Alright, send a review if you are liking the story so far!
Sliding on a road with crackles around, a Squid colored in light-yellow: behind, a trail of light-yellow ink which have 3 pair of small waves, each moving along the trail. Suddenly, the Squid rose up while limbs starts forming: shaking his head, which made light-yellow ink fly on the sides, Hun bends down as he starts breathing loudly.
From the light-yellow trail, emerged Mirii which left hand slides on her forehead, throwing a small quantity of ink. She was wearing a helmet with two antennas, which were on an earpiece each. She was wearing a thick down jacket, with the middle part colored green and thick boots with grey soles and green straps. Hun was wearing the same type of suit.
"Hunley, rest for a moment." She walks in front of him, with her mouth downturned and her eyebrows down. "You swam for almost 2 miles and a half."
"Uff… th-they were a lot!" He grits his teeth, as his head tilts upwards.
"That's because you burned all your energies with that Swim Sprint!" Grina walks on Hun's right, with her arms opens, as her suit was the same as the other two Inklings. "But hey, sprinting like that makes you so pro!" She rose her right thumb, grinning. "Who refuses a good challenge anyway?"
Mirii snorted, as she shows slightly her teeth, while shaking her head slowly and squeezing her eyes a bit.
Hun almost recovered all his energy.
The girl's right hand went behind her right earpiece, with her irises moving in the same direction.
"What about the others, Tonna?"
You are fine, Grina too and Bars… well…
Mirii looks forward: Bars, which was wearing the same suit, had his mouth downturned.
"… is there a problem, Bars?" She frowns a bit.
"Nah…" He shrugs. "Just I wanted to drive that car a bit more… you know, I was like invincible behind the steering wheel."
"Hmpf." Mirii's hands were on her hips, as she lowers her head and frowns more. "Don't you dare to stop focusing on the mission, just because"
Miiirriiiiii…
"Hmm?" Mirii's irises turned to her right.
Remember what I said earlier: being a leader doesn't mean to utilize your powers, but to be appreciated by others.
The girl sealed her mouth.
Make sure to appreciate those who respect you, Mirii. You'll see.
She sighs loudly, as she closes her eyes for a moment.
"Bars… I'm deeply sorry for the inconvenience." The girl took her right tentacle, caressing it. "After this mission, you'll have another chance to drive that car."
The boy smiles.
"Hey, like… that's right!" He closes his eyes while grinning. "Thank you for reminding me that, girl!"
Mirii smiles.
"I don't see his needs to drive that car… but helping people a bit is making me happy." Her irises turned to her left, as she turns over Grina. "Hmm… I want to make sure everyone is not feeling down."
She coughs a bit.
"Grina, is everything alright?" Mirii rose her head a bit.
"Yeah, so fine to be boring!" Grina turns to her right. "What about we get to the warehouse and kick some butt?"
"Patience, Grina… patience." Mirii turns over Hun. "Those dealers might have installed hidden traps along the way."
All you need to do is to climb this small hill and you'll reach the warehouse. I see you 4 are all ready.
"Good." Mirii's irises were on Hun's face. "Hunley, please stay close to me." She blushes a bit. "Your lack of Range might throw you into dangerous situations."
"Ok!" He blushes, while nodding and smiling.
Mirii smiles, as she turns behind.
"Follow me, now." She starts walking ahead.
The girl turns behind, seeing Hun on her left and Grina walking behind Mirii, with Bars on her right. She returns forward.
"This is what I would like to call, being a leader: everyone following a leader's orders. Tonna's advices are really working…" She smiles. "Thanks to this strategy, everyone would learn my speeches without complaining… hopefully, without relying too much on other's emotions."
Her boots were stepping on the fresh, short grass. A large rock was resting on her right, as some trees were spread around. Chirping sounds were coming from a tree.
"This hill looks so peaceful…" Her irises bounced left and right. "I would completely dismiss this area as dangerous… if it wasn't for the warehouse's presence. Uhm… come to think of it…"
Her right hand went behind her right earpiece.
