The Inklings were ready! Everyone hold their respective weapons, except for Grina which was holding Hun in Squid form: he was much lighter than in his humanoid version, making him very easy to pick up and carry around. Fara was actually holding Grina's weapon, but she wasn't allowed to use it… and for some reason, she's blue.
"Now, Techno Girl! Can you see what lies behind this fatty door?" Grina asked to Mirii.
"Negative. I don't have any application with such skill." Mirii negates.
"Well, there it goes the tactical approach…" Grina shrugs.
"Wait, what do you mean by that?!" Enrick gets worried.
"It means we're going to tackle this, Turf War style!" Grina does a cheerful pose.
"Tee hee hee! My favorite moment!" Zira claps her hands multiple times.
Outside of the depot, three Stingling guards were approaching cautiously: they did gestures to communicate with each other, so they would not be heard by the people inside the depot. Everyone was near the door, ready to ambush at any time.
SLAM!
Enrick ran away, while inking the ground with his Inkbrush: he was so fast that the guards tried to shot him, while forgetting to check into the room! They got easily splatted by a precise Charger shot from Ana: the guards fly away in a small stingray form.
"Way to go Ana!" Nick compliments the girl.
"Let's move out, quick!" Ana moves her hand towards the door.
The Inklings escape from the room: while running, they were inking the ground and part of the walls, with their weapon.
"So, thanks to that Inkblue Gum, I can walk on blue fields?" Fara asks to Grina, while both are following the others.
"Exactly! Isn't that a little cool gadget?! Mirii is so mean, since she doesn't share those stuff with us!" Grina explains, frustrated.
"Those aren't toys, Grina. They are used in crucial moments." Mirii replied.
"Toys?! What did you took me for, a child?!"
"Well… you do have your childish moments, actually." Mirii said, then she looks ahead shooting down a Stingling from a long distance. "Now, let me concentrate more on my shots…"
Mirii walks a little faster, to get quickly behind a pillar and start aiming to other enemy guards. Grina was left with her mouth open, from that opinion.
"But… ... thanks a lot, Mirii!" Grina puffs her cheeks, feeling offended: she didn't notice Fara holding a laugh from her back.
The other Inklings were giving a hard time to their enemies: too used in their rather lazy roles, to properly attack back like they would in a battle.
"Is it me or those guys are a big joke?" Nick asked feeling very confident.
"If they didn't notice your Suction Bombs, then they are even worse than a newbie." Ana commented.
"Oh, come on! I'm not really THAT bad…"
"… you still miss a standing still enemy, with your Splattershot." She did a frustrated expression.
Nick laughs a bit embarrassed. But there was someone that was having really fun in this escape mission.
"Iiih ih ih ih...! Squishy, squishy, squishyyy…" Zira was saying to herself, while running over a surprised guard.
"W-what a"
Squish.
The Stingling was stamped on the ground and flew away like a piece of paper.
"Sister, what are you doing?! Don't go around randomly!" Enrick tried to call her back.
"Inking the ground… inking the ground…!" Zira was too busy taking the situation as if it was a normal game of Turf War.
"Come back, Zira!" Enrick chased her.
"Whoa, where are you going guys?!" Bars calls them back.
"Quick Bars, get them back." Mirii orders. "Their reinforcements will come in any minute."
Bars nods and goes after the allies.
"Hey, not bad Mirii! You got Bars doing something, without complaining!" Grina compliments her.
"Wait… I hear footsteps." Mirii covers behind a wall.
She throws a Splat Bomb very quickly, sending it behind some crates: a Stingling blows up, while trying to escape.
"Daisy shot, Technie!" Fara jumps from joy.
"I'm not a Technie…" Mirii corrects her.
"Whatever you say, Technie!" Fara replied, pulling out her tongue.
Mirii looks at Hun's little sister askance: she feels some kind of grudge coming from the little girl, maybe because of that scene occurred before Fara and her brother decide to visit the city. Mirii decides to ignore that taunt and focus on the mission.
"By the way, do you have any idea where we should go next?" Ana asks to her friends.
"We can ask that to Hunbert! I mean, he did get the occasion to explore this place, right?!" Nick speaks, while looking at Hun: he still appears tired and weak.
"… I… got around… while passing through… pipes… something like that…" Hun replies.
Everyone felt very sorry for him, especially Mirii: she suddenly bursts out in an energetic sense of anger.
"We'll go this way!" Mirii points the same large corridor where the splatted guard was. "Quick, before more enemies will come."
"Wait, what about"
"There's no time, Grina! They will reach us, with our Ink trail. Follow me now!"
"B-but"
"GRINA!"
