The Pearl arc comes to an conclusion in this unreasonably dumb chapter…
Inside the bunker was surprisingly warm. The five new victims wandered down some sort of hallway, until they saw a light. They walked in. There was a seemingly normal room underneath the village, and no one knew about it?
"And another group has come to join us in hell," said one of the kids from Cabin 2. "Welcome."
"Honestly I'm kinda disappointed this metal thingie was actually a room," Camber muttered. "I was hoping for something cool."
Suddenly, everyone hear some sort of scratching loudspeaker noise.
"Hello, this is an escape room, and we are forcing you to do it. Good luck!"
"We should probably start looking for clues or something," one kid said.
"Right," said another.
"Uh, if this is an escape room, shouldn't there be an emergency exit?", asked yet another.
"You're right," said Pearl. She looked around. "There it is. It's hidden, but it's definitely an exit. I'll go and get help."
The others nodded. Pearl used the door and snuck out of the village. Leaving it felt very comforting. No more murderers! She tried to remember the way around the camp in hopes of finding help. She saw that there was a light on. Someone else was probably awake! She ran towards it.
Someone was in the office. It was the camp security guard. He was up watching anime. Great. As he watched, he struck poses and shouted things that Pearl was convinced weren't even a real language and just gibberish made up by the show's creators for plot depth. She was never the biggest anime fan.
Pearl walked up to the office. She was about to knock when she realized she still had tetherball rope tied around her. Stupid tether ball. Because her hands weren't available for knocking on doors, she attempted to hit the door with her head to grab the security's attention. Unfortunately, exactly when she did that, there was a scene in the anime where a character knocked on a door. Damn.
Annoyed, she tried hitting her head on the door again and again until the guy finally realized there was a distressed child hitting their head on his door. He got out of his chair and tried to open the door, but, of course, it was locked. Pearl groaned as the guy then walked away from the door to get the keys. He then realized he lost the keys and began to look around. While looking around, he noticed that the anime was still on and began to keep watching it. Pearl hit her head on the door more until he finally got off of his anime couch, looked for the keys again and, finally, found them and unlocked the door.
"You #$%," Pearl muttered at him.
"But, you see, I just helped you!"
"By opening a door? I guess, but it LITERALLY TOOK YOU TEN MINUTES."
"Sorry." The guy scratched his tentacle beard. "How may I help you, young lady?"
"Okay so basically I'm in Sea Snake Village and the head counselors had a day off so the other counselors played a prank but when night came the other counselors disappeared and the head counselors came back and they were like, really pissed, so they got out a crossbow covered in water and tried to kill me so everyone started to hide but then they barged into each cabin one at a time and kidnapped two kids for each and then they-" Pearl stopped talking when the part about Oran came up. "They murdered my friend. Uh, then they took me and some others as hostages and once they had enough hostages they forced us to do some sort of escape room in a bunker underneath the village but all escape rooms have an emergency exit so I snuck out and tried to get help."
The security guard was speechless.
"I'm sorry," he said. "But what the actual heck?"
"WELL CAN'T YOU AT LEAST HELP ME?"
"Why are you shouting at me?"
"I dunno," said Peal. "Maybe because I'm []ing traumatized?!"
"Oooohhhhh… Okay!" The security guard looked around awkwardly. "So, uh, what should I do to help you?"
"Stop the counselors from killing anyone else!"
"Young lady, this seems like the kind of thing we should call 911 for."
"I was literally about to say that."
"Good. I'll call 911."
The guy went back inside, but was distracted by the TV again and sat down to watch more anime. Pearl was getting more and more angry by the second. She barged into the office. The security guard jumped up in fear. He hurried to the phone in the office and dialed 911. The operator asked what happened, and he simply said "some kids were murdered". The operator asked about location and all of that stuff, The security guard answered, slowly and in a dull, stodgy voice. The operator was having a hard time keeping up with everything he had to say.
Angry yet again, Pearl tried to grab the phone from the guy, but then realized her hands were still caught in the rope. "Can you let me talk?!", she shouted at the security.
"Okay, sure! Here's a witness."
He held up the phone so Pearl could talk.
"So basically I'm a witness, and those guys are crazy. They have a crossbow and a big axe-thingy. Both are made of water. They tried to kill me with them. This isn't a joke. Please help. If you don't, I might die."
After like ten minutes there were a bunch of police sirens and stuff like that, but it was too late. Tori and Ben had practically gone insane and flooded the entire village, killing everyone besides the guys in the escape room bunker. Every single life form was evacuated and the camp was temporarily closed.
*Present Day*
"After that the guys-"
"Is this getting close to the end of the story?", Marie complained.
