"Wow," Vai breathed, taking in her surroundings. Dim lights hung from the ceiling, gently illuminating the dazed octolings below, staring at the area around them. "This is incredible," Mano murmured, still shocked at the sight of an area that was outside the education establishment. "You got that right!" Krahn said enthusiastically, starting to walk around a little more.
"Oh right, uhm, Mano?" Krahn asked suddenly. Mano turned away from the beauty before him for a moment to grace Krahn with his attention. "When we were talking to Iso, he said he got out by putting a hole in the ceiling. He said that a hydra splatling could work too, so um, could you?" Krahn went on, trying his best to avoid sounding pushy. Mano sighed, his eyes narrowing. "I would if I had one," he said dryly. "Besides that, why in the world would I trust someone like him? He destroyed the Deepsea Metro for his own pleasure," he growled, glaring at the floor. "Well, we should maybe take his word on that because it makes sense anyway, doesn't it?" Krahn smiled nervously and tried to lighten the mood. Mano only scoffed at this and dismissed Krahn. He didn't directly oppose though, which did leave Krahn feeling optimistic as per usual.
"Hey guys, what's that?" Nora asked, her voice rather timid. The floor suddenly rattled, shaking the feet of all four octolings. A light suddenly beamed out of the parallel corridor, the rumbling becoming increasingly noisy. A train suddenly shot out of the hallway, screeching to a halt in front of the crew. "Woah!" Krahn said, his cyan eyes gawking at the train. It appeared more run down than the ones near the school, with more dents, scratches, rust, graffiti, you name it, sprinkled all over its silver flesh.
"Let's go!" Krahn shouted, walking up to the train and boarding it quickly. "Hey, wait up!" Nora whined, following close behind. Krahn laughed as he disappeared behind the wall, along with Nora running after him. Vai and Mano followed behind them a bit more slowly, naturally more skeptical of the circumstances.
"Ay yo, Iso said we would meet some guy named C.Q. Cumber! But really, who in the world would name their kid that?" Krahn laughed, tilting his head back as he laughed hysterically. "That would be me, sir." A small blue sea slug slithered out in front of the four octolings, appearing to be staring at Krahn. "O-oh, sorry man, I didn't think it would be that literal," Krahn said quietly yet apologetically. "It's quite alright. I am your humble conductor, C.Q. Cumber, and I've already heard a lot about you four," he began, his "eyes" scanning every single one of them.
"I take it your aim is to reach the promised land?" he asked, cocking his tiny head to the left in query. "Yes indeedy!" Krahn beamed, grinning at the small blue creature. "Understood," he answered, slipping back to where he originally was, the automatic doors sliding shut behind him. "Where is he going?" Nora asked, visibly confused, yet curious. "Not sure," Vai replied, gazing around the inside of the train. "Hmph," Krahn grumbled, folding his arms tightly around his chest, a cross expression engraved onto his face. "I thought it was funny," Krahn muttered, his forced angry face making Nora giggle.
The automatic doors opened once more to reveal the miniature conductor, now possessing a strange object in his "hand". "What's that?" Krahn, of course, was the first to ask the question that immediately entered the group's minds. "It is a CQ-80 device. This will aid you in your escape to the surface. It contains all the tests you need and a map of the area of the Deepsea Metro you will need to access in order to take these tests and hopefully pass," he explained formally, turning his head to Mano. He looked confused, but masked it with his typical poker face.
"You seem to be the leader of these four, given that you're the most relaxed, and I believe I've heard of you before. Mano Kijanoka, is it?" C.Q. asked, giving the device to Mano, as he gently took ahold of the unusual electronic ware. "Yes, that's me," Mano answered, smirking slightly as his pride began to warm him once more and make him feel confident in himself again. C.Q. hummed in acknowledgement and nodded his little head in respect for the powerful octoling standing before him.
"Shall I direct you to your first test?" he asked, still staring at Mano. "Actually, uhh, we travelled for a while, and I am quite exhau-" "Of course," Mano interrupted Krahn rather quickly, seemingly eager to combat something. C.Q. nodded, not speaking any other words. "Let us begin, then. Please open up your CQ-80 device. If you need assistance, I'm always happy to help," C.Q. instructed.
Mano quickly pressed a button on the side of the mechanism, projecting a large screen in front of the group that had an arrangement of dots on a yellow line, with one larger dot presumably showing where they were located at the time of opening the device. "Fantastic work, ," C.Q. commented, his rather shrill voice sounding slightly impressed. Mano nodded, still gazing at the screen in astonishment.
"Please scroll upward once, that will lead you to your first test. I will direct you there," C.Q. said again, nodding before turning around once more and exiting through the automatic doors leading to another section of the train. Mano flicked the small red lever-like object nearing the top of the device, making it to where the view of the map zeroed in on the smaller dot above the location labelled "Central Station". Mano pressed another button, and then the map disappeared. Suddenly, the train began to shift after quite some time of ambience.
It began to hurl itself forward, flashing to another location in what seemed to be the speed of light. As quickly as it had begun, the train stopped, arriving at a small station area that was cube shaped. C.Q. slithered out, waving the crew over with a long tentacle-like limb. The four stepped out, gazing around the area and staring through the transparent walls and open sky stretching above their heads.
Plastic trees stretched far beyond their field of vision, the same small IV-like objects from earlier attached to their trunks, presumably giving them their unusual bright blue glow. "Hey, Vai? What are those little packet things in the trees?" Nora asked carefully, fear edging her voice as her violet eyes scanned them. "They're for the sanitization process, but usually they're used for 'rehabilitation', which is for when the regular formula doesn't do the trick on the client. It's only a small dosage, but it's for the ones who fight against the sanitization," Vai explained, eyeing the walls, which appeared to be steel.
