Darth Nominatis, I haven't ignored what you said. I said what you shouldn't do next time.

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"Is this even the same place...?!" Carlson walked away from his previous spot, while his face went paler.

Another Squid jumped out of the paper, landing on their feet next to it.

"H-hmm?!" Greta twisted her head around, as sweat was already jumping out of her head. "Wh-why is everything so dark...?!"

One more Squid skipped from the paper, impacting the ground with her feet. While holding her Splattershot tightly, Mirii began aiming at every dark, empty spot she could see.

"Wh-what happened...?!" She sneezed a bit.

"The Stingrays' base changed..." Carlson approached Greta, as his left arm went around her shoulders.

The tall girl screamed a little, as she rose her shoulders and rubbed herself against him. She began emitting high-pitched, suffocated voices.

"G-Greta!" He pushed her closer to himself. "This is not the time to shudder in fear...!"

"I-I... c-c-c-can't look around anymore...!" She shook herself violently, releasing more small, high-pitched yells.

The boy stared over her head for a bit... before smiling and caressing the top of her head.

"That's ok..." He whispered, while blushing. "Stay close to me, so I can protect you from any harm..."

Greta's face went red, as she performed more high-pitched verses. Mirii looked at her, while sighing.

"... I wish Hunley would do that to me right now..." Her mouth downturned. "I-I never felt this alone before..."

Kelly arrived near Greta, as she began staring at her tall friend in various positions.

"... can she proceed, Carlson?" Kelly's left fist shyly rose in front of her mouth. "I'm not sure she will"

"She can, don't worry." The boy smiled at her. "Once she musters up enough courage, you will see how greatly she will do with us."

"... you are saying that as if you know her for a long time..." Mirii's left hand almost covered her mouth.

"... I do, Mirii." Carlson's left hand went below Greta's chin, as he tilted her head upwards in a delicate way. "We have been together so much, we can read each others' hearts as clearly as signs."

"... Carlson..." Greta's left hand grabbed his, while her eyes sparkled.

"Greta... ..." His eyes closed. "If you weren't near me... I would had melted out of fear in this cold, cold darkness..." His eyes semi-opened. "Only you can give me the strength to face any danger... ..."

He leaned closer towards her face, as both blushed out of their cheeks.

"Thank you so much..."

His lips touched hers, as their arms pulled each other even more. Kelly's face went bright red, as her eyes went watery and her fists went in front of her mouth. She sniffed loudly too.

Mirii also blushed, although her mouth was shut and smiling. Gently, Carlson brought his head back, reopening his eyes in a similar manner.

"... Carlson..." Greta's head lowered, as her fist rested on her lips.

The called Inkling simply smiled at her.

"... my heart is ready to support you." She rose her head back, as her free hand grabbed the Slosher's handle together with her right one, carrying the weapon down on the middlr. "Nothing will terrorize me, as long as I'm with you."

"... same for me." Carlson's free hand held his Splatling's handle, as he smiled at her. "Stay together with me... my sweet-half." His eyes closed.

"A-aaaaawww..." Kelly sniffed, as her eyes were almost filled with water...

Mirii sighed again, holding her weapon against her chest.

"... I would like to talk, but..." She blushed a little more. "... it feels bad getting their attention"

"Mirii."

The called girl jumped a bit, noticing the tallest Inkling looking at her.

"Stick around with us, ok?" His right eye winked at her.

Mirii blushed a lot, as her mouth waved.

"Y-yes!" Her eyes squeezed. "I-I will!"

Carlson chuckled with his smiling mouth shut.

"I'm sure we will reach the bottom of this..." His irises moved onto Greta's.

The stared girl opened her mouth a bit.

"If we keep exposing our kind hearts, no evil essence will stop us..." Carlson twisted behind.

"Huh?" Kelly bended forward, while her right forefinger rested on her right cheek. "How can you say that for sure?"

"... this is not a hiding place." The boy rose his head. "With such open space, you would think that Stingrays would guard this area carefully... just like they did before our arrival."

Mirii grew her eyes a bit.

"Th-the Stingrays...!" A single sweat slid off her forehead. "It couldn't make sense being here without their presence!"

Carlson's head lowered.

"I can't think of anyone who would dare conquering their bases... and if there Agents around, we would had been able to see at least one of them."

"Ah, Carlson." Greta rose her posture. "What did Sheldon said about the weapons you took from our villa?"

"I think he was glad." He twisted back in front of the girl, as a sweat drop grew on his head's right side. "He insisted to... 'examine us', once he heard the whole story."

