Order Up - Splatoon3 Side Order

Part 7 - "Friendly Fire"

"Agent 4!"
H4CKER shouted as soon as the battle began.

Agent 8 started inking the ground first in an attempt to gain the turf advantage. Their ink was pale, glittery and pink with some kind of  digital pattern... very different from the pure black ink Agent 4 was stuck with.
Agent 4 attempted to gain turf control back, but they was quickly interrupted by-

"The bomb party don't stop!"  The Pearl Drone shouted as she threw an onslaught of bombs their way!

"Agh!" Agent 4 shouted, swimming away as quick as they could - but Agent 8, at this point, ran straight after them. At this rate, they'd be splatted for sure! And they got THIS far! Would they really have to DIE like this?! They looked towards the H4CKER Drone desperately, but he was suspended in place.

"I'm sorry, Agent 4! Marina's trying to kick me out!"

Agent 4 took a quick glance at Marina, and sure enough, she was typing away on her laptop with a look of determination as that green octoling watched. Pearl and Agent 8 were trying to distract the two of them so Marina could gain the upper hand!

"I'm trying to kick her out first!" H4CKER insisted in a shaking voice, "I want to help you! I want to save you! But I- I can't do both!"

They knew what had to be done. H4CKER needed to stay in the program if they wanted any shot at escaping, so they'd need to get out of this fight all on their own! Agent 4 ran ahead, but Agent 8 swam through their ink and cut the parallel canon off! They shot with their Octo Shot, leaving Agent 4 to do a squid roll as their only hope to dodge. With Agent 8's turf advantage, their color chips, and their drone companion helping out, things were not looking good for the parallel canon.

"Take this!" Pearl shouted before her drone shot out several sting rays - Agent 4 jumped over each one - Agent 8 threw a bomb and Agent 4 shot as much as they could and hid inside of their ink. They couldn't say suspended for long as Agent 8 shot, but they NEEDED a plan, and they NEEDED it now.

"Ugh! Why can't I kick you out?!" Marina shouted. H4CKER didn't even have time for a witty reply. He was too anxious about the whole situation.
"Whoever this guy is, they're good," the green Octoling remarked.

Hopefully, hopefully, he was good enough to kick Marina again.

Agent 8 began to shoot at Agent 4's hiding place, so they leapt out of their ink and shot away. A bomb could cover more ground, but the loss of ink would be a major setback -
"AH-!" Agent 4 shouted again! They stumbled backwards just as an ink mine exploded just in front of them!

"GET 'EM, EIGHT!" Pearl shouted as Agent 8 swam up to the parallel canon and stared them dead in the eye while aiming their gun. It was a stare that made Agent 4 nervous. Was that seriously their friend? But even as a parallel canon, they have the same hairstyle as they did as a regular inkling, unlike the others...
Even in a state like this, can't Agent 8 recognize them, too?
Can't they tell they're right in front of them?
Don't they know their friend went missing?
Why didn't you come looking for me?

Agent 8 shot.

Agent 4 stumbled backwards yet again, threw a bomb and dove into their ink. Their regular strategy - running and hiding - wasn't working, but they didn't want to die either! The smartest thing to do is hold out hope until Marina gets kicked like last time, but now that she's trying to kick H4CKER out, it made sense that he was having trouble keeping himself in the memverse while trying to force her out. They could be stuck here a lot longer and with s higher risk of - well, everyone knows it by now!