"Tonna, are there any Inklings or Stingrays nearby?" She whispered.
No, although it seems there are Stingrays surrounding the warehouse. You are still a bit away from the building…
"Understood. Thank you, Tonna." Her right hand went down. "If there are Stingrays around the structure, that would certainly mean they are not trusting the location fully…"
Mirii took a smartphone from her jacket's pocket, which was showing an image of the hill's portion. A rectangular red structure was in the middle, surrounded by just plain grass, with trees on the edges.
"None of those smartphones can hold the technology within Tonna's laptop. Not to mention, the portable table version of the detailed map takes too much space: we can't sacrifice mobility like this…"
Vrrrrrrrrr…
Suddenly, Mirii stops as her head turns left and right immediately: her left hand went in front of Hun, as his eyebrows rose.
"Wh-what's that?!" He turns around, with his open mouth down.
The girl grits her teeth, as she holds her breath for a moment.
"LOOK OUT, MIRII!" Grina points with her right forefinger, as she sprints towards a bush.
Mirii turns behind: a pale, metallic box in a rectangular shape was standing on a square-shaped platform covered in vivid green grass. It had three small guns in front of it. Gradually, the whole thing changes its color into magenta. Mirii's irises shrunk, as she turns behind and starts sprinting.
Tatatatatatatata!
The girl dives behind a tree, as magenta ink covered the trunk. A sweat slides off from Mirii's left side of her head, as her face was frowning a lot.
"Curses! They managed to develop color changing turrets!" Mirii's head twists to her right. "If we change color, that turret will do the same!"
Incredible! Where did they get a turret like this?! I never heard anything like that!
"Like, is there a way to smash that thing?!" Bars' eyebrows were up, as he was raising a bit from a bush.
If the turret is metallic, there is nothing you can do with your ink!
Mirii bites her lips.
"Wait a second…!" Her mouth opened, as her left hand sunk inside her jacket's left pocket.
Her left hand rose back, holding a small blue box.
"All I need is to throw this Shutter on the turret, so it would stop shooting." Her eyes were looking at the item. "But the second I'll expose myself, I'll get splatted in no time. I need to find a way to distract it…"
"What can we do, Mirii?!"
Mirii turns behind, seeing Hun with his eyebrows up.
"We need to place this gadget on the turret." Her left hand moves in front of the boy, opening widely. "Unfortunately, the turret aims too fast to evade in time…"
Hun looks at the box, then at the girl: he starts nodding a bit.
"… let me take this." He smiles.
Mirii's eyes expanded.
"No!" She closes her left hand, as her face frowns. "The turret is going to splat you like nothing!"
"But then, what else we can do about this?" He opens his arms, with his mouth down. "I'll try being faster than that thing!"
"Hunley, this is unacceptable." She folds her arms. "You are taking too much risk, by moving towards the turret. The Armor Suit may not be resistant enough to protect you from those attacks."
Hun sighs.
Mirii, let Hun stop that turret.
"Tonna, don't try insisting on the matter!" The girl bends down a bit, with her right hand behind her right earpiece. "This machine has perfect aim, which is going to splat Hunley as soon as he's in sight."
"Wait, I can use Seekers!" Grina was holding a Seeker with both her hands, as her smiling mouth was open. "Since I'm behind the bush, the turret is not going to see that Sub until it starts moving forward!"
Mirii turns her head over her left, as her eyes grew a bit.
"Yes… that might work!" She smiles. "Starts deploying one of them, Grina: I want to see what the turret is going to do."
Grina puts the Seeker down.
"One Seeker coming up!" She grins widely.
It starts moving forward, as the turret immediately turns over it.
Tatatatatatatata!
The Seeker kept moving, as the magenta ink slides out of it, exploding in light-yellow ink after 5 seconds.
"Yep! I'm a genius!" Grina closes her eyes, while nodding. "So, what about it?"
"I'm going to run over the turret, as soon as it starts shooting at the Seeker." Mirii rose her head, with her irises pointed at the turret.
"Mirii, can I leave you a path to follow?" He starts breathing a bit faster.
