The octopus swam up to the boat and grasped the stanchions with its tentacles, hauling itself onto the deck, where it seemed to turn into jelly, as it easily squeezed underneath the cable rope.
Once it had slithered onto the deck, it became huge, rearing up to its full height using it's tentacles like legs. Now it reached three quarters of the way up the mast, towering over them.
"Get readyyy!" shouted Delphi.
The girls were all poised in half-crouches, their swords held aloft.
The Octopus's tentacles started to dance all over the deck, trying to snatch them up or swipe them overboard.
Arrie ducked and rolled as a tentacle hit the deck where she had stood, moments ago.
Ruby flipped neatly backwards as a tentacle descended on her.
A tentacle swept across the deck towards Indy. She leapt gracefully over the creature's fleshy arm; it swept the appendage back at her and she leapt a second time. It tried again, and she did a third jump, but this time he had the idea, and came at her higher, knocking her feet and sending her flying. She scrambled and hid behind the wheel, the tentacle feeling around there after her like it had eyes and a brain of its own, while she struck at it with her sword.
Feifei was battling with a tentacle that kept dipping at her, cornering her against the bow pulpit. She hacked at the flesh like a dervish, managing to slice the very end off the tentacle. It continued to aggressively attack her, seemingly impervious to pain.
Winter was sluggish, having only just slept for a few hours after her intense sea sickness. The creature had managed to wrap a tentacle around her ankle, and she was desperately hacking at its flesh, trying to free herself. She made some inroads into the tentacle, but she couldn't sever it, hampered as she was by her ankle being wrapped by it. It pulled her across the deck. She held onto her sword with one hand, scrabbling for purchase with the other. The beast lifted her off the deck into the air.
"Aaahh," she screamed as it held her upside down, metres above the deck.
"Winter!" screamed Arrie. She couldn't attack the tentacle that held her friend; it was too high above the boat.
Delphi pulled a cross bow out and she started to loose arrow after arrow into its bulbous head. Each arrow seemed to sink into its flesh and disappear entirely, who knew where. Whatever the arrows were hitting, the creature didn't seem to need that part to stay alive.
The octopus plunged Winter into the ocean, holding her underwater by her ankle. Desperate seconds ticked by.
Arrie screamed in agony. "Winterr! Delphi, she's underwater, do something!" she begged her captain.
Delphi didn't deviate from her plan, continuing to shoot arrow after arrow into the creature's head, looking for the weak point. It turned to look at the tentacle holding Winter and Delphi got a clear shot at its eye. She shot an arrow straight into the tiny eyeball.
It reared back, exposing it's horrible white innards. It pulled Winter back up out of the water as it reared, pulling back all of its tentacles into a star shape.
"Paaaah!" Winter spat out water and sucked in air.
As Delphi fired arrow after arrow into that cavernous internal place, it jetted thick black ink all over them.
Winter jack-knifed from a hanging position to reach her feet where she used all of her strength with two hands to strike the tentacle that held her by the ankle with her sword. She sliced the end of the tentacle almost all of the way through. Checking she was over the water, she gave the flesh one last hack and then she plummeted into the ocean.
The octopus collapsed to the deck and slithered quickly back into the sea.
"Turn the boat, Ruby!" shouted Delphi.
Arrie had already thrown a life buoy towards Winter's bobbing head. The waves were still choppy, so they struggled to keep the tiny girl in sight as the boat tacked back against the wind. Winter had seen the life buoy and was swimming hard towards it. She reached the buoy before the boat came close enough to pick her up. She pulled the buoy over her head and rested for a minute after swimming so hard. Arrie fished her out with the long hook, hooking the life buoy onto the rod and pulling Winter back to the boat. The girl shimmied up the rope ladder and collapsed onto the deck.
She looked up at them all. "You're all black. I guess he had the last laugh." Then, "my ankle hurts," she said as an afterthought.
They let Ruby through; she was the strongest in first aid. She wiped her eyes clear of the dripping ink, her face smeared with black, and her blonde hair now dyed the same colour. She gently manipulated Winter's ankle.
"It's not broken. It will be your skin that's hurting. The suckers have left big welts. Let's get some cream onto you. Loveday and Indy can you carry you down for a shower after they de-ink themselves. Let's get you cleaned up and tucked into bed with some salve on that ankle."
Winter nodded tearily. "That was really scary. I thought it was going to drown me."
"You were kickarse, Winter," said Delphi. "You kept your head; you held onto your sword, and you saved yourself with one heck of a sword slash."
She nodded with determination. "I thought, I'm smarter than this amoeba with a floppy head. I wasn't going to let him get the better of me. If I can survive that sea sickness, I can definitely survive an octopus."
"Well said Winter," said Arrie, "what a bloody hero. And while you were keeping your head and freeing yourself, Delphi filled that creature up like it was a pincushion. She never stopped shooting until she got it in the eye. That's when it pulled you up and swam off. After it covered us in ink…"
"Grotty slimebucket," growled Delphi. "He'll think twice before he underestimates us again. You touch a Guerilla Girl, and we pay you back tenfold."
"Yes!" shouted Lili fiercely. "We twisted his balls and kicked the living shit out of him."
"Our plan is on track," Delphi said with menace. "Advance and keep on advancing. Whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy."
The eight girls punched their fists together.