Not too far away from the young Inklings's Starting Point: Enrick, Zira and Bars were inking the goo, while occasionally fighting some opposition. Both the siblings weren't bad at dealing with humanoid stingrays, while Bars was struggling a bit.
"Yippie! We won!" Zira said, after they defeated two unaware enemies.
"Still no trace of Hundrick…" Enrick reports. "Could he be in that airship?"
"No way, pal! Hunter doesn't even know what that machine is!" Bars replied.
"Huh? How can you say that?"
"Dude, he doesn't even know what a TV is!"
"WHAAAT?!" Enrick opens wide his eyes.
"He's a young farmer: they use and act like primitive people!" Bars keeps explaining.
"The farms…?"
"The farms! I want to go to the farms, lil' bro!" Zira begs her brother.
"Zira, now it's not the time." He replied seriously.
"Tee hee hee! So many cute animals to pet and play with…!" She dreams and keeps talking about it.
"Anyway" Enrick ignores his sister. "What if Hundrick got captured again and sent to that flying thing?"
"But the news would had been blasted through our ears, dude!" Bars replied.
"Unless, it's not known…!" Enrick points out a possibility.
"What?! T-that makes sense…" Bars sees the logic.
Suddenly, a buzzing sound was heard. Bars quickly took out a walkie-talkie and answer it.
"Hello?"
"Bars, get you and the others back to the Starting Point." Mirii answered. "We're going to depart for the airship. Over."
"Really?! Awesome! They found a way!" Bars exclaimed.
"Then, let's do a Super Jump right on our base!" Enrick ordered.
"Wheee! I love super jumping!" Zira got excited.
"Wait, we can do that?" Bars asked surprised.
"YOU DIDN'T KNOW?!" Enrick was even more surprised.
"Weeelll… eh eh, I didn't even notice it, ya know." He scratches the back of his head, while laughing embarrassed.
"For curiosity, how many Turf Wars did you compete in?" Enrick asked.
"Too many to count! I often get the 2nd and the 3rd place, though…"
"Then, try to Super Jump when you notice that your base is under attack!" Enrick advises.
"Hey… good idea. I can't wait to try that little trick out! That's, if I don't forget about it first."
Enrick did a disappointed expression.
"Now, move out everyone!"
The three Inklings perform a Super Jump, getting back to their base: everyone else was there, even the new friend stingray.
"Welcome back home, Rollers!" Grina greets her friends.
"What the?!" Enrick got scared by the creature. "Grina! T-that's"
"Stoni, our new ally!" She presents him to Enrick.
"Nice to meet you!" Stoni smiled.
"Uuuuh… w-what?" Enrick doesn't believe this.
"He's going to bring us in that airship… no further questions need to be asked." Mirii said.
"Yep! Stoni is so ready to tackle the skies, with us covering his back!" Grina folds her arms, acting a bit bossy.
"Too bad I didn't bring the camera with me: this moment is going to be too awesome!" Nick didn't wait to ride the creature.
"You can do videos with your smartphone." Ana pointed it out.
"True! Unfortunately, the batteries ran out… could I borrow yours for like 10 minutes?" Nick asked.
"Not even for 10 seconds, spongy hands!" She negates.
"Anyway, before we go…" Grina looks at Stoni. "Do you happen to see an orange Squid that inks around, my dear friend?"
"Why yes. A male Squid was attacking my female colleague with a big jump, but he got in her mouth so quickly, that she gulped him unintentionally!"
Everyone reacted in shock and terror.
"G-GULPED?!" Mirii shouts, twitching her left eye.
"Ehm… I-I understand this is not"
"WHERE'S SHE NOW?!" Grina asked urgently.
"She felt very sick afterwards and was brought back to the base… in this case, our Shipray!"
"EVERYBODY ON HIM!" Grina quickly jumps on Stoni.
"H-hey, slow"
No one hesitates to jump aboard the stingray.
"Ugh! A-all right then… hold tight kids!"
Stoni starts to fly, with a bit of difficulty since he was carrying more than usual and also for his wounds still hurting him.
"You do not have to worry, anyway. I saw that Squid getting stuck on her throat, so chances are that he didn't get into her stomach."
"Hunry… why you keep getting into trouble?!" Grina talks to herself.
"If she keeps her mouth open, then Hunley will have some air to breath." Mirii speculated.
"Still, poor Hunsel… getting eaten seems a nightmare." Ana comments.
"Especially when they make Squidrin"
SLAP!
"DON'T SAY THAT, EVEN AS A JOKE!" She slapped Nick, becoming terrified at the sole idea.
"Do you Flyers digest Squids?" Enrick asked.
"To be honest, I don't know… it doesn't seem impossible, though."
That answer creates even more fear among the Inklings.
"Which part of the ship, she's now?!" Grina asked in panic.
"That's easy to reach! Probably in the Flyers Launch Garage. A pretty big area, reserved to us only! There's an exclusive First Aid ran by very nice nurses, which use sophisticated machi"
Suddenly, Stoni stops talking for a while.
"… machine?" Enrick asked.
"Sorry, I got a message. They are requesting help from me."
"W-what message, pal?! I didn't hear anything!"
"Probably the Flyers possess unique hearing abilities." Mirii said.
"Correct! We can hear many things! … uhm… I still get requests."
"We're almost there, Stoni! Don't give up just now!" Grina encourages him.
"Don't worry! I still want to get my revenge, for all the things they did to me!"