"No, it's not! Now keep listening!", Pearl scoffed.
"Pearlie, we need to catch a murderer," said Marina.
"Yeah, mom, you SERIOUSLY need to finish this up fast," Eight added.
"Not to mention my hundred-thirty-year-old grandfather is waiting outside for us." Marie sighed.
"Ooo Cap's here? I'd like to see him. He never taught me how to do that texting thingy." With that, Pearl ran to the bathroom and quickly got dressed into day clothes. "Take me to him."
"I'll wait for your family to get ready."
"UHHG!" Pearl stomped her foot on the ground, but it hurt.
Pearl waited as Marina put on her contacts and Eight tried to find where he left his shoes. He was wearing them and didn't notice. The group then left, but meanwhile with the other group…
"I'm sorry, but Ashira cannot go out with you. You see, she needs to tend to the otter pups. She still hasn't started yet; she's been churning butter all night."
Agent 3 was speechless. So apparently Agent 4 spent her time away from the Square doing chores on a otter farm? You learn something new everyday.
Just then, Three noticed Four run by. "Mom! I'm done with the butter! Wait… The hell? Uh, I mean, uh…"
Three had never seen her like this. She was wearing a worn out beige cotton dress with a pair of ripped jeans and muddy rain boots. The dress had a single cornflower-blue patch on the side.
"Ah, Ash, you're here," said her mother. "Your boyfriend was looking for you."
Three swore he saw her eyes glow red, but then again, her eyes were naturally red, so he was probably just noticing that.
Awkwardly, Three mouthed "we found the killer", and Four nodded.
"Hey, uh, mom?"
"Yes honey?"
"Can I take the otters with me? I need to go with him."
"Aww, so you're taking them to your date?"
"Just say yes," Three mouthed.
"Uhh, right."
"Good. Go get them, then."
"One sec," she told Three as she ran to the barn and looked around for the pups inside the romp (a romp is what you call a group of otters). There were nine in total. Her three favorites, Pudding, Scamper, and Ax, were able to sit on her shoulders and her head. She held one, Flare, in her arm because he was the softest. She placed the other five in a wheeled crate made for transporting them easily.
Three didn't say anything as she came back, and the two left.
"Why do you-" Callie was confused by the otters.
"And you cut one of your tentacles?!" Four was shocked. It didn't really seem intentional, though.
"Don't ask about my tentacles. I'll explain later. As I was saying, that seems like a lot of otters, I could carry some for you if you want."
"I get the feeling you just wanna hold a baby otter."
"I mean… I kinda do… They're just so… precious…"
Four handed Flare over to Callie. "He's a soft little pup. Hopefully he'll fall asleep or something, since he does that a lot."
Callie was too happy to talk. Baby otter.
The group headed to the train station, paid some stuff, and got on the speedy train. The otters really seemed to enjoy the ride. When they arrived at the other station they quickly got on a bus and went back to the Square.
It was now around 3:42 AM. 4 AM was the time drunk loitering guys would show up in Inkopolis Square, so they needed to be careful. They headed to the manhole to meet up with the others, but to their surprise, the other group wasn't there.
"She didn't even have to leave the Square," Callie muttered. "What's taking them so long?"
Just then, they heard what sounded like arguing and a guy rapping in the background. The others had arrived.
"Why are you guys so damn loud?", snapped Three.
"Mom's mad at me for not being able to find my shoes OR my glasses," said Eight. He then froze. "ARE THOSE BABY OTTERS?! Awww…"
"You can hold one if you want," said Four. She had let all of the otters run around on the floor of Tentakeel Outpost, much to the annoyance of Octavio, who didn't support milk or anything related to it.
Four handed Eight an otter. Eight looked into the pup's eyes, and it looked into his. They were meant for each other. Well, maybe not. But Eight loved cute baby animals. The otter could have hated him, for all he knew. Life could be disappointing sometimes.
Cap'n Cuttlefish grabbed a nearby book and stood on it to look important.
"Secret agents that belong to an organization that started in the basement of my house ten years ago!"
"Oh god," said Three, Four, and Eight in unison.
"We are here at this hour to catch a criminal."
"She's trafficking crab blood on the black market!", shouted Marie. Everyone gasped.
"I see, you buckos are now goodly motivated," said the captain. "Do you want to catch a murderer?"
"Yeah!" they all shouted like drunk sports fans.
"I need to tend to the otters," said Four.
"Wait… That gives me an idea!", said Eight. "We can set up some form of trap around here somewhere and she will fall into it!"
"But, uh, what would we lure her in with?"
"Money," said Callie and Marie in unison.
