Finnball

        We quietly sneak in to HTT's castle. All I can hear is my breath. Where could Ash possibly be? "Squid?" I whisper. "Yea, bro?" "Do you know where Ash could be?" I ask him. "Maybe. This place is a maze, but there's a few areas I know. Follow me," he gestures to me to go left. Rosie and Amy follow us without asking. He leads me into a dark room and starts feeling around the wall. The lights flicker and then come on. "There we go," he whispers.

        He looks around, then runs through the room. I see arrows flying around, barely missing him. He does flips and cartwheels to dodge them. Once he gets to the end he turns around to see our shocked faces. "That's my way. You can do it however you want," he says, smiling. I see Amy step forward. She sprints through the arrows so fast, all I can see is a pink flash. Then she's standing next to Squid, grinning. "Woah, Amy!" Rosie says. Amy laughs a little before beckoning us to follow.

        I go forward, and take a deep breath, before running through. I look to the side to see an arrow shooting straight at my leg. Just before it hits, I flip into the air,  stick out my sword and deflect all the arrows, and land perfectly. I run through the rest to see Amy and Squid, mouths gaping in awe. I grin. "And that," I say, pausing for dramatic effect, "is how it's done."

        I turn to see Rosie getting ready to run. She slides her sword into it's holder, then swings her bow over her shoulder. "You look like Katniss, darling!" Amy exclaims. Rosie gives her a side smile before sprinting through the arrows. Right before she makes it through, zombies start spawning. "Rosie!" I yell. She pulls her bow from her shoulder and grabs an arrow. She starts shooting the zombies coming at her and running through all the arrows. She leads the zombies in front of the dispensers, so they take all the arrows instead of her. She runs into Amy's arms and hugs her. "That was scary," she breathes.

        "Don't worry," Squid says as he walks into the next room, "we're almost theeeere!" His voice fades as he falls down a hole that randomly appeared in the ground. "Squid!" I yell. Without a thought, I jump down after him, ignoring the screams of Rosie and Amy. I land on my butt in another room right next to Squid, who seems unhurt. "That was unexpected," he pants. "No kidding," I say as I get up. I hear loud screams above which I can only assume is Amy and Rosie. Me and Squid scramble out of the way and Rosie and Amy land right where we were standing. "That was fun!" Amy squeals.

        "Through there. That's gotta be where he is," Squid says, pointing at a door to my right. We slowly tip-toe inside to see Ash in a bedrock and iron bar cage, with black ropes around his body. Above him, sloshing around on the top, is lava. "Ash!" Squid yells running at the cage. Ash turns to look at us. "Don't, Squid!" he yells in panic, but he's too late.

        Squid freezes on the spot, hovering just off the ground, with a black outline around him. I see HTT step out from another doorway, his hand stretched straight out and pointed at Squid "Well, well, well. If it isn't iBallisticSquid. I didn't think you'd have the guts to come back here, especially with the powers I have now," he says. I turn back to the girls and put my finger up to my mouth, telling them to stay quiet. Luckily, Ash nor Hit The Target have noticed us, so we can hide in the corner of the room until the time is right. "I'm going to release you now, but only because it's straining my arm to keep you like this. You will not move, or I will glue you to the spot," he says.

        Hit The Target lowers his arm, and I see Squid fall to the ground. Was he able to breathe? Fortunately, he doesn't look back at us, so no one knows we're there. "Now, I assume you're here to rescue your friend, am I correct?" he asks. Squid nods slowly. "Don't you dare hurt him!" Ash yells. "I won't, I'm just asking questions," he says slyly.

        "So, before the Cat went into a coma, he attacked you, for killing Lee. Correct?" Squid nods again. How did HTT know all this? "And now he's awake, and remembers you." Another nod. "Well let me ask you, Squid, how does it feel? Having your one of your best friends die at my hands, and another at my mercy? How does that feel to you?" Hit The Target asks cruelly. Squid flinches then stands up.

        "It isn't the best feeling, but I can still cope. Lee isn't gone, I can feel it. And as for Ash, he means nothing to me," Squid says, his voice ringing clearly through the large room. Ash closes his eyes. How could Squid be saying this? Ash has been one of his best friends for I don't know how long. "He means nothing to you?" HTT asks. "No, he doesn't." Hit The Target grins. "Well then, you wouldn't care if I burned him alive right in front of you?" he asks. Squid shakes his head.

         "I know what you're playing at! You're only saying this so I let him go! But, you are wrong. Because now, I will burn him, then kill you!" Hit The Target shouts angrily. He walks over to a lever on the wall, and puts his hand on it. "NOW!" Squid screams before he pulls it. Me, Amy, and Rosie run out from the corner of the room and stand next to Squid. Ash's eyes immediately snap open. We charge at HTT, and he pulls the lever down. I look over at Ash to see that the lava is slowly flowing into the cage.

Squid

        "Ash!" I hear Amy scream. She pulls out a bucket of water and pours it over the cage, turning the lava to obsidian. "Thanks, Amy," he says. I quickly focus back on Hit The Target. He puts out his hand and shoots some black goo at Finnball's legs, gluing them to the ground. He turns back to me and Rosie and freezes both of us.

         "You have no chance against my powers!" he laughs, "Last chance to surrender, or I will kill all of you one by one in the most treacherous way possible!" I feel horrible for Rosie, because when he freezes you, it's impossible to breathe. As I try not to suffocate to death, I look over at Finnball, who has a glum look on his face. I can't see Rosie, because all I can move is my eyeballs, but I'm sure she's just as nervous as I am. Ash has a mixture of terror and relief on his face, most likely because I scared everyone, mostly him, by saying he meant nothing to me. It killed me inside to say, but I had to try so that Ash might have a chance to live. Too bad that didn't work.

