3 groaned. "I'm tired. Where are we going again?"
The captain sighed. "You should NOT be tired, I told you where we were going when we left, if you are so tired, DRIVE THE SHIP."
3 sat content.
"But if it really slips your mind, we are heading out to the special base where our superior is. Our superior is going to take the sub bomb and we are kinda behind on our… paycheck business. That's for me, you guys just deliver the bomb, be polite to Alpha- and DON'T DROP IT AGAIN, 3."
3 sat the bomb in Luigi's lap.
"Where are you going, Captain?"
The captain sighed. "It's complicated. Even though you three are mostly pros, I've gotta get the news about Alph to the secretary so that they can set up the watch. And also because I've gotta set things right about certain... paycheck problems…"
The crew was satisfied.
Soon, they reached a point where their destination was basically in front of them.
"Soo… what does this Alpha character look like?" 3 said, while toying with her shoelaces.
"Well, they always wear a mask that does this weird thing with their voice, so we don't know who they are. Don't think any author would like that cliche, but, given the circumstances, some valued readers like it."
The docking port for the ships was way more advanced than the one that our friends here had been trusted with.
The captain unstrapped himself and exited the ship, holding a folder of forms.
"You fellas just go down to the end of the hall, when the person asks for your names, IDs, give and tell them, when they ask about the purpose, hold up the bomb and they should know where to send you, say hi to Alpha for me."
The agents found themselves lost the instant the captain left.
"He said at the end of the hall. Which hall…?" 3 mumbled as she looked at the many ways they could go.
"This is a simple task. We can't just fail! Let's try… this one." Simon pointed toward the leftmost hall.
"Maybe this is not a good idea. We should ask for help. It just seems more logical to-"
Simon shut Luigi up instantly. "I think we went the wrong way."
1 hour later…
3 was now being dragged down the hall, Luigi was sick and tired, and Simon still walked with the same determination he had an hour ago.
"We are SO lost." Luigi groaned, while dragging a large orange squid across the tile flooring.
They sat down at the nearest waiting room, where Luigi sat 3 on the bench.
A woman walked in.
"Hello, do you have an appointment/scheduled meeting with Alpha?"
Simon's eyes grew wide. "Yes, we have something to drop off."
The lady looked at the group.
"You three seem very familiar. What are your names?"
"Well, we're-"
The lady cut in. "Hmm… are you Lucifer's team?"
"YES. YES WE ARE." Simon said extremely hastily, as to not get interrupted again.
"Ok, I'll go and speak with Alpha."
The lady left.
"SO… we aren't lost?"
Simon looked directly at 3. "I mean, is there another Alpha? NO. Yes, we are NOT lost."
It took a while, but the lady eventually came back.
"Alpha will see you now. Follow me."
The lady led them through a long corridor. If she hadn't led them down the long path, they would probably have had to give up and go home.
Finally, the agents reached a room that was large, not an office, too big, but maybe a personal MUSEUM.
The walls were black and the room was dark, only illuminated by the blue light streaks running up the walls.
The lady reached the swivel chair in the middle of the room.
"Alpha, the visitors are here."
The chair in the middle of the room stopped spinning like a four year-old child in a local Ikea store.
"Their names?"
The lady said something, but Simon wasn't listening.
"...Ok… Where is their captain? I needed to talk to him about the… paycheck incident…"
The lady winced when he mentioned the paycheck incident. "Yes, he will be here shortly, it's just the members right now. The captain is setting down his case with the archive."
"I'll just mail it to him then. The right wing has a person waiting for my assistant, please escort them properly, I'll deal with the bomb situation."
The lady left, leaving the three alone with their superior.
Alpha stood and trotted over to them. He was a lot shorter than they thought. Luigi stood a few inches over him, 3 loomed over him.
Alpha wore a nice, black suit. The suit and tie were all black, just like his gloves and jeans. He wore jeans.
His jeans were rolled up a little near his socks, which were black, ditto his shoes.
The mask he wore covered his whole head, the face part being one-way mirrored glass.
