Grina walks ahead, holding the words she's about to shout.
"ALL RIGHT, YOU MINUSCULE TENTACLES! LET US RETURN IN OUR ORIGINAL SIZE!"
Her voice came out like a violent hurricane, which made some Octarians fly back. A Octobomber was carrying a megaphone, which kept touching to test it.
"If you want that, you must surrender to us." He gulps his own saliva.
"No! Especially to flies like you!" She grits her teeth, grasping her weapon more. "You better do as I said or else you'll all get splatted hard!"
The Octobomber grunts, growing more impatient.
"There is only one leader we follow… and he said CHAAAAARRGGGEEEEEEE!"
The Octarians yell their battle cry, flying towards the Rangers with impressive speed. Grina starts shooting at them, splatting instantly most of her foes with just one projectile. Bars raises his weapon slowly, then he slams it on the ground, sending a waterfall of ink against the unaware opponents.
"DON'T SLAM THE GROUND!" Mirii shouted, as she shot a long line of ink, hitting some Octarians. "WE CAN'T FALL OFF AGAIN!"
"Sorry!" He moves around a skyscraper in tiptoes.
He looks down, scouting the ground with rapid eye movements: he was almost stepping on a car. Suddenly, a big ball of ink appeared out of nowhere. He lowers his eyebrows, getting near the purple blob which was gradually growing.
POOF!
A tank came out of it! The boy jumped, almost losing grip of his weapon. The small cannon points at him and shoots a cannonball. It hits his leg, releasing a great amount of purple ink. The boy screamed, as his leg was burning from the substance.
Soon other purple blobs appeared on the ground: tanks came out of it, just like the first one!
"GIRLS! WATCH OUT!" He yells, as he massages his leg while moving away from the tank.
They turned around, noticing the tanks almost immediately.
"I'll take care of them!" Grina cocks her weapon.
She points her Splattershot at them, while closing one eye and sticking out her tongue. Holding the trigger, she shoots ink at them: one by one, the tanks exploded in green ink, as small tentacles fly away. Mirii kept focusing on the flying variety, sometimes splatting them, sometimes missing them.
Bars raises his Roller once more, looking at a group of Octobombers flying towards him: suddenly, Mirii's words were ringing through his mind. His eyes were ignoring the enemies spiting Splat Bombs: they quickly fly near his face, exploding in mid-air.
The boy covers his face, leaving his weapon to fall heavily on the ground, causing a small earthquake. As he walks backwards, while yelling, he steps on parked cars making them explode. Mirii turns her head, seeing the entire scene.
Grina was firing ink against other flying Octarians, becoming a Squid and submerging inside her own ink, regaining usable one.
"Grina! Bars is in trouble!" She holds the trigger of her Charger.
The girl quickly emerges, turning around as she gasps loudly. She fires ink against the small Octobombers, while gritting her teeth and lowering her eyebrows. They all exploded in green ink. Grina walks near Bars, leaning her hand on his shoulder.
"Are you all right, Bars?!"
"Urgh… I-I didn't thought those Octofatties can throw that fast!" He uncovers himself.
He has burning signs all over his face.
"Raise your guards! UFOs are coming in our way." Mirii shoots an ink projectile at one of them.
The target moved up, avoiding the attack by a small margin. The group of flying vehicles fire purple ink repeatedly: Mirii ducked, as the attacks passed. Those land on Grina's knee, making her scream a bit. Cocking her weapon, she shots back. Bars groaned, as he walks towards his weapon, stepping on cars and trees without any notice.
The UFO were moving fast and Grina's eyes were unable to catch up.
"Darn! Those things are too fast!" No projectile ever touches the UFOs. "What are we going to do?!"
"Leave it to Bars!" He comes near them, with his Roller raised.
He was also in midair.
"NOOOOOO!" Mirii's eyes expanded, as her arms stretched towards him.
He swings his weapon, sending a gigantic wave of green ink against the foes: they exploded instantly! However, Bars was landing on the ground…
THUUUUUMMPPP!
Mirii inhales heavily, as her eyes turned red, a vein popped out from her forehead and clenching her fists as hard as she could possibly make. She was snarling loudly.
C-crrrrrrrrrrr…
"Oops… I forgot..." His iris shrunk.
"I don't care if I'm not suppose to insult you…" She trembles, with anger overflowing all of her body.
CRRAAAACCKK!
"YOU ARE AN IIIIIDDDIIIOOOOOOOTTTTT!" Mirii shouts as she falls into the abyss, together with Grina and Bars.
The Rangers yell: Grina was hugging Bars, closing her eyes. Bars looks up, seeing the city getting far away in a second. Mirii looks downs, surrounded by darkness. The fall seemed like lasting for an eternity, as no one could see anything.
THUUUUUMMMPPP!
Mirii feels a solid ground on her back. Her legs were resting on someone and one of her tentacles was stepped from an elbow. The girl yelps, trying to push to away the elbow.
"Get off my tentacle!" She cries out, as the pain was growing heavier.
"Bars! My foot!" Grina cries out too.
"Cough, girl! Don't grip my throat, like that…!" His voice was choked.
The trio stands up: Mirii and Grina dusts off themselves. The place wasn't pitch dark, but the Inklings couldn't see their own hands. Grina wraps her arms around Bars' shoulders.
