Chapter Text
over the rest of the week Lincoln cleared all the stages the same way, freeing all he could and killing those he couldn't. As he got closer to Octavio they started to receive a strange radio signal "Ground Zero, I challenge you to a turf duel, the winner takes all. I will be waiting in the place where it all began at 11:30" The voice ofOctavio sounded through the radio leaving a shaking cap'n cuttlefish, an insanely smiling Lincoln and two very confused inklings "grandpa, what's a turf duel and what does he mean 'where it all began'?" Marie asked as cap'n cuttlefish was snapped out of his shock "a turf duel is one of the few shared cultural ideal's between inklings and octolings. If challenged to a duel, the inkling/octoling in question can either refuse and lose their honor or accept and possibly be killed by the opponent with no hope for respawn. Now I'm a bit rusty in the rules and etiquette of turf dueling but I remember a few things like, no outside interference of any kind, no weapons of any kind except for an unmodified dueling sword and It is punishable by the death penalty to cheat, help cheat or interfere in any way with a duel" Cap'n cuttlefish explained to the cousins horror "wait, wait, wait, you said this tradition was shared by booth octolings AND inklings, why haven't we seen any duels between inklings if this is the case?" Callie asked as cap'n cuttlefish sighed
"because they're a forgotten tradition, one that we made sure to bury in the midst of the great turf war" Cap'n cuttlefish responded "well, your not going to accept right Lincoln?" Callie asked only to see Lincoln unlock a black, reinforced weapon case before taking out a blade which aura scared Callie and Marie to no end "oh I'm accepting, and I'm going to do what should've been done long ago" Lincoln said as he grabbed a set of clothing from the same case before going behind the shack/tent to put it on. Coming out from behind the tent, Lincoln is wearing an all black battle kimono with orange highlights and the sword strapped to his belt "whoa, that looks badass" Callie remarked as Marie smacked her over the head. during that exchange Lincoln made his way over to a kettle and hopped in, going to the location it all began in.
1 minute earlier, Octarian base
Octavio was talking with a chained up Marina "you were my finest field tec, why'd you join those inkling brats"Octavio questioned the smiling Marina who laughed "do you even have an idea how f*cked you are right now?" Marina asked shill chuckling asOctavio stood there confused "oh really now? Please enlighten me then on how supposedly f*cked I am?"Octavio said coolly as Marina stopped chuckling before her face turned serious "the BabaYagais coming for you, and will stop at nothing until your in his shadow" Marina said in a serious tone of voice as everything within earshot stilled to a halt "s-say what now?"Octavio said hoping he misheard "he's coming for you,Octavio Takowasa, and will not stop until he does" Marina said asOctavio looked to grow a few shades pailler as Marina smiled at the reaction.
with Lincoln, current time
Lincoln waited at one end of a severed bridge in what looked to be an almost decimated traditional japanese town with cap'n cuttlefish, Callie and Marie sitting a good distance away. A few minutes later an octoling wearing red colored traditional japanese samurai armour walled to the other side of the broken bridge followed by some elite octolings who join up with cap'n cuttlefish, Callie and Marie "you know, it's almost poetic if you think about it, this is where it all began, and now it is where it shall end"Octavio said as he pulled out his sword asLincoln acknowledged his readiness by doing the same
(Octavio's sword)
(Lincoln's sword)
They stand there, unmoving but ready until a cherry blossom hit the ground as Octavio and Lincoln rush towards each other, claching clades as they fall through the hole in the bridge. After landing Lincoln and Octavio resume there fight as Lincoln gets into an odd stance.
With the spectators "How did he get the name baba yaga?" Callie asked to no one in particular "I remember that night well, we were tasked with scouting out an octoling village and reporting back what we found so they could bomb it. It didn't sit well with him that innocent families would get caught up in it so in the dead of night he went house by house and took every innocent family and took them to another village with no reason to be attacked. the next time we were assigned to infiltrate a village I heard that they made a song about him taking naughty kids that stayed out passed their bedtime"cap'n cuttlefishexplained shocking everyone including the octolings. after a moment of silence Marie noticed Lincoln's weird stance "what's with the weird stance?" Marie said making everyone look at Lincoln's stance as cap'n cuttlefish let out a small chuckle "so he's using that eh, means Octavio's quite formidable in swordplay" cap'n cuttlefish said catching the interest of some of the octolings "what's that stance?" an octoling asked as Cap'n cuttlefish smilled "well, the style calledTenjō no ken(天上の剣 <-- for whoever wants to translate), or the Heavenly sword style, it's a special sword style that can defeat absolutely anyone in one shot but the requirements to use it effectively and backlash leave it as a last resort as the backlash alone can very easily leave the user on death's door, especially if used repetitively. I've only seen him use it once, and that was in this very spot eight years ago. He was fighting Octavio for the first time and despite having to pull an all nighter to get all the civilians out of the town he continued to fight a losing battle, in desperation he used that style and cut Octavio's left hand creating that scar but in return he almost died to complete organ failure" cap'n cuttlefish revealed shocking everyone into silence as they turn their heads to watch Lincoln more intensely.