Everyone looked at Pearl.
"Hey! Why ya' lookin at me like that? If this is about money, I'm here to inform you that there're three other famous pop stars right next ta me who could lend you just as much as ya' need from me, probably at least."
After a while of discussing and arguing, the idols all lent some money for the trap, and Agent 4 lent a stick of butter. That's all she had in her pockets that she didn't need. The others questioned her why she lent anything at all, and she said she just wanted to be nice. R.
Then it was time to brainstorm an idea for a trap. They had to shoot down all of Three's ideas, since most of them involved severe physical pain. In the end, they decided to do the kind of trap where the victim steps on a net and it traps them for some reason, like the kind you see in cartoons. CLICHES FOR THE WIN! The NSS left the trap there and headed home for the night. Three, Eight, and Four had all gotten permission from their parents and guardians to sleepover, and Pearl and Marina agreed to host. Four's brother picked up the otters and handed her her pajamas. Three was already wearing his pajamas, but had a change of clothes in his bag for the morning just in case. THey then headed to the apartment for a good night's sleep.
"I wonder if they're back," said Broomhilda out loud as she rubbed some bills against her tentacles and laughed.
She looked around. No sign of them. Rabble rousers. She was about to turn back when she realized something lying on the ground. She got closer to see what it was. It was a hell of a lot of money! And some butter. Yum. She was kind of hungry, so some butter wouldn't hurt.
She carefully slipped into squid form. Being a full grown adult, her squid form was pretty big, but she was taller. She would have less chance to be noticed this way. She reached out a tentacle ,grabbed the butter, and began eating it. Mmm, she could tell it was freshly made from otter milk. Now that she was full, it was money. Broomhilda took a full-out nose dive into the money. Suddenly, a tarp quickly sprung up from below her. She was trapped like the villain in a cat-and-mouse cartoon, except she was a squid.
Morning arrived. Eight woke his friends up. All three of them seemed to have forgotten about the fact that they were trying to chase a murderer. Like a normal sleepover, they each took turns in the bathroom getting dressed and stuff. Eight took his turn first. He finished and headed towards the kitchen, but before he got there, he had heard what sounded like his mom on the phone and his mother making... commentary? He decided to listen through the door:
"Wait, what?!", said Pearl. "So you're telling me no matter how much junk you eat you can maintain a perfect body shape? Freak."
"It's not nice to make fun of other people's metabolism rates, Pearlie."
Then Eight walked in. "What the actual heck are you talking about?"
"Shh," said Marina. "You're Mom's on an important call."
"Uh, to me it just sounds like she's yelling at someone for burning calories fast."
Marina sighed. "Well, she WAS on a call with Callie and Marie about the evil lady."
"How did the conversation lead to metabolism?!"
"Not entirely positive, but it was on speaker for a while, and for for what I can remember from then, at some point there was what sounded like wrinkling of a plastic bag of some sorts. Speaker was then turned off."
"Um, okay," Eight said as he went into the kitchen to make some oatmeal for him and his pals. He was surprisingly good at cooking. When he finished, he went back to his room and doled out the rations of thinly cut grains heated up in water and covered in sugary junk. Oatmeal, ta-dah!
A little bit after they finished, someone began to knock on the room's door.
"Come in," said Eight.
"Pack your hero outfits, because we're going to Octo Canyon for the third time this week!", Marina cheerfully shouted as she opened the door.
Three groaned for some reason. Four pretended to be excited, but she clearly knew that they were going to go before anyone even mentioned it. Then then had to take turns in the bathroom AGAIN to change into their hero outfits. Eight was kind of excited because this was his first real opportunity to actually use wear the "Hero Jersey" Cap'n Cuttlefish had custom made for him, as well as an edited version of the boots he wore on the Metro. Looking in the mirror, he felt ready to do something cool, even if it was simply cutting a tarp or calling the cops.
After everyone changed, they headed out of the apartment to go to the Octo Canyon. Hopefully no one would notice three kids following some pop stars into a manhole. No one noticed. Literally no one. How is that even possible? Nevermind.
They cephalopod-ed down the great and landed in Tentakeel Outpost. They were kindly greeted by Marie grabbing Pearl by the arm and yelling at her for being mean on an important call.
"Sooo, uh, we have the murderer tied up in the cabin, but, er, what do we do now? Report the murder? Beat her to death? I really don't wanna kill someone right now," said Callie, awkwardly looking at her cousin, who was still angry.
Author's Note: Yep, after half a month, this chapter is FINISHED. I repeat, FINISHED. Sorry if it's a little long, but keep up the hate comments! You know I love being criticized. Raises my self esteem.
