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The figures fired their explosive shots, as they quickly dived inside their dark-purple ink. Carlson fired cyan ink shots towards them, while marching backwards.
Greta threw a lot of ink with her bucket, while following the boy's steps. Mirii was walking sideways, moving over her left side, while firing ink shots out of her Splattershot.
"I-I don't have a wall to hide behind!" Greta's eyes squeezed. "Wh-what am I going to do?!"
"Stay behind me!" Carlson was aiming his shots towards the dark-purple ink in the distance. "I'll be your wall!"
"H-huh?!" Greta's eyes went wide, as her mouth stood wide open.
Carlson smiled, while his right forefinger was holding the weapon's trigger, whose barrels began rolling faster and faster.
"... I know, I'm risking much more than I should, but I must make sure that you are protected."
"But you don't have to do that!" Sweat jumped out of Greta's head, as her eyebrows went up and her arms were swinging towards the clean parts of the floor. "Why risking yourself this much"
"I just wanted to let you attack without letting yourself being hit!" Carlson fired more ink shots from his Splatling. "It isn't just mindless protecting, you know!"
The two figures emerged from their ink, as they simply stared back at the two faraway Inklings.
"... th-they are staring at us, huh...?" Sweat emerged from Greta's forehead. "A-are they not scared by us...?"
Carlson frowned a bit... before his irises went to his left side under a fast reaction: he twisted behind, while holding his firearm's trigger.
"BE CAREFUL, GRETA!" He released the trigger, as few and slow ink shot blasted out of the barrel.
Greta turned behind while gasping, as she swung her arms and squeezed her eyes. Ink flew out of the bucket, as it landed in front of one of the two figures.
The boy's feet were moving to his left side, as his right forefinger held the trigger again. Mirii was inking the clear floor in between herself and her friends, while the shadows were firing their dark-purple ink shots who exploded close to Greta's face.
Greta curled on herself, almost dropping her weapon on the floor. She dived inside the cyan ink, swimming away from the dangerous duo… only to get out of it, by climbing on the clear floor nearby.
"Eeeeek!" She quickly swung her arms onto the clear floor, while round-shaped white tears appeared below her eyes and her eyebrows 'smiled'. "How didn't I inked this part of the floor yet?!"
Carlson's ink shots were hitting the taller figure… but the projectiles were absorbed, leaving no trace on it.
"They can't be invincible!" He frowned a lot. "Keep firing!"
The shorter figure slid on the feet, as it shots another explosive projectile towards Carlson: the blast pushed the Inkling backwards, while dark-purple ink stain were remaining on his body. He was yelping, while his right eye shut and his teeth gritted.
"BARSY!" Greta was standing next to Mirii, as her right hand was pointing at him and her eyebrows were simply up.
"We can't stay here in the distance!" Mirii scowled at the duo. "Carlson is in trouble!"
"I know that!" Greta threw a Burst Bomb towards the two figures.
The weapon hit them, as they halted on their feet.
Ting!
All the sudden, Mirii began glowing visibly: she began throwing several Burst Bombs towards the shadows, but they disappeared as soon as the first one of the bombs was near them.
They faded back in, as the taller of the two shot its explosive projectile: the girls flew forward, as they fell on their stomach and slid a little.
"DARN YOU!" Carlson shot a truckload of ink projectiles, while growling and walking towards his enemies.
The taller figure was absorbing all the shots… and gradually, it was assuming a cyan-tone on its body.
"… they are tough…" The woman rose her weapon.
"… but they got hit by us…" The man nodded, as he lowered his Blaster-type of weapon.
"SO?!" Carlson held the trigger of his weapon. "YOU ARE TURNING INTO A CYAN BOMB!"
The girls were jerkily standing up…
"… our ink isn't like yours…" The man's red eyes glowed.
…
"Wh-what do you mean…?" Sweat shaped on Carlson's forehead.
"Once unleashed… our ink consumed everything that's living…" The woman's red eyes glowed as well.
"WHAT?!" The three Inklings said together.
"… our mission is accomplished…" The man faded away.
The woman stared back at the girls… especially on Mirii. The girl was growling silently, exposing her white teeth. Eventually, the shadow disappeared slowly…
"CURSE YOU!" Mirii threw her Burst Bomb towards the transparent figure, only to see it moving past it. "AAAAH!" Her eyes squeezed, while bending herself forward.
"Mirii! Greta!"
The girls looked back at Carlson, as he was pointing his weapon at them. His face was covered by dark-purple ink stains, who were extending bit by bit on his skin.
"Let's try hitting each other with our ink!" He fired his ink shots against the two.
"Will it work?!" Greta was shutting her eyes, as she was throwing her ink towards the approaching boy.
"W-we must try!" Mirii kept firing her projectile towards Carlson.
Ting!
Greta began glowing intensively: she extracted a large pad, same for a large missile which she brought behind her back.
"This will work!" She covered her ears. "Go Inkstrike!"
FUM!
The missile flew in the air… before landing right near the three Inklings. Once the item slammed against the ground, a cyan ink spiral shaped uncontrollably, hitting everything in its path. The three Inklings were all down on their stomachs…
Carlson got up slowly, as he saw his own arms dripping with ink. His left hand wiped out the excessive ink off his face… meanwhile, the other two girls were both moaning and getting themselves up. Carlson's eyes saw Greta's, noticing a wide smile growing out from her mouth.
"The ink, Barsy!" Her eyes sparkled. "It went off!"
"R-really?!" His mouth opened widely.