3 got nervous just thinking about what impressive interior sat under that mask.
The masked man looked at them for a good five minutes, not speaking or making any major actions.
"I remember all of you. Especially Mr. L, over here."
Alpha stepped toward Luigi and shook his hand. "The last time I saw you was last year, when we discussed the Plasm Wraith situation."
Luigi took off his mask and hood. "Yes, that incident was… regrettable, to say the least."
Alpha walked over to Simon next. "I forget your name sometimes, to be honest, but we last saw each other…" Alpha took a moment to try and gather his thoughts, "I last saw you when I had given you the sword you own now… memories…"
Simon felt a bit of pride, as if almost fanboying, but he calmed himself before freaking out.
"And finally…"
3 did not notice that she was blushing, Alpha chuckled awkwardly.
"What IS your name…? Did.. did you ever actually write that down? I.. don't remember. A-anyway… I think we last encountered each other when I hired you… last year? Anyway- umm… how are you…?"
3 felt an odd sense of excitement when Alpha spoke. Like he was a dad that had left for milk, finally returning.
Alpha gave up trying to get an answer when 3 just stared and smiled as her face got progressively redder.
"ANYWAY. Gamma is what we're here to discuss. Meet me in the examination room."
The agents jumped back as Alpha went back to his chair and disappeared.
"Where'd he go?!" Simon said, frantically searching for their presumably disintegrated boss.
It took them about six minutes until they actually realized where he went.
"Guys… he's not in here."
They all took a moment to realize their stupidity and get going.
The walk to the exam room was a lot shorter than assumed. Just a turn and there it was.
They entered the room and saw Alpha poking a test mouse with a syringe, but he nonchalantly played it off and sat the syringe on the desk, as if he weren't doing something stupid.
"Oh, hey. I assume you three remember Janet, yes?"
Simon waved at the teen with white hair and green eyes.
"Yes, you do. Good… I cannot keep him here, due to routine… gold checking… but he shouldn't be much of a burden for you guys to keep, right?"
Simon looked at everybody. "Excuse us for a minute."
The agents huddled together. "So… we're taking this guy home? Is he even-"
Alpha was in the huddle as well. "Funny that you would question my guidance in secret."
The agents panicked and moved back.
"Anyway, you ARE taking Mr. Janet here. No exceptions, he is coming with you. Look. He's a temporary agent. Your captain should want to see you soon, so take him and go."
Janet shrugged, staring directly at them.
"Look. You're going now, I'm taking the bomb and you can go now."
Simon felt very uneasy about the choice they were being forced to do.
"Fine. Screw it." Alpha tapped a button on his wrist band and then started messing with his mask, until it popped off.
"Now do you trust me?"
Simon fainted, due to pure pressure.. Luigi, two seconds later, fainted as well. 3 lasted until the five seconds passed, and then she fell over.
They woke up to the captain driving them away.
"Well, you delivered the bomb, got us a temporary new agent, and was found knocked out… What happened?"
Janet shot a steely glare and shook his head at the three.
"I don't know… maybe it was just pressure…?"
The captain grunted. "Huh… that isn't assuring, but okay…"
Meanwhile, at the Gamma base…
Travis didn't come to work that day, from what Billy had been told. It didn't seem very funny, especially not when you were invited to meet the man that could fire you with no regrets and turned up missing.
"BILLY! Where is that green, homicidal sushi dinner?! You said he would be here!"
Billy slammed his desk. "AMBER, I SAID HE MIGHT BE HERE!"
Twenty minutes passed.
Billy threw on his hood outfit and strutted to the travel pod they had.
Amber stopped him. "Where are YOU going?"
"Going to get my forgetful pal."
Billy, five minutes later, found himself travelling with Amber, who was wearing the hooded outfit and was driving.
"Ok. Inkling city. How did we manage to go through last time?"
Then it hit them. "Travis was with us."
Billy looked at the map. "Ok. You DO know how to read this, right?"
Amber nodded and sat down to read the map. "We know where to go, but it's, sadly, far from here. We're gonna have to-"
Billy backed into the corner. "NO. Don't freaking say it!"