Stoni does a weird sound.
"What a cute sound!" Zira compliments.
"I just sent a message to the HQ: a request to open the gates, so we can sneak inside!"
"Excellent! Get ready everyone!"
The Inklings nod, showing a braver attitude than usual. Stoni reached the Shipray, without dealing against any resistance: he got inside a big opening and landed perfectly on the ground. The adolescents jumped down from the stingray and took a great look around.
The garage seems very deserted, but full of tools and other accessories useful for the Flyers. The ground was painted with signs, which can help the flying creatures to organize their departures or landings. There was a large covered room, in the right corner of the garage.
"Hmm… I'd expect someone here." Mirii said while looking around.
"All the other Flyers are fighting down there and usually Stinglings don't come here at all." Stoni explained.
"Stinglings?" Enrick asked.
"Couldn't they be those weird creatures, we saw the other day?" Ana wonders.
"I think they look a bit like you. Does this help?" Stoni tried his best to answer the question.
"Whoa! The names are like, almost the same as ours! Stinglings, Inklings!" Bars noticed.
"Hey, maybe they are our peers!" Nick said. "They can ink around and be a Squid…"
"They don't look anything like Squids, Nick." Ana replied. "They sure are odd…"
"I know that they can't transform into anything! However, it does exist the small variety: as big as that Squid I saw!" The stingray keeps explaining.
"Sorry Stoni, but we have to play doctors now!" Grina said, while looking at that covered room. "Is that the First Aid room, you were talking about before?"
"Yes! That woman must be still inside." Stoni confirms.
"Then, let's storm it!" She commands.
"Grina, this place is too silent… the enemy could have prepared something nasty for us." Mirii warns.
"Puh-lease!" Grina did a grimace. "Not even a fly is seen or heard around here! Come on, now!"
She was literally running toward the room. Mirii didn't took too well that response, but she was forced to move since the entire team was following Grina. Everyone arrived near the door, which presents a hand symbol.
"All right. Open Sesami!" Grina shouts while attempting to connect her hand to the symbol.
"NO, WAIT!" Mirii shouts, stopping Grina successfully.
"What now, Miss Contradictions?" Grina sighs loudly.
"If you touch that, an alarm will start and we'll get the entire Stingray army against us." Mirii explained.
"Let's do a biiiig hole on it!" Zira proposed.
"You'll need something very powerful to do that!" Stoni replied.
"Then, what are we gonna do about it? Play Squid Jump while waiting for a nurse or someone else?" Bars asked.
"You have that?! Cool: let me play for a bit!" Nick said.
"You moron! This is clearly not the time to play with electronic devices!" Ana complained.
"Electronic devices?! Man… that thing hurts a lot!" Bars felt bad.
"You can say that again…" Nick got a bit salty.
"Then, how we can get inside?" Enrick was thinking about it. "Is there any way to get a valuable fingerprints or something? You know, we could use one to open this door…"
"GENIUS!" Grina hugs Enrick tightly, making him blush a bit and also feel some pain. "That's exactly what we need!"
"Yes, it's possible." Mirii smiled. "I have a special tool, that allows me to take possession of every single fingerprint I can take. All we need is to find someone possessing those and take them."
"If you want to access other areas…" Stoni pointed another door. "Take the elevator and you'll reach the upper floors. I'm sure you'll find Stinglings and all the others, there!"
"Thanks for the advice, my huge friend!" Grina looks at her friends. "Well, it looks like Stingray Season is on! Let's get their fingerprints, team!"
"And let's be quick about it: I'm not sure how much Hunley can survive inside a Flyer throat…" Mirii warns.
Everyone agreed: the team rush towards the elevator, leaving Stoni behind.
"Good luck, friends!" He said while waving his right wing.
The Inklings got near the elevator and with a push of a button, its doors are open. They entered inside: the door wasn't very big, so no Flyers could enter in. Grina pushed the 1 Button, indicating the First Floor. The door closed a bit loudly.
Fsssssss…
"Huh? What's that sound?" Grina asked curiously.
"DON'T BREATHE!" Mirii covers her mouth and nose.
Too late: everyone breath the gas coming out from the walls.
"Uuuuh… I… I feel sleepy…" Bars said.
"N… no… sleeping gas…" Ana figured it out.
"Yaaawwwnnn… good night…" Nick fell asleep.
Ana quickly tried to wake him up.
"Idiot… w-wake up… Nick… Ni…" Ana landed near him, sleeping with her nose.
"One fish… two fishes… three…" Zira fell asleep too.
Enrick quickly starts shaking her.
"Z-Zira, don't… d-don't… yaaawwnn, noooo… zzzz…" Enrick sits down and starts sleeping.
"Come on, maaan…" Bars tries to wake up Zira and Enrick. "Please… zzz… t-tarf… zzzzzz…" Bars felt in a bad position and starts sleeping loudly.
"Grina… don't sleep… zzz… NO! Don't… zzz… sleep… zzzzz…" Grina felt down and starts sleeping quietly like a baby.
Mirii was holding her air as much as she could: eventually she was unable to hold air anymore and starts feeling very sleepy. Tears were coming down from her eyes and she started sobbing a bit.
"S-sniff… F-Forgive me… … Huney… … zzz…"
Everything felt blurry for Mirii: she couldn't anything but to slide against the wall. She lays down on the ground and starts sleeping calmly, along with her friends.