"We must return to the surface." Mirii says. "Let's see if there is another road over here…"
"How can you see, exactly?!" Grina asks, worried. "I could barely see my nose!"
"Touching the walls is the solution. Come over here and do the same." Mirii touches the wall, moving along it.
The other two do the same.
"But wait a minute, Mirii! What are we going to do, if we find a monster in our way?" Bars asks.
"What if the monster found us?" She keeps walking, without stopping.
"Oh… aaaah, right!" He laughs.
THONK!
Bars yelps, massaging his forehead.
"What's it, now?" Mirii stops.
"I hit the ceiling, girl!" He lowers his back.
"Oh great… we surely needed this!" Grina folds her arms. "I'm going to scream, if we find a dead end!"
"Or a hole too small for us…" Mirii could touch the ceiling.
"Hey, we can always destroy some rocks!" Bars grins, bending his knees. "I mean, we are huge mountains ourselves!"
"That doesn't mean we can take them away!" Grina keeps touching the walls. "I can barely support my own weight!"
"Me too." Mirii walks, bending down. "This size is really complicating the situation…"
"Yeah! I'm almost crawling!" Bars walks on all his fours.
"Wait a sec! Is there… a light?!" Grina looks ahead.
A small but dim light was visibly appearing in front of the Rangers. They all smiled, as they crawled faster. One by one, they all got out from the small cave, seeing the scenery ahead: many buildings were covering the ground, with cars driving on roads.
Octolings and different Octarian species were walking on the sidewalks. The whole city was underground, covered in a purple fog. The source of light was seen on streetlights, flashy billboards, car lights and from the apartments through the windows.
"Whoa… is this…" Grina looks around, with her mouth open.
"Their real city." Mirii stops ahead, lowering her eyebrows. "Octopolis, if I recall it correctly."
"Man… do they really live in such conditions?" Bars looks up. "Do they ever get to see the sky…?"
Grina raises her eyebrows, shaking her head.
"I'd not wish this, even to my worst enemy."
"I'm sure the captain is around here." Mirii looks a very tall building.
It has spikes going around the building, in multiple floors.
"We are going right there and check inside." The girl lifts her foot.
"Wait!" Grina holds her shoulder.
"… what's it now, Grina?" Mirii doesn't change her position.
"W-we can't just go there like this! W-we could step on someone…!" She shivers.
"… did you notice something odd yet?" Mirii pushes Grina's hand away.
"W-what odd thing?" The girl looks around rapidly.
"The Octarians… they are not reacting in front of our presence."
Grina thinks about it.
"She's right Grina!" Bars walks near her. "An Octoweirdo saw me and kept walking on the street!"
"… why…?" Grina looks at the ground, with her iris shrunk.
"That'll be discovered soon enough." Mirii walks on the road.
Grina stretches her arm towards her shoulder… but the girl was already away. A car stops in front of the Inkling, as she passes with her face completely facing forward.
Excuse me!
Mirii stops, as she looks down: a female Octoling was jumping, as she waves her hand.
"Could you tell me, where the Octo Pizzeria is?" She stands on tip-toes.
"Sorry, I'm not from here." Mirii shakes her head, as she bends down, hugging her legs.
"Oh, shucks…! Well, I hope you'll visit it! They say how their Pizza tastes like the best trip of your life!" She smiles, still standing in tip-toes.
"I'll remember the place." Mirii nods. "Can you tell me what lies in that tall building…?"
"The tall building? That's where our leader lives." She turns around, pointing in a direction. "Do you want to go there?"
"Yes. It's very important." An Octotrooper passed near her.
"Huh… then"
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Grina walks near the Octoling girl, bending down. "YOU…"
"Hmm?" She tilts her head.
"But… bu-but… wh-why are you not scared of us?!" She shouts, sending a strong wind out.
"Scared of you…?" She kept her head tilted.
"YES! WE ARE HUGE! WE COULD SQUASH YOU LIKE NOTHING! HOW CAN YOU ACT THIS CALM?!" Her eyes expanded, as her forehead was sweating.
The Octoling girl wasn't responding.
"Please, answer…!" She looks at Mirii.
The girl keeps staring at the Octoling girl, while hugging her legs.
"… all right. Yes, I know you are a giantess that could crush me without any effort." She holds her hips. "But… would you really do that?"
Grina drops her jaw.
"I could… accidentally at least!" She looks behind, seeing Bars reaching them.
"Well… that could be a problem indeed." She twirls her tentacle. "Just be careful, ok?"
Grina raises her back, as she stutters incomprehensive words.
"ARE YOU DUMB?! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE BEING CAREFUL INSIDE A CITY SMALLER THAN MY OWN HOUSE!"
"Then, don't go inside the city…? What's the problem?"
Her wristwatch starts beeping: she looks at it, gasping.
"Oh, shucks! I was forgetting my shift! Those French Fries sure can't be made from themselves…!" She chuckles. "Oh well, bye bye!"
The female Octoling sprints, as she waved her hand towards the Rangers. Grina couldn't find the words to comment what she just witnessed. Mirii and her friend stand up.
"… am I getting insane…?" She holds her head.
"No, Grina." Mirii looks at the tall building. "I have a hunch that their leader may know the reason behind this."