, taking off the line. Mitch, almost in tears, hugged him tight. Their trivial feud had been forgotten; all was forgiven.

A grunt from behind made them turn. A group of squid guards had them surrounded.

“Hm...ready Fluffy?” Mitch smiled. The two simultaneously got out their diamond axes.

“Ready Benja.” Jerome made a slurping noise, and the two dove into battle.

......

Meanwhile, the trio made their way up the long, tall stairway. As they went, they snuck past multiple rooms filled with squid soldiers of all kinds. "They’re preparing for an invasion." Jason muttered. “And it looks like they're ready to start at any moment."

"Well we’d better hurry before they do.” Sky replied, looking at his glowing amulet and quickening his pace. The tower seemed like a labyrinth with all of the hallways and rooms. “This will take forever to explore. Should we split up and search?”

“But Sky, you know what happens in movies. Bad things happen when the group splits up!” Ty reasoned.

“Well this isn’t a movie, Ty. The whole world is at stake here, and we can’t waste any time.” Jason explained. “Call when you find something!” Jason sped down one corridor, and Ty went another way. Sky found himself alone.

He worked his way up the stairs, eventually reaching the circular roof. All that was there was a large throne surrounded by pillars. Well that’s strange. Sky looked out at the seemingly endless ocean around him, feeling desperate. If we mess this up, a lot of people will die. Everyone is counting on us to succeed.

“FOOLISH SKYDOESMINECRAFT!” A booming voice shouted.

“Who’s there?” Sky jumped, looking around. From above, the enormous squid overlord Derpollolus appeared. “You again?!”

“FOR TOO LONG WE SQUIDS HAVE TAKEN YOUR ABUSE!”

“Hey, wait a minute, you started it!” Sky countered.

“SILENCE!...for two long we squids have taken your abuse...BUT NOW IT IS OUR TIME TO STRIKE BACK! TREMBLE IN FEAR BEFORE THE POWER OF THE NEW SQUID ARMY!” At this, all of the squid soldiers gathered on the ground below. Flying squids filled the skies, human/squid hybrids and squid wolves dominated the shores, and the ocean was completely filled with squids of all kinds. Their numbers were impossible to count. “NOW BEHOLD, THE WEAPON OF YOUR DESTRUCTION, THE SQUIDNATOR 6002!” A large blue missile emerged from the ocean, filled to the brim with water. It could easily flood a valley upon impact. “And while you’re at it, behold the Squidnator 6003, 6004, 6005…” Dozens more rockets rose up as well. Einshine's prediction had been correct; they had tools to flood the world at their disposal. “With these, we will invade your puny world and make it our own. You see, you were doomed from the start to go against us. You could never defeat the awesome might of the SQUID ARMY!” The soldiers below cheered.

“I took you down once, and I’ll do it again if I have to!" Sky shouted angrily. "The Sky Army will never be defeated!” A cage dropped down on top of him, and he slashed at the bars with his sword, to no avail.

Derpollolus laughed, floating down to look at him. “What army? You’ve never had any supporters. Why, if it wasn’t for your stubborn friends, you’d already be in our control. Speaking of which…” He turned and picked up a syringe with a light blue fluid in it. “You see this? We’ve been meaning to bring you on our side for years. And now that you’re willing to stick around..."

Sky backed up, but found nowhere to run. Oh please no. Sky knew that being an ally to the squids would be disastrous for their world. Him being the ultimate wielder of budder, the squids would take advantage of him and use budder for evil. I can’t go down like this. Amulet, this would be a good time for me to Hulk out. But he felt no empowering feeling, only fear. He tried to remain strong. “When I get out of here I’m going to mess you up so bad…”

“Oh really? YOU AND WHAT ARMY?” Derpollolus bellowed in delight.

“THIS ONE!” An arrow pierced the needle, shattering it in the squid’s tentacle. Ty’s ender dragon was flying above them, and smoothly landed on the roof, revealing the archer to be Nicki. She winked at Sky. “I told you I’d come back.”

Turning to the Derpollolus, she challenged, "You squids may have your army, but we have our own!" She pointed down to the water, where boats, armed by Sky Army recruits, were in full battle with the squid soldiers, the leader of the charge being Cpt. Sparklez.

The squid king however, was not amused. He slashed at her with an arm, and Nicki ducked. She tried to shoot back, but his attacks were too rapid to aim at.

“Now how fair is that? Let’s level the playing field a little bit.” Ian and Quentin came riding in on a Charizard. “Sorry we’re late; this dood here decided to evolve.” Soon after, Mitch and Jerome came up the stairs and joined them. The squid king's position was looking bleak.

"ENOUGH!" Derpollolus roared, shaking the tower. "YOU MAY THINK YOU HAVE WON, BUT THAT IS WHERE YOU ARE WRONG! Don't you notice something missing?"

"Hey, wait, where's Ty and Jason?" Mitch looked around.

Registering what was going on, Sky yelled, "What did you do to them?"

Derpollolus snapped his tentacles (somehow), and flying squids flew over to him, carrying Jason and Ty, limp and unconscious.

"No....!" Sky gasped.

"If any of you make another move, they're squid fodder." The squid threatened. The flying squids hovered in the air, waiting for the king's signal to drop them to a watery death.

Sky froze. What are we going to do?