"In order to take this test, you must have CQ points. Allow me to grant you a few for the start of your journey. At the equipper, you may equip a weapon of your choosing. Each weapon varies in difficulty when it comes to the particular challenge, but the reward increases based on which weapon you pick. For now, you all may use the splattershot, and the reward will be 500 CQ points," C.Q. explained, one of his limbs extending to the pair of locked doors and inserting a card that was ejected from their CQ-80.
"Also, might I add, that depending on whichever test you take, there will be a twist or catch, due to the fact that there are four of you instead of only one. This will play a great factor in the difficulty of each test, so be wise when considering making a rash decision. For this test, it is quite simple, except the normal difficulty has been raised four times, as well as the rank of the enemies you will encounter. Are you all ready?" C.Q. asked, turning his tiny head towards the group.
Krahn looked confused, Nora was visibly shaken, Mano appeared determined, and Vai seemed content. "Of course," Vai answered for the group, smiling slightly at the rest of them. "Then with all of the encouragement I can offer, I wish you all good luck," he said finally, tipping his miniature conductor's hat to them and nodding in consideration to Vai, slithering back onto the train.
It suddenly shot off into the distance, leaving the crew to stand there, starstruck. "W-what?" Nora stammered. "Hey, where'd he go?" Krahn suddenly spat, his face twisting into what seemed to be a watered-down version of anger, due to his immense levels of confusion, even homesickness. "Guess he'll come back when we're done," Mano stated plainly, approaching the pair of doors. "Or if we die," Vai muttered, a dark tone tainting her voice. Nora and Krahn both flinched at her words, not expecting something so serious. "Holy shit," Krahn stammered, dumbfounded.
"D-don't be like that! We won't die down here!" Nora said loudly, nervousness clouding her gaze as she glanced around. Vai only hummed quietly in confusion, sounding doubtful. "Come on, we have a test to pass," Mano said impatiently, pressing a button on the doors as he stared outside of the cubicle. He was suddenly flung outside of it, the doors shutting behind him quickly, "Mano!" Krahn yelled, dashing up to the doors and slamming on the button. It flung him outside as his screams echoed from outside, "Oh my Lord!" Nora cried, pressing the button as well and catapulting outside. Vai followed them promptly afterward, finally finding out where the group had landed.
All four of them had accumulated in a small pile on what seemed to be a respawn point. Vai slipped into octopus form on instinct, slithering through the mound of octolings on top of the checkpoint. Nora groaned quietly as she gently slid off of the other two crew members, shaking her head as she clasped her temples. "Hey, what the hell?! You didn't have to land on me like that!" Krahn whined, wriggling off of Mano and pacing around with irritation.
"We must proceed now, we have no other options than to do so," Mano remarked, brushing himself off as he stared straight ahead. "Right," Vai murmured, standing next to him. Mano quickly advanced forward, briefly observing his surroundings in the process. The setting was bleak and extremely unsettling with its unusual neon palette. The group of four slowly analyzed everything they came across, making mental notes of every plastic tree, IV packet and blade of turf being crushed under their boots. Suddenly, the distant call of a guard octoling sounded, becoming increasingly louder by the second, and a loud thump following it.
"What was that?" Nora asked shakily, trailing behind the four closely. "An enemy," Mano answered plainly, pursuing the voice with confidence and ardor. He suddenly burst from the trees, along with the other three octarians by his side. "Fugitives!" the other octarian hissed, facing them threateningly. "Just one? Hah," Krahn chuckled, gripping his splattershot confidently. Three other enemy octolings emerged from the ink around the first one, snarling at the group as they cowered behind Mano slightly. "Shit," Mano whispered, the color draining from his face.
The four lunged aggressively, all having octoshots in hand, already beginning to shoot at them mercilessly, their grotesque sea green ink spraying over the grassy arena. Mano flung himself into the fray, shooting in a rabid and unfocused manner. "Holy shit, do something!" Krahn yelled, sprinting after him and throwing a splat bomb toward the center of the battle, aiming to eliminate at least one enemy with a trick shot. His attempt was successful, and now three rather tenacious enemies remained.
Mano almost immediately splatted another one, while Vai and Nora both sped toward another and Krahn aimed for the last Octarian standing amongst the enemies. Krahn terminated the other octoling, whilst Vai and Nora annihilated the remaining opposing force. "Guess that's all of 'em," Krahn sighed, panting slightly as the crew recovered from the seemingly spontaneous attack.
"Let's move on," Mano said suddenly, determination present in his deep voice. The other three nodded, starting to become weary of their surroundings and what could be lurking within the green ink caking every corner of the area. "Do you think there's more?" Nora asked cautiously, her timid violet gaze scanning the trees surrounding them. "Most likely," Mano answered, brushing his tentacle out of his face.
They all slowly pushed further into the unknown territory, the tension in the air raising every second that whirled by. They swam forward into the path of ink they created until they came across another checkpoint. "Oh, I guess this is another checkpoint," Vai mumbled, peering around the newly revealed area. "I suppose so. There must be other areas we are required to clear before reaching the goal to pass the test," Mano remarked, still gazing around and quickly observing two large columns of brick in front of himself and his friends.
There was a thick puddle of ink on top of both pillars, in which two octolings emerged, one with a roller, and another with a brella. "There's only two, right?" Nora asked shakily, her gaze darting around the trees sprinkled sparsely amongst the area. Three other octarians emerged from ink splattered around the towers, three of them holding a roller, the other three holding a brella. "No," Mano answered slowly, gripping his splattershot tightly. "There are eight this time."