The weather was perfect in Inkopolis. The cool ocean breeze perforated the city and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was the perfect day for Turf Wars… Or for the two members that made up Off the Hook, the perfect day for a much more personal turf war. For once, the two had schedules that didn't conflict with each other, and the rare day off meant they could enjoy each other's time. Of course, Pearl's definition of a "good time" was much unlike Marina's, who would've preferred the two talking with a cup of tea. Still, Marina couldn't help but agree to a one on one.

Pearl had been incredibly excited. With the massive influx of money that their latest hit single had landed them, Pearl had deemed fit to get an arena built within their mansions estate grounds. Those didn't come cheap, especially due to the spawn kettle technology that allowed the splatted creature to be reformed, good as new. Pearl had been saving for the past year or so. With the estate around them kept safe from more… Passionate fans, the arena would allow them the type of personal fun that Pearl was seeking.

Marina had been confused for a while, and her memory was still fresh at the bedroom eyes her inkling partner gave her, brows raised, as she explained just what kind of gear they'd have. Their weapons, their bombs, and… Nothing else. No gear, which meant no clothes. She remembered the heat that she felt on her face when she realized what exactly Pearl wanted, but Pearl had hushed her quickly before she could embarrassingly decline with a peck on the lips. "C'mon Rina," she remembered Pearl saying, "It'll be fun! It'll just be us. No one else will see. You'd get to feel the rays on you, you'd get your exercise…besides, you'd pretty much be looking for my sexy self through the arena." That last bit had caused her to tremble, and… After a minute or two, Marina couldn't help but agree. It DID sound fun, after all. The idea of her in a wide open arena with nothing but her weapon sounded incredibly… Well, nerve-wracking, but mostly exciting. And the idea of her running around knowing Pearl could see her… Before she knew it, she had already been at spawn, and the turf war began.

Now, Marina turned the corner, keeping her brush close to her to avoid revealing her position. She could hear shooting ahead, no doubt her foe was already inking up all the turf. Just as expected, Pearlie. You're already moving through turf war guns blazing. Marina stifled a giggle but she couldn't help but keep a large smirk on her face. Even now, in such conditions, her upbringing in Octo Valley helped her focus her mentality to how to win the battle. She'd admit, she always ended up giving every turf war she'd participated in her all, and this would be no different.

Moving her brush to the ground, she ran down the corridor. The sound of Pearls shooting had not seemed to move, but silenced the moment Marina flung a bit of ink around the corner. That small puddle of ink was all she needed, and she shifted into her octopus form, hiding in her own ink as she surveyed the next area. Pearl was nowhere to be found, but a large amount of orange ink covered the floor. The passageway was completely flat and ran from one end of the arena to the other. She saw splotches of orange ink cover the walls, but if Pearl was hiding in the walls, she would have seen the indents or splash- after all, neither of them had stealth gear. They had NO gear!

Which meant one thing. Returning to her humanoid form, she launched a curling bomb at the puddle on the floor. If she's hiding anywhere along this straightaway, this will work! A small part of her already imagined seeing her beautiful partner jump out of the puddle, her own blue ink getting all over Pearlie… And she was disappointed when the bomb resulted in absolutely nothing. The bomb covered to wide an area to *not* make Pearl jump out. She was considering using another curling bomb when she heard shooting further ahead. Ah, so she wasn't hiding in that puddle after all.

Once more with feeling, Marina put her brush to the floor and charged. In just a few seconds, she would be past this straightaway, and be back into the main sector of the arena! However, as she charged on she found herself struggling to get through the ink on the ground. Her brush was still clearly working, but… It only worked if the brush could actually touch the floor to replace all the ink! "What the…?" she thought to herself as she was already knee high in the ink. Pearl must have planned this, there must be an incline or stairs in this straightaway! "She filled it up to make it look like just floor!" she thought in alarm, as her feet found no purchase on anything below. Even worse, without contact with regular ground, she knew her body could not produce ink to provide the brush, and quickly, as she used the brush ahead of her, the handle got caught in Pearl's orange ink. Enemy ink was incredibly difficult to trudge through. With not a single bit of clear ground or provided ink, she could not even super jump back to spawn!