        "Not so fast, Target! You won't kill any of them!" a voice yells from behind me. It sounds strangely familiar. Is it really...her? I see a bright purple beam of light shoot across the room at Hit The Target, and I drop to the ground. "David!" I hear her say again. It's definitely her. "Nicole!" I yell. I met her in another part of Stampy's World a few years ago. We had started hanging out together, and I developed a crush on her. I still haven't asked her out yet. We melt into a hug as soon as she reaches me.

         "I've missed you," she says, her voice muffled in my shoulder. "I've missed you too," I say. She releases me and I look over at HTT. He gets up and shoots another beam at Nicole. She dodges it and shoots another at him. As it knocks him back he growls. I look over at Finnball, Rosie, and Amy, and they all have confused looks on their faces. Ash is smiling though. He and Stampy are the only ones I told about Nicole. I hear a loud scream and see that Hit The Target hit Nicole right in the stomach. She falls to the ground, clutching her stomach. I rush over and kneel down next to her. "It's okay," I whisper. She whimpers a little and I kiss her. She kisses me back without hesitation, and it's the most amazing feeling in the world. I decide then and there that after all this blows over, I'm going to ask her to be my girlfriend. HTT will pay for hurting her.

        "Be careful, Squid," Lee says to me. "I will, are Stampy and Sqaishey okay?" I ask him. "I told you I can't tell you that," he sighs. "Oh yea. Sorry," I apologize. "It's fine. Now go teach that idiot a lesson!" I charge at Hit The Target, pulling out my bow and arrows. I pull the string back and release it hard. It hits him straight in the leg. I hear HTT howl in pain, but I just ignore it.

         Arrow, pull back, release. Arrow, pull back, release. I look back at him to see so many arrows, he looks like a pincushion. "You'll pay...for this!" he manages to get out before he collapses on the ground, thick, scarlet blood oozing out of him.

        I hear a mixture of a zombie's groan and a pig's oink behind me. I quickly turn around, only to see a zombie pigman stab it's golden sword into my chest. I groan loudly and collapse on the ground. I see a purple beam, then the pigman goes up in smoke. I hear a loud scream, and Nicole runs over to me. "Oh my god, David. Please be okay!" she pleads. I can see Nicole, Amy, Rosie, Ash, and Finnball gathered around me, kneeling on the ground. I smile weakly at her. "I-I'll be ok-kay," I cough. "No you aren't!" Finnball says. He and Ash lift me up off the ground and Nicole grabs my tentacle. I feel myself bouncing along with Finnball and Ash's steps, and can barely hear Nicole's cries.

Ash

        I carry Squid along with Finnball back to Stampy's house. Nicole refused to let go of him, and we didn't argue. I remember when Squid told me about her, but he never told me what she looks like. She has long, dark brown hair, light blue eyes, and a piercing in her lip. I understand why Squid likes her. But she freaks me out a bit. Why the hell does she have powers just like Target?

        We arrive at the hospital to see Stampy and Sqaishey waiting with worried looks on their faces. How did they know what happened? We lay Squid down on the bed, Nicole still holding on to his tentacle. "Nicole, you've gotta go now," I say gently. "No! I'm not leaving him!" she yells. "We're going to help him, but trust me, you're not gonna like seeing what we have to do," Finnball says. Suddenly I see Squid open his eyes. "Nicole, just listen to them. I'll be fine," he gasps. She hesitates for a moment, then reluctantly leaves.

         "I know what you guys have to do," Squid says. "Alright then, lets just get this over with," Finnball sighs. He puts his hand on the handle of the sword, and yanks it out. Squid cries out in pain so loudly, I'm surprised my eardrums didn't burst. I splash some instant healing potions on him, and he stops bleeding. I look at the sword to see it's enchanted with something, but it doesn't say what.

        Suddenly Squid's eyes roll to the back of his head. His body starts glowing, and me and Finnball cover our eyes. Once the light dies down, we uncover our eyes to see Squid laying there, but he isn't a squid anymore. He has light brown hair, and dark brown eyes. He's wearing a dark blue t-shirt and jeans.  "You okay, buddy?" I ask. "Yea, I'm fine. What the hell just happened?," he asks. "You turned into your human self. That happens sometimes. There's a small chance you'll turn back into a squid," Finnball answers. "If this is my human self, I look pretty cool," he grins, "I'm guessing everyone will want to come in though."

         I walk out the room to see Nicole crying next to Sqaishey and Amy, who are attempting to console her. "You guys can come in now," I say. Nicole and Stampy jump up and runs straight past me. "You guys wanna come in?" I ask the girls. "Not yet, we'll give them some time," Amy says.

Longest chapter yet!! I honestly can't believe the support all of you guys are giving me. Every time I update a new chapter, it makes me smile how many of you have already read it and are waiting for the next one. And, I can't think of a name for the sequel to my other book, 'A Silver Thimble' so leave suggestions in the comments, and if you haven't already read it, check it out! My cousins left today, but they found out about that book and are reading it, so...that happened. Oh, and about the other book I mentioned in my last update. I'm thinking that it'd be a good idea, so if I'm not updating my stories, you can find out why. Kind of like an extra thing, like Squid does on SquiddyVlogs. I guess that's it. Peace out, Kitty Cats!