It was almost evening: time sure passes when you're busy. Especially when you have to deal with two mysterious girls, a laughing idiot and weird symptoms. Yes, at the end I concluded that I've a bad fever and it's making me very ill and weak… it has to be!
We got near the park entrance and as said before, no sign of that coral cage. Agent 1 pointed its previous location.
"It was right there! Gee, I really wanted to see it again!"
"Tough luck, Agent 1… but maybe they sell it in stores."
"Oh, good idea! We should check it out later: maybe it's a new trend!"
Doesn't seem to be the case, since we're talking about a cage used on an Inkling. Her dreamy personality kinda reminds me of that famous girl… what was her name again? I think she sings in a band or something…
"Uhm… there isn't anything important here." I said after a quick look.
"Wait, look at that! There's a weird metallic thing behind the light pole!"
"That's an emergency box, Bars. You know them."
"Oh… but that one looks so different! Isn't suspicious enough? Like, I'd check right on!"
"That's a new model. But go ahead: use it with your ID card."
"Uuuh… I think I forget it at home!"
Bars: a stupid Inkling that lies to make himself even more stupid. I don't even want to know what idiotic things are getting in his mind, right now…
"Hey, let's not throw anything in the bin yet! I mean, there must be a super clue we can use!" Agent 1 tried to cheer the team up.
"The super clue might be under our nose…" Agent 2 speaks up.
"Really?! What's it then?!"
Agent 2 pointed at me. Agent 1 puffed her cheeks in sign of disapprove.
"You always need to be so pessimistic, huh?!"
In that moment, I didn't care for any prejudices: I was focused on my memories. According to Grina's old friend, Hunley was in Squid form when he got captured. I wonder… did he stayed as a Squid this whole time? There might not be any reasons behind this… but it's sure a possibility.
"Hunley may have been a Squid all this time. I suggest searching around any sign of orange ink."
"Orange ink…? As a Squid?" Agent 2 asked.
"Yes. Hunley possess an unique gift: he can ink the ground as a Squid."
"Say what?!" Agent 1 asked in shock. "That's impossible!"
"Inkopolis was suppose to see him in action, but alas… that didn't happened."
"That's too bad, man! I liked a lot that skill!" Bars adds.
"… is this ink normal?" Agent 2 asked again.
"Yes." I said.
"Then, I think that the ink is long gone…"
That's what I feared. We come too late! If only I knew this before…
"… however, there's still something we can do about it."
"What? We can't guess the road he took…"
"Of course not. But we can still see used Ink."
Used ink? Is it really possible? Agent 2 took out a small flashlight.
"Oh, but of course! The Inklight!" Agent 1 said.
"Yes. With the Inklight, we can see any Ink remains…"
"It's usually used for ehm… well, let's just say Complicated Cases."
"Complicated Cases? What did you mean?!"
"Bars, you do not want to know… trust me, you're not the type that can stand in front of those situations…"
"… w-well, if you say so Boss…!"
Sometimes he calls me "Boss". I kinda like that title, honestly… it makes me more confident.
"Then, let's try use it in the same spot you saw that cage."
Agent 2 nods and get near the cage's ex-spot. She uses the Inklight around it: instantly a narrow path of ink showed up. I was completely white, almost like the light from the flashlight itself.
"It looks like we found something…"
"Yes! It has to be him!" Agent 1 jumped from the joy.
"It could just be someone using an Inkbrush… let's not jump into conclusions, here."
She still is doubtful about my alibi. Her way of dealing with things kinda reminds me of… a girl I usually see on television. She leads night programs talking about horror movies… in an intellectual way. I don't really care about horror movies, however I usually follow documentaries: they are always been in my interest.
"So do you, Agent 2."
Agent 2 looked at me after a quick turn.
"I believe that an Inkbrush near the coral cage is a bit too much coincidental to throw doubts in our ways."
"B-but they could still have used it…!"
"For what reasons?"
My question made Agent 2 quiet like she did to me in our confrontation. Sweet revenge? I didn't care at that point: Hunley was there before and I must save him! He may be in danger now… or he's having a huge hunger in this moment.
I could cook something nice for him: since he comes from the farm, he may like something simple… no, maybe he'll love my favourite dish! Yes, that would be great actually. I should add something spicy, to give it a more decisive flavor too… … HOW DID I END UP TALKING ABOUT FOOD?!
"Come on, let's follow this! I can already feel the climax of this mission!" Agent 1 dreams again.
We all agreed without any complain…
"I hope this isn't too long: I'm so done with walking for today."
… except Bars. Thanks for letting us know you're still there. Anyway, we followed the path created presumably by Hunley. While walking, I got a call from the smartphone. Usually I don't get too much calls, so I got a bit surprised by this. I answered it: it was a member of the Temanga, Ana.
Mirii says:
Since I don't know all of them enough to make a proper description, I decided to say all four members at once.