She began to kick aggressively. In order to actually move back to try and head back to her side of the map, she had to find some purchase underneath her feet so she could, well, walk! As it was, it was as if she was in a chasm of glue. The handle of her brush dipped below the ink, and she dared not reach down to grab the brushes handle, though her hands did grab at the ink around her, trying to help clear herself a path. "I'm already at my waist...I can feel the ink trying to enter my pores… How deep is this?" she wondered. She tried turning around, but that did little but tire her legs out. She was strong, and very fit, but this was beyond any sort of resistance training, and she found herself beginning to resign to letting Pearl get first splat. Where was Pearl during all this anyway? It had been a least half a minute since she got stuck in this mess.

Her worry grew to alarm, as she kept sinking further! The rate of her descent grew as the ink passed her jugs, and she was forced to keep her arms spread outwards in a meager attempt to keep her afloat. Her brush was far from her reach at this point. What was taking so long!? She could no longer move, and each time she kicked, it was like she was just digging a hole in the ink that she was going down. Her tentacles floated on top of the ink at her sides, also spreading her weight, but it did little. "If I go any further in, I'll…!" she thought to herself, her heart rate suddenly increasing as STILL, there seemed to be nothing underneath her feet to stand on! Damn this ink, with it's solid coloring she couldn't even tell what the architecture in this area was. Marina wondered if Pearl was perhaps waiting for her to vocally admit defeat, or if she was going to use this situation to act as a "Prince in Shining Armor" and save her. It was worth a shot, and she hollered. "H-hey Pearl! I can't get out of your ink! Come get first splat!"

Silence followed, and at that moment, she would've been able to hear a pin drop from the other side of the arena, if the sounds of her legs kicking in the ink, her arms swishing at the surface, her own labored breathing, and her own escalated heartbeat weren't in the way. Her neck was now level with the surface, and she was terrified to even move an inch, lest she sink faster and not be able to call out. "I won't be able to talk if I submerge…! WHERE is Pearl!?" she thought, the sudden realization allowing her to abandon the thought of winning the game, at least for now. She could focus on Turf war again once she was OUT of all this ink.

"PEARL! How deep is this!?" she yelled at the top of her lungs. She dearly hoped she would get a reply, as her head started pointing upwards, the ink at her chin as she continued, not even waiting for a reply. "HOW MUCH ink is here!? Pearlie, help! I'm s-sinking! PEARL!" She yelled, realizing she would not even get the chance of a recovery from the shout loud enough to qualify as a weapon special, as she quickly gasped in as much of the air as she could, as she felt that invasive orange ink cover her face, Marina terrified of moving her head in any direction lest she forget exactly which direction it was.

"I-I'm… I'm still sinking! I can't see anything!" Marina thought to herself as she continued her descent. To say it was a strange feeling was an understatement. She could feel the ink prodding at her, it knew well that her ink and the ink she was surrounded by did not mix, and her body didn't like that one but, trying to keep the ink out of her pores. Opening her eyes, she saw nothing but a faint orange hue that even then faded into a cruel blackness, letting her know that her eyes could not see in enemy ink- an answer to a question she never thought she'd have to find out. "This deep, Pearl knew what she was doing, she'll be here soon… She has to be! She wouldn't just… Leave me here!" she thought to herself, trying her best to stay calm though everything in her body and instincts told her to get out! Enemy ink was just as dangerous as water, and her instincts were screaming at her to find a way out! The tentacles that she had been causing a ruckus on the surface with all pointed straight up as they finally submerged with her, and with that, the evidence that she was here. An unusual pain flared up within her lungs, the telltale symptom of running out of air. Her mind was conflicted with how to deal with these sensations. Inklings and Octolings never really worried about… Drowning, because in water, inklings and Octolings simply dissolved. The realization that she was in a situation where she had no air to speak of around her, and she was in a fluid that prevented from being able to get it… It was so maddening! She felt so helpless, knowing that air was right above her! It was probably less than a meter away, but she was stuck in this damn ink, barely able to move! She tried to stick to her anger like a lifesaver, preferring the emotion over something like the massive flood of anxiety and terror that was trying to claim her mind as she moved. All thoughts of the turf war and claiming victory left her, her only thoughts were self assurance, calming thoughts, anxious thoughts, and the need to get out of here as fast as possible. My… My lungs are on fire! I need to get back up!