She stops insisting, noticing Mirii getting more impatient and angry each time she says something. The serious girl charged a shot and moves ahead in Squid form.
"Sheesh, does she 'cts like this ever' day?" Fara asks to Grina.
"Well, even machines have their bad moments…" Grina shrugs, not caring much about it.
The Inklings took a quick look in the same direction, where the other three members ran: no one was coming from there. Without further delay, they follow the Ink trail left by Mirii, which was longer than expected.
"Wow, she sure rushed through everything!" Nick got impressed.
"I seriously hope, she doesn't get into any trouble…" Ana said.
"Mirii? In trouble? Ha ha ha ha! If that would ever happen…" Grina said.
A scream, not too far away, shocked everyone: they rushed ahead, to see what was going on. What the Inklings saw was Mirii being held by a Stingling guard! His colleague was holding her weapon and tries to make the girl stop moving. Ana didn't hesitate to use her Charger weapon, to One-shot splat the guard keeping Mirii.
The other guard throws away the weapon and took the girl by her throat: with rapid movements, she took his wrist and turns it, making the guard suffer in pain. A charged shot by Ana splats him, as he was trying to free himself.
"… thank you, guys." Mirii said without turning around.
"What were you thinking, rushing like that?!" Ana asks.
"… sorry, I underestimated the situation." She explains in the same manner.
Mirii grabs her weapon and checks on it, to see if it sustained any damage.
"There! The ground is inked!" Nick said with proud, after finishing inking the floor behind them.
"YOU IDIOT! THIS IS NOT A ROUND OF TURF WAR!" Ana shouts, getting really upset.
"Eh eh eh… sorry! My Inkling instincts were stronger than me…!" He said, while scratching his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Friends!"
An unknown voice got quickly the attention of everyone: Mirii aims at two Smanties that raises their wings, in sign of surrender.
"W-wait, don't shoot us!" One of them said.
"We are here to help…" His brother explains.
"Very preposterous, coming from two stingrays…" Mirii keeps aiming at them.
"W-we aren't enemies! We want to help that kid!"
"Kid…? Who's this kid?!" Grina asks curiously.
"… M-Mirii… they are friends… I… helped them…" Hun said in a low voice.
"You did what?!" Mirii looks at him, surprised.
"They were… hungry… so… I gave them… gray apples to eat…"
Mirii didn't know what to say: she turns back looking at the two small stingrays.
"… very well." She lowers her weapon. "So, how do you intend cooperate with us?"
"Uhm… good question!" A Smantie said.
"What do you want to do?" His brother asks.
"Escaping! Fleeing! Never-to-see-again this flying machine!" Grina explains in her own way.
"You want to escape, huh…"
"That's easy! Come with us, people!" A Smantie gives a wing sign and both the brothers turn their back.
"No! W-wait… you two…!" Hun shouts as much as he can.
The two stingrays turns again, looking at the boy.
"You don't… deserve this… I… I don't want… to get you into trouble…"
"Us in trouble? It looks the opposite, man!"
"Look at you, kid. You can just barely talk to us…" One of the Smanties shakes his head.
"Big bro… they're righ', ya know." Fara said concerned. "You certainly, don't look 's lively 's usual…"
Hun didn't say anything: he looks down a bit, feeling a bit guilty.
"That's ok! Don't worry about us!"
"Please, follow us now… we'll bring you to the lifeboats."
The Inklings look at each other… and at the end, they nodded.
"Wait, what about Zira and Enrick?! They are still behind!" Nick reminds to the team.
"Inking the ground… inking the ground…"
A familiar voice makes everyone look into a direction: Zira comes out of the corner, still inking the ground with her Roller weapon. She was followed by Enrick and Bars, which they appeared really exhausted.
"Oh, hi everyone!" Zira greets her friends, without any sense of danger.
"Huuuffff… puufff… aaanfff… y-you… g-gaasp… you finally stop…!" Enrick was taking big breathes.
"M-Maaaan… uuufff… puuuffff… she's faster… t-than a turfing train…" Bars commented almost falling on the ground.
A sweat drop falls on the top of everyone else, except for Zira, Hun, Nick and the two Smanties.
"… you guys need some serious cardio training." Ana shakes her head slowly.
"Especially you, Bars." Mirii said in disappointment.
"Aaaannnfff… c-cardio?! N-no pal… huuuff, I already had enough…!"
"Uuuuuh!" Zira saw the two Smanties.
She got near them so fast, that looks almost cartoonish!
"Aaaawww, those pets are cute!" Zira exclaimed, while holding both her hands and getting really excited.
"W-whoa there, little girl! We aren't little puppies!"