"... we're gonna have to walk there."
Billy sighed. "What's the plan?"
Amber held the hood close and tightened her backpack strings. "You okay in there? There should be a chocolate bar stash in there somewhere."
"I hate this and Travis owes us BIG TIME." Grumbled Billy, who was ensconced inside of the backpack.
Amber took such words as a yes and started walking. "You have the GPS, so you're gonna have to make sure that I'm not-"
"You're going the wrong way."
Amber sighed and turned around.
This is gonna be longer than I thought.
Meanwhile, at Travis's house..
The emerald squid leaned forward in his bed and looked at the wardrobe. "Let's see…"
Travis scrolled through the options. "Green, green, green…" From what was said, there was nothing but green sweaters in the wardrobe.
"Ooh! Light green!" Travis yanked a green sweater no different from the other sweaters and shoved it on.
Travis went downstairs and opened the fridge. Hmm… what's for breakfast?
Travis plucked out some leftovers and ate it as if he were in a hurry.
After an enjoyable breakfast, Travis went to the basement and cut on the light, which illuminated very little of the actual basement.
"Enjoying your stay?"
The new hostage in the basement, Marley, a red inkling with glasses and very neatly styled tentacles, blinked awake and looked at Travis. "Wh- what? Where am I?"
Travis picked up his trusty hunting knife(which, FYI, he has never cleaned,) and bent down near the chair Marley was tied to.
"Which should I rid you of first, your arms, or your legs?"
Marley looked at the knife and jerked and pulled, trying to escape and looking ultimately stupid whilst doing so.
"What are you doing there, buddy?"
Marley glared at Travis. "You know I'm with the government, you imbecile!"
Travis nearly had a fit of hysterics. "Your government is run by two incognizant imbeciles with deteriorating minds and bewitching good looks that they are known for, not for literally anything else. To be honest… that is how our government has been since I was alive, which was 24 years ago, so you're stuck working for good-looking idiots with no sense of music, just talking really fast to a rhythm. Uncreative."
Marley felt insulted. "HOW DARE YOU?!"
Travis kicked Marley's leg. "Shut up right now, before the musical idiots find their governmental chief in pieces."
"There's more to the government than just those two, you know! I would know, I'm actually-"
Travis jammed the knife beside Marley's hand.
"SHUT. UP."
Marley shut up, but didn't stop trying to escape.
Travis left the basement, not interested in trying anything that day.
Amber held her hood and kept walking, even though the 75-pound toad in the backpack wouldn't shut his facial orifice for two seconds.
"You're going the wrong way. No, not that way. MY left, not yours."
Amber felt angry, but had to keep it together. You cannot give yourself away in a plaza full of walking squid.
"Can you speak inklish? I can't."
Amber elbowed the bag and heard a small yelp.
That'll shut him up for a while.
Amber, in her small moment of peace, did not watch where she was headed and slammed into someone.
"Sorry-"
The inkling whom Amber slammed into started saying things to which she couldn't understand.
Shoot…
Billy mumbled a sarcastic comment which Amber could not hear.
Another inkling approached, speaking as if they were asking something.
Amber was now surrounded. A crowd took two minutes, but Amber was surrounded.
CRAP.
Just then, Billy said something as his radar picked up a familiar signal.
Amber cursed in Latin, before turning and darting in the opposite direction.
Travis is getting his pay docked for this adventure!
Travis nearly jumped into his squid form when his radar started beeping loudly.
Billy?!
Amber slammed directly into Travis. "Oh, there you are-"
Travis yanked Amber out of sight.
"What in the name of Cod are you doing here?"
Amber sighed. "Thickhead wanted to see you."
Billy unzipped the backpack and jumped out.
"Oh, there you are! I didn't know you have been skipping days on me! We didn't miss an important meeting, or anything like that."
Travis frowned. "That was sarcastic-"
"OF COURSE IT WAS! I may have missed out on a raise because you didn't show up!"
"That was today?"
Billy and the others heard upcoming chatter and Billy hopped back inside of Amber's backpack.