"We did it!" Mirii smiled, as she giggled and sealed her eyes. "We saved ourselves!"
"… the shadows could be back…" The boy sighed.
Mirii bit her lips.
"Sh-should we still fight them?!" Sweat bounced off Greta's head. "Or should we consider running away?"
"Never!" Carlson nodded with a frown. "We can't run away from this place, until we find Kelly and Hun!"
Mirii! Carlson! Greta!
The three Inklings' eyes were wide.
Help me!
"Where are you, Kelly?!" Carlson turned himself around.
A-a mean man kidnapped me… I-I'm in this scary room…
"… the man let you keep your dolls?!" His eyes squeezed a bit.
"Yes. I did."
The team looked towards the darkness… as they see a pair of white eyes glowing on it.
"Wh-what the?!" Carlson held his weapon's trigger, while gritting his teeth.
"… that voice…!" Mirii's irises shrunk.
"I felt like letting the little girl speak to you… and have fun with my two puppets, that's."
"GO AWAY!" Carlson fired ink shots against the white eyes.
The white eyes were standing still, as the projectiles were passing through them without any trouble…
Ting!
Carlson was also glowing! His hands extracted the missile, as he held on it tightly. He threw the missile against the eyes: the weapon exploded into a spiral of cyan ink. Once the spiral ended, the darkness take its place… and the boy smiled widely.
Suddenly, the white eyes appeared in the same place.
"NO!" The three Inklings shouted together.
"… ha ha ha… how cute of you, throwing me such present…"
Step sounds rose from the floor… and soon, something clear appeared in front of everyone's eyes. Their eyes went wide, as Carlson stepped backwards…
"… I should had known it was you…" Mirii squeezed her eyes a bit, while frowning a lot.
The white eyes belonged to a humanoid shark, who was sporting a complete black suit and a muscular body. His arms opened widely, as he shaped a smug on his face.
"Mirii Kelpshell… you never cease to amaze me." He snickered. "Even when you are under your unconscious self…"
"M… M-M…" Greta's irises shrunk, as she tilted herself backwards. "MR. TARFO?!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" The man's eyes went wide. "In person!"
"What's the meaning of this?!" Carlson scowled to the max. "What you have to do with those shadows?! And with this whole darkness"
Mr. Tarfo possesses terrible powers!
"… is he a demon?!" Greta's face went paler.
"Not only that!" The humanoid shark bended himself forward. "I'm the cause of all your troubles!"
…
"… are…" Mirii was stumbling a little. "… are you…"
Carlson and Greta's mouth sealed, as they stopped breathing.
"… are you the… r-responsible of Project Neo…?" Her knees were shaking.
"… eh eh eh…" The man's left hand covered his face. "Eh eh eh eeehh… ah ah ah ah!" He tilted himself backwards. "HA HA HA HA HA HAAAA!"
Flash!
Mental images of a smiling old man appeared in a quick succession… the eyes of an Inkling girl began emitting tears… suddenly, Greta dashed towards Mr. Tarfo while crying and screaming at the top of her lungs.
"GRETA, NO!"
Carlson was holding Greta's arms with all his will, while the girl was kicking the thin air.
"YOU MONSTER!" She was sobbing uncontrollably. "YOU KILLED MY GRANDPA!"
Mirii felt almost fainting.
"… eh eh eh…" He simply grinned at her. "He was getting in the way… if he kept his role"
"SHUT UP!" She threw her Slosher against him. "DIIIEEEE!"
The man tilted himself towards his left side, while his hands were behind his back.
"… how daring of you." His head rose. "My little troublemakers…"
"Hmpf!"
Mirii stepped towards the man, while aiming her weapon at him.
"You will not get away with this…" Her eyes squeezed a bit. "Not after all the damages you caused…"
"… my my, Mirii." The man snickered. "I thought you were a little smarter than this…"
"You fool!" She growled back at him. "Release Kelly at once! And while you are it…" Her hands were shaking. "… release Hunley…"
"H-huh…?" A sweat drop appeared on the boy's right side of his head. "Is Mirii's consciousness… back?!"
"… this is the Mirii I know and love." His eyes closed, while his head lowered. "Too bad I will see her elsewhere…"
"Hmm?!" Her eyes grew, while her eyebrows lowered and her mouth downturned tightly.
"… did you think that all your laboratory invasions were a good thing?!" Mr. Tarfo's head rose back, as he exposed his shrunk irises. "You stole important documents from those structures! You also sabotaged them…"
"… wh-what do you have in mind…?!" Sweat emerged from Mirii's forehead.
"Your actions weren't left unrecorded… in fact, the WIT has been keeping an eye on you for quite a while…" The man laughed loudly.
"NO!" Mirii's eyes almost popped out. "THE WORLDWIDE INVESTIGATION TEAM?!"
"Yes! YES!" The man's arms opened widely. "They were waiting for the right opportunity to pay you all a visit… and once I kick you all out of this flying ship, your lives will end in the same way as those other two troublemakers who just played with you for a bit!"
"… no way…" Mirii's jaw dropped.
"Aside from the WIT, there is much, much more I would like to share… but for what purpose? Your lives will be in danger, once you are out of this ship…" His right hand rose, with his right middle finger and his right thumb touching together. "Maybe you will be lucky enough to know information such as why I kidnapped your precious friends… or what the Stingrays were up to for all this time…"
"Y-you fiend!" Mirii dashed towards him.
"Farewell, my dear troublemakers!" He snapped his fingers.
All the sudden, the three Inklings fell inside a dark hole, screaming out of their lungs…