"Y-yeah! We're grown men!"
"Aaaah!" Zira holds her cheeks, becoming more excited. "Those voices…! Soooo adorable! I… I want to cuddle them forever and ever!"
The two Smanties become really worried.
"Ehm… I think it's time to show you the exit! Dontcha think, brother?!"
"Yes. Hope you don't mind us, running a bit…"
ZIP!
The two brothers ran away, as fast as they can!
"No wait! Come back here, my little babies!" Zira calls them and immediately, brings out her weapon and start chasing them while rolling ink with it.
"ZIRA! DON'T YOU DARE RUNNING AWAY" Enrick noticed how she was already too far and got disappointed. "… again."
"Well, it looks like Zira season is open again!" Grina exclaimed. "Time to catch that wasckly Wuid for good! Huhuhuhu!"
Grina starts running and so the others! … well, except for Enrick and Bars since they were still tired.
"No way, I'm going to run again… just… no." Bars said to himself.
Enrick turns his back and gets really scared: he taps Bars's shoulder, while trembling.
"What?" Bars turns his back, looking at a crowd of guards chasing after them!
His iris start shrinking more and more and his forehead is sweating at a lot.
"… mommy."
ZIP!
Both the Inklings flee from the incoming Stingling army! They ran so fast, that they immediately catch on with the others!
"THEY ARE COOOOMIIING!" Enrick shouts in fear.
"LET ME GET HOOOME!" Bars screams in panic.
Mirii turns behind, seeing the enemy army trying to stop them.
"The enemy reinforcement…! Keep running, everybody!" Mirii warns the team.
No one did really understand in which section they were, anymore. The corridors, which seems composed with metallic boxes, huge transparent containers full of goo and other weapon-like furniture and ornaments. However, it seems they finally reach a large area full of odd-looking ships…
"We made it! Yeesss!" Nick leaped.
"Where's Zira?!" Ana is looking around.
Laughs were heard… and then suddenly, a call!
"This way!" One of the Smanties shouts.
Quickly, the Inklings dashed towards a boat large enough to hold everyone. Once the entire squad is on, the weird vehicle raises from the ground and fled away towards the open sky. Zira was cuddling a Smantie, making him laugh a lot.
"Tee hee hee! Goochie goochie goooo…!" Zira said while giggling.
"Hahahahahaaaa! M-make her haaaahahahaha! H-help iiihihiihihiiiih!" The Smantie could barely even talk, from the laughter.
"P-pfff, could someone help my brother, please?" The driver Smantie said, holding his laughter as much as he can.
"Now it's your turn, little puppy!" Zira announced, getting close to the driver.
She was stopped by the others and the entire team tried to reason with her.
Phew! What an adventure…! Probably the biggest one I lived in my entire life! I thought that only movies would have something THIS epic. Well… it wasn't really all about action, to tell you the truth. I can't believe how Hunry is still with us! With all the trouble, that the poor guy faced… man, I'd be trembling for an entire week! Also… is it me or he seems different, for some reason? When he was facing that traitor, Hunry was like a beast! Rawr! Small but very strong! Also… ehm… well… that battle was very tough… and he was already worn out, before the confrontation even begins! I'm so glad that he's going to be OK! Very… very glad…
Maybe he didn't notice yet, but… everyone was actually more than happy, for him. We were all in debt… yes I mean, if Hunry didn't save us any sooner, we'd probably be swimming on that mean water. Pretty much the last swim of our early careers. And he saved us! Going against a giant, all by himself! Especially after the pain he suffered… especially after… that bomb he still has…
Yeah… I was forgetting about it. I think everybody were as well. I wish those bad news were just a nightmare… but alas, they do exist. Laughing at that poor boy's fate and making things worse each time. I still have to announce Hunry's disease to Temanga… but that was so hard to do. I mean, just look at this atmosphere! We were all ready to party our hero! Well… not really, since he was sent to the hospital, but still! We promised to do that, when he'll get out of the building! … despite the fact I'm not really into any mood for parties…
A guy like this doesn't deserve such destiny! No sir! Not when he saved other 8 innocent people, while risking even more his life! I don't want him to separate from me… or his sister… or Mirii… poor girl, she must be very sad for Hunry. I… I'm so pissed off, right now! I wasted an entire day, just because of my over-confidence! Grrrrr… drat and double drat! Tomorrow I'll be really serious! Serious to… … oh no, I have school tomorrow! TRIPLE DRAT! Why I'm such a failure?! Where did I do wrong?!
One thing is for sure: I'm going to save Hunry, if that's going to be the last thing I'll ever do! Hold on, tough guy: Grina is going to save the day! I promise!
Grina