The girls' faces went paler.

"Th-that creep!" Greta tilted herself backwards. "Who knows what kind of thoughts he had in mind...!"

"A-anyway!" Carlson's right hand went behind his head. "No one would come here and mess with the Stingrays! ... yet..." His face darkened. "... no one is in here..."

"I-I feel a strange energy surrounding us...!" Kelly frowned a little.

"Huh?" The darkness faded away from Carlson's face, as he exposed his opened mouth.

"... I don't know what this is, exactly..." Kelly's eyebrows went up.

"Could it be the presence of Demon Squids watching us from the shadows?" Mirii lowered her eyebrows, as her irises moved onto their right side.

"Uhm..." Kelly sealed her eyes. "... they have a different type of presence..."

"Demon Squids or not, we can't proceed carelessly." Carlson scowled a little. "We must stick together until we reach the bottom of this."

"... with our love we can..." Greta giggled a bit, as she pointed her closed eyes at Carlson.

The boy watched her face... before smiling and nodding as well. Soon, the Inklings were walking in a specific direction through the darkness... and eventually, they found a sealed elevator door.

"... calling the elevator might be a mistake..." Carlson's irises moved left and right. "This whole place doesn't have any electricity running..."

Mirii folded her arms.

"What should we do...?" Her mouth rose a bit.

"... Kelly." He turned behind, noticing the shortest girl sticking near Mirii's right side. "Can you do something about this?"

"Uhm..." Kelly looked upwards. "... I don't know, exactly..."

"You were able to grant us the same ink colour as you have." He rose his left fist. "Can't you grant us another power?"

"I really can't think of an useful power, though..." Kelly lowered her head, while folding her arms. "If I knew this place, I could create a teleportation paper to send you in the area you want."

"Can you explore this base on your own with your powers?" Carlson lowered his left fist.

"Uhm... ..." Kelly shivered. "I-I would be so scared going all alone, though..."

The three Inklings stared at the youngest for a while... before Greta rose her right forefinger.

"Can you create three small versions of ourselves?" She smiled. "Like... living dolls?"

...

"Oooooohh!" Kelly's eyes sparkled widely. "I see what you mean!"

Immediately, Kelly materialized both her brush and her pile of papers out of nowhere! Soon, she drew frantically on the topmost paper of the pile...

POOF!

Three dolls depicting each one of the older Inklings, appeared in front of her feet. In a few seconds, the young lady bended her knees and grabbed the dolls with a large hug.

"Tee hee hee!"

The three Inklings' arms squeezed each on their respective sides.

"H-huh?!" Carlson looked downwards.

"I-I feel like something big is... h-hugging me!" Mirii kept moving her head left and right.

"Don't wooooorryyyy!" Kelly grinned a bit. "It's just me hugging you!"

"... w-with those dolls?!" Greta's jaw dropped.

Kelly nodded.

"Those dolls represent you!" She giggled. "Not only I can hug you, but I can also speak to you!"

Kelly tilted herself towards the dolls, as she whispered something.

Can you hear my voice?

"It's coming from my heart?!" Carlson looked at his chest.

"It-it came from my heart as well!" Mirii's left hand rested on her chest's left side.

Tee hee hee! This is all thanks to the fact that you are now using your unconscious selves and thus, your own hearts can easily tell me how your respective dolls should be made! This magic skill was rarely used in between Shrine Citizens, as a way to massage the respective citizen properly. It's a practice best used when two Shrine Citizens know themselves pretty well, as the dolls could be easily abused... there is a way to nullify them, but it takes a long time for the ones who didn't created the dolls.

"... ok." Carlson sighed, as he smiled. "So, now you don't feel alone with our dolls..."

"Of course not!" Kelly hugged the dolls more tightly, while giggling and smiling widely.

The three Inklings' bodies appeared more squashed than before, as all three were blushing a bit and chuckling nervously.

"I will go now!" Kelly dashed towards the obscurity. "See you laaaaattteeeeerrrr...!"

The three Inklings were catching their breaths, while tilting forward.

"... maybe it was best if we came with her..." A sweat drop appeared near the right side of Carlson's head. "... at the same time..." The sweat drop disappeared. "... there was nothing else near that elevator door... ... and even after that kiss..."

His eyes focused on Greta who was looking back at him.

"... I can't leave Greta here... nor I can't bring her around areas I know nothing about..."

She smiled at him.

"Greta... I will protect you. At all costs."