Marina began thrashing… Or at least, that's what she tried to do. The ink stuck to her and the consistency was like trying to wade through glue. Her usually invisible abs tensed up along her midsection as she forced her muscles to push through the ink. It felt like all her limbs were stuck to rubber bands, and that the more she moved, the more pressure it put on her to return to an original position. Unable to see, Marina miserably moved, her body sore and her heartbeat reaching insane levels as her lungs plight made itself known to her mind once more. "I can barely move! she thought to herself, I can't get back up! I CAN'T GET UP!" Little was known about drowning but she didn't dare attempt to breathe in whatever was in her cheeks. Her midsection and chest were beginning to move rapidly in a way that worried Marina. "Was that the ink? Was that just how my body is reacting to this airlessness?" Her entire body was tense like a rock, as if she was somehow exercising all the muscles in her body at once. She might've appreciated the idea, if the terror that refused to let go of her heart wasn't practically controlling her at this point.

She needed an out, and nothing was there. Nothing to be seen, nothing but these sensations, and her beloved Pearl was taking too long! Marina would have begun sobbing from how helpless she felt at that moment, she was so terrified. How long had she been down there? Five minutes, ten? Marina knew it had not been nearly that long, but time felt like it had slowed to a crawl. Her cheeks now puffed up to their max, her stomach and chest convulsed violently. She numbly noted it was like how one tried to hold back a sneeze or laughter after finding something hilarious. She could just barely do it, she could just barely hold her air in, but each time a few snorts let some bubbles, and it kept happening. Another convulsion, another set of bubbles left. Over and over, and over, while the pain simply increased. Completely surrounded by ink that was not hers, her body tense like a rock, feeling that cruel fluid rolling all over her body, hugging her tightly as she reached out to the surface, or what she assumed was the direction to the surface. "PEARL! PEARL! PLEASE, HELP ME! I CAN'T TAKE THIS, IT HURTS!" she screamed, trying her best to somehow communicate her thoughts to her only possibly savior from this peril, though the (diminishing) logical side of her knew it was pointless.

The adrenaline rush as well as the helplessness must have been playing tricks on her mind, or perhaps the pressure, as she felt heat around her face, and around her midsection through each convulsion.

Thinking of Pearl as she tried to hold in her air, she imagined just what Pearl might have been seeing. Perhaps if she was diving down, maybe she would see Marina's body, no doubt some sort of coloration on her face, whether it be red or probably purple at this point on her cheeks, and her entire body's muscularity emphasized in her struggles. She imagined how she looked, thrashing around helplessly. She couldn't help but note that technically, she was helpless, deep within a cruel realm of Pearl's making, which meant all of this was like being completely and utterly dominated and under the mercy of her partner. She always knew Pearl was the more dominant of the two, and Marina always loved being under Pearl's watchful eye. She thought all of this within the span of a mere few seconds, but those thoughts sent yet another electric tingle down her spine… As well a spike of pain that cut through all those thoughts, though between her nethers the physical evidence of those thoughts made itself clear. Marina appreciated those few seconds, but now she was once again awash in that pain, that fruitless struggle, her body essentially on autopilot as it tired itself out, Marina just a spectator to her own destruction.

Her mouth opened just a little bit, and a horribly timed convulsion was all it took. Before she could even think about stopping it, air flooded out of her and she could hear her own garbled scream, her arm forcing itself through the ink and straight to her neck, clenching her throat. She could only watch as her body took over.