"This is a strain on my shoulders. The pod is far away and I hate carrying your friend here, so… where do you live… exactly?"
Travis sighed. "Follow me- and stay quiet. The last thing I want is to have to create another fake identity."
The inside of Travis's house was neat, smelled like wet paint, and was extremely cold.
"Your house smells bad." Billy said, waving his hand in such attempts to blow away the smell.
"Where's the victims? The murdered souls? I did NOT expect this."
Travis sighed. "I like a clean environment. This means that I actually dispose of the bodies. There IS, however, a hostage in the basement."
Billy was already running to the basement.
"How long do you guys plan on staying here?"
Amber sat down on the soft sofa. "I won't be here long, the pod is just out there, sitting like a ball floating away in a lake, but it's not in a lake."
Travis shrugged. "Well, I'll just-"
The sentence was rudely interrupted by a scream from the basement.
"Billy is having fun."
"Yup."
Bowser groggily stood. "Ohhh… my everything aches."
The king looked around. Lush greenery surrounded him.
"Huh. Where am I?"
The world was full of large plants and animals, some weird and wacky. Bowser stopped and gasped.
Mario, the red clad Italian hero who had beaten Bowser over 20 times, was on the floor, knocked out, while a large creature roared and reared to bite.
Bowser ran up and punched the creature in its snout, knocking it back.
The creature roared and ran at Bowser. Bowser kicked the large creature and picked up Mario.
Gotta get him outta here before more beasts arrive.
Bowser sat Mario up nearby and slammed his fist into the creature.
"Back up, tubby!"
The creature roared and Bowser took a deep breath.
The creature fried and became a pile of ashes as Bowser blasted it with a large wave of fire.
The ashes moved a little, and a soul slowly ascended upward.
Bowser sighed and looked at Mario.
"I hope that you know where we are, bub."
Just then, a green streak flew by, hitting the nearest bush.
"AAH!"
Bowser readied his fists again, but calmed himself when he saw that it was just a scared Luigi.
"Oh, finally. Someone to talk to-"
Luigi threw on gloves, as if he were hiding something.
"Aah! Bowser! Don't scare me like that!"
What was on his hand? Bowser quickly snapped back into reality and gestured.
"Let's go. Your brother has some explaining to do."
Luigi fastened his gloves and nodded. "Ok. Do you know where we are?"
"No. Do you?"
Luigi shrugged. "Nope. Do you know where the princess is?"
"Normally, yes. Right now? No."
They sat down and waited for Mario to wake up.
"What has my bro gotten us into?"
30 minutes earlier…
Double Luigi stood from the ground, which he had landed on. "Ow… my back…"
Luigi stood up and looked around. "What was that?"
A large rumble ensued, and a creature with the neck of a snake, but the head of a bird came out of the ground. Burrowing Snagret…
The large bird lashed forward with it's head, and Luigi tried to block it with his hand. Luigi yelped in pain as it grabbed his entire arm and hoisted him up into the air.
The creature had Luigi by the arm, but Luigi flailed and kicked, as to avoid becoming lunch.
Finally, after wrestling for what seemed like hours, Luigi got his arm free and ran away, as fast as he could.
Luigi dashed until he reached a few bushes, where he pulled his gloves from his overall pockets, looking at the wounds he had gotten from that little encounter.
Don't let them know that you are a clone, Mario will go mad!
Bowser peeked his head in the bush right as Luigi had his other glove on.
"Oh, finally, someone to talk to-"
Luigi screamed.
"Bowser! Don't scare me like that!"
Just play it off, Luigi. No one has to know.
Oh hey, it's me, hi. You wanna hear something BS?
Sizes. 3 is 6,7. Beeg. Travis is 5,11.
Hey guys, I wanna hear your thoughts, if you want to review, review.
I am gonna say now, go and play/watch/inform yourself of Pikmin. It's important for the next chapter. Unless you just don't want to, in which that's on you. It's also gotta do with where Mario and co. are. Peace!
Poll coming vote now for what you want next from me.