Let's start off with Enrick: Grina's friend from the past. He seems someone capable of taking responsibilities, but he acts a bit of a pushover overall. I noticed how helpful he tries to be with Grina: I wonder if he did find anything important about those creeps…
Then, we have Nick: a mix between Bars's stupidity and Hunley's ingenuity. Not that Hunley is really THAT gullible… but still, this guy is a trouble-maker. He doesn't really do much, aside from getting Ana's attention constantly. I heard that he's actually a force to be reckoned with… that's when he doesn't have ink in the brain.
Next is Ana, the girl that called me on the smartphone. We exchanged our phone numbers, just to let me know how Grina's conditions are. She's mature… not quite as me, but still pretty noticeable. Everytime I see her doing anything is usually while interacting with Nick. Despite all her hate towards his disasters, she seems to care about him a lot… are those two siblings? Or they happen to be a weird comical duo…? A mystery of its own.
Last but not the least, is Zira. Well… she's sure special: I never saw any girl smiling and giggles as much as her. Everything for her seems to be a little game: she even smiled while Grina was shouting nonsense back to the hospital! It'd be interesting to know why she has this unique trait.
Another thing is… she seems very interested in Bars. When he was hungry at the hospital, she gave him like 11 candies. If it wasn't for me, Bars would have gulped approximately more than 30 candies. Did he forget how candies are bad for the teeths?! Now that I think about it… how she manages to keep all those candies?! Maybe that's the reason why Zira is always so happy…
I talked with her for a while: in short, she said that Grina will come out tomorrow since her physical state is improving quickly. That was great news! Also she talked about how there a few shops closed early in the day. My guess is that it's a consequence after what all happened today.
I almost didn't notice how we got at the end of the Ink trail. After a quick goodbye to Ana, I took a look around: it seems we are near a private house from the snazzy design.
"The Ink ends right here…" Agent 2 announced. "Unless there's the possibility of more Ink near this house…"
"Whoa…! Someone really likes its house! It's pretty colorful all-around!" Bars commented.
"Hmm… you know, they could have made the design more aggressive! Like using a combination of red and black, to make it more menacing!" Agent 1 suggested.
"We still need that flashlight, Agent 2. Don't put it away just yet." I ordered.
"But where could be the missing Ink…? There's nothing more of it." Agent 2 wondered.
I got a feeling that actually Hunley used his Special: a special move available after inking the ground and the walls for a certain amount of own ink. Hunley's Special Move isn't been ultimated yet: all it does is just a Super Jump in Squid Form. However, this is where the feeling becomes evident…
What if Hunley learned to control his Special Move and he was able to Super Jump where he wants to? If that is true… that means he could have been…!
"I think I figured that one out." I said.
"W-what did you find, this time…?" Agent 2 asked.
"Just a theory: I need to check something really quick."
I got near the house walls and took a look at their windows. I could see most of them intact, but only one is impossible to see from below. Luckily, there was a brick wall not too far away from the unchecked window: I got a quick running start and climbed it all the way, without stopping. Now I could see everything clearly.
Once I look at that window, my guess was right: only a few shards were left of it. I jumped back from the wall and reached the "team" again.
"Just like I suspected: Hunley is in that house."
"W-what?! He's imprisoned in that hard-to-miss house?!" Agent 1 replied.
"And the evidence is…?"
"That window right there." I pointed to the broken window. "Hunley used his Special to Super Jump right through that window, breaking all of it in the process."
"He can do that?!" Bars asked.
"He wasn't in full control, yesterday… but it seems he finally learned it." I explained.
"… then, according to your deductions, the boy isn't kidnapped anymore. He's… hiding." Agent 2 said.
"It'd make sense, since unidentified creatures were after him."
"Then, we just need to ring the house and call Hunley out!" Agent 1 jumped from joy.
"Agent 1… his name is not Hunley… he's Hunigi." Agent 2 said.
"Hunigi?! That name seems too weird, Agent 2! I bet that was a nickname you come up just now!" Agent 1 complained.
"Then, what about you give it one too…?"
"Uhm… what's his original name?"
"Hun."
"Oh! Weeell no offense, but that name is kinda lacking something. Luckily, I got the perfect nickname for him! Get ready for it… Hunario!"
"Hunario? … pfff… eh eh, not bad…" Agent 2 giggles a bit.
"Not bad?! I expected A+++ for that performance!" Agent 1 puffed her cheeks again.
… I still like Hunley as a nickname… and I didn't choose of it, because of THAT other nickname. It kinda popped out from my head… and I believe there's a true reason why I like it a lot. There must be! It can't be that one reason only…!
"Anyway, we have a house t-to investigate… s-so, let's go!"
For some reason, I was feeling really nervous… almost like, I'm about to see something very important. How this emotion raises like that?! I never felt like that before! I can't let this inconvenience get the best of me: I have to save Hunley and solve this case once and for all.