Her foot finally touched the hard metal ground, but it was too late to matter. Instantly, her throat rejected the ink with an extreme cramp, some ink stuck within her windpipe, and a bit of ink entering her lungs causing her to violently contract. "It's going in!" Pain BLOSSOMED from her upper body, she had never felt such pain before! "Everything hurts...I can't take this anymore! PEARL! Please, PLEASE just splat me so I can respawn! Aaaagh!" It was like someone shoved a sharp implement down her throat. "HURTS! THAT HURTS! HURTS SO DAMN MUCH! MY LUNGS!" she thought, for no particular reason other than to simply decipher this pain that she was experiencing, and the pain did not ebb down. A violent cough overtook her, and all the ink- as well as whatever remained of her air- flooded out, but she couldn't simply shut off her mouth. Instincts took over, and her body immediately inhaled. The pain BLOSSOMED again, her head moving downwards in what was an agonizing mix between coughing and sobbing. Every time she coughed, she breathed in. Every time she breathed in the infernal ink, her muscles would painfully contract to reject the ink, and force her to violently cough again, over and over again. She couldn't take this anymore! It felt like she had been coughing and breathing in for hours! Her upper body was a haze of cramps and contracting and ink in places it shouldn't have been. Her head shot back to look towards the surface in one of her last major adrenaline boosts, reminding her that she was drowning, she was being filled with ink, her lungs felt so full, and her body was still torturing itself by breathing in the ink around her over and over again.

As long as it was, and as it soon it was starting, something akin to relief washed over her muscles, though her lungs still went at it. The cramps finally stopped, but Marina found herself unable to fight against the ink any longer. In the darkness, she could hear the sound of swishing, the sound of the ink going into her lungs… And out of her lungs. She was completely frazzled, she just couldn't find the energy to move up or forward, and she was essentially limp, and she could faintly feel her upper body sagging forward, and she let it. After the eternity of pain that she had just experienced, she couldn't find it in her physically or mentally to continue to try and stop more sinking, so her body simply let itself sink. Marina knew the pain wasn't going away… It was just starting to be numbed… But frankly, after the hellish pain she just went through, she was fine with it. She knew that she should be fighting, she knew it wasn't a good thing to be in here, breathing ink and not air, but all her body was registering was that the pain was starting to go away, and even though it was just numbness, that was all that mattered to her body and mind. She didn't need to move, she didn't want to risk causing the pain to come back over her. Her muscles were so sore, her lungs so empty yet so full… But she was so tired, so exhausted… This feeling of the lessening pain, along with not moving, was better than the effort it took to try and get out. Even if she wanted to, her body… Just didn't feel like it would be able to move even if she tried. It was out of energy, SHE was out of energy… and the tenseness of all her muscles relaxed, and the tingles that she had been experiencing early from her stray thoughts to how she must have looked finally culminated within her nethers, which was now relaxing and opening slightly, even after the streams of unexpected arousal had left from her slit. The continued convulsions from her exhausted lungs seemed to allow that least bit of electricity to throw her body over the precipice, her slit twitching violently a new stream of white gushed outwards into the orange ink that had claimed the octoling. While the thought of imagining herself struggling had begun the tingle, unbeknown to the octoling, the pain-filled adrenaline rushes had been what brought her over the edge, not whatever pleasure there had been. Marina barely registered it, though the sensation alone was enough to remind her of Pearl, though she did not know why.

"Pearlie… Please…" she thought, though she did not even have the presence of mind to even realize she thought it. Limply she stood there, both feet planted on the ground, her chest going up and down and up and down, over and over, in a high rate. Colors and some undecipherable mess grew at the edges of her vision, her senses seeming to play tricks in her airlessness. Brief flashes, and colors danced in her vision as her lungs tried so hard to extract oxygen from the ink, with absolutely no success. She didn't feel pleased, she didn't feel happy… But she felt peaceful, The only reason she felt so being the fact that after an eternity of growing pain, that pain was numb and gone, leaving something that was not unlike the afterglow of a passionate and active night… Except for pain, any mental image of helplessness rather than pleasure and the mental grip of passion. And soon enough, her vision was completely overtaken and she didn't even register the fact as she silently left the world of consciousness.

It would only take a minute longer for her partner to finally take their dualies and shoot the single shot that was needed to splat her, sending her back to the spawn kettle and reforming her good as new, weapons and all.

Marina would find herself giving a VERY stern talking to Pearl, but somehow, they both knew that they were going to do many, many more personal "turf wars." Sometimes, they understood each other's mind more than their own, and it seemed, Pearl had hit the jackpot with her gamble that day.