"Hunley, I can reach the turret in time." She nods, smiling a bit.
"No!" He shakes his head. "What if you trip over?!"
The girl left her mouth open.
"Of course that would not happen…" Her irises went to her left. "Although, I can't really deny the possibility… th-that would be truly unfortunate, if I happen to trip over… the chances improve when I'm forced to run…"
Her eyebrows rose.
"… by following Hunley's trail, I would get on the turret even faster… … yes, that would be effective."
She smiles, as her irises returned forward.
"Hunley, you just had a genius observation." She nods, while tilting her head to her left, smiling even more and giggling faintly. "Your aid will improve the chances of victory."
Hun smiles too. Mirii turns over her left.
"Grina, deploy another Seeker! Me and Hunley are going to tackle the turret!"
"Alright!" The girl puts down another Seeker. "Here it goes!" She grins.
The Seeker starts sliding forward, moving out of the bush: the turret points at it, beginning to shot at it rapidly. Mirii and Hun nods at each other: the boy turns into a Squid, starting to slide down and leaving a trail of light-yellow ink. The girl dives inside as a Squid, following Hun.
The girl immediately rose as herself, while her left hand slapped over the turret: the box stood on the it, as two small legs came out of it, one from each side. The little claws penetrated through the metallic skin, as the box changes into a red color.
Slowly, the turret starts tilting downwards, gradually changing its color into the pale one: the box turns into a green color. The girl pulls it out, smiling.
"The turret is deactivated." Her left hand puts the item back inside her jacket's left pocket. "We can proceed safely."
Bars comes out of the bush, as he drenches his forehead with his right hand.
"Like, good thing we didn't had to hit it down!" He chuckles. "Unless I had some explosives."
"Yeah, that would have been amazing!" Grina rose from the bush. "You would throw one right under it and" She opens her arms with her fists clenching and her face pointing up. "TUUUUU!"
"Ha ha, well said!" The boy laughs.
"Now, please…"
The two Inklings turned their faces over Mirii, which hands were on her hips.
"We are almost at the warehouse." Mirii rose her head a little. "You must be quiet or else those Stingrays would find us."
"No sweat, girl!" Bars grins as he walks forward. "Like, that thing was long and gone: which turrets are they gonna pull over us?!"
"I hope none…" Mirii turns behind. "There aren't many trees or bushes in front of us: another one of those appearing from under the ground and we would get splatted in a second."
"N-now, let's not be sad about it…!" Hun's sweat jumps from his forehead, as his eyes were closed. "I mean, so far we aren't seeing another one…"
"It's not possible to trust this ground, Hunley." Mirii walks past him. "Who knows what AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Mirii fell backwards, as her hands were on her feet: she kept yelping, as her eyes were on the shoes.
"MIRII!" Hun looks left and right, with his eyes wide. "Wh-what happened?! Did your ankle got hurt?!"
"Anf, anf, anf…" She grits her teeth, groaning. "I-I don't understand…"
"Understand what?!" Grina steps forward.
"It's like I stepped on ink… but there isn't any of that!" Her head rose, same for her eyebrows.
Her eyes were staring at a carpet of grass…
Mirii is right: she got severely injured on her feet by ink… but on the map I'm not seeing any of that!
"No… there must be a logical answer…" Slowly, Mirii stands up, breathing loudly. "I can't get hurt like this, without even knowing what happened."
"Then" Grina grins, as she lifts her Hero Shot. "I'm going to give this gentle grass, some fine ink!"
Light-yellow ink came from the Hero Shot: the Ink projectile disappeared in waves appearing in the air. Grina's jaw dropped.
"… huh?!" Her irises shrunk. "… gang… am I seeing things?!" Her fists rub her own eyes.
"Dasquid… was THAT?!" His hands went on his head. "Talk about eating up that ink!"
"No, that grass didn't absorb the ink…" Mirii's irises shrunk. "I noticed waves… like the ink fell inside the water."
"WHAT?!" Grina turns over Mirii, bending down while frowning a bit. "You can't be serious, Mirii! There is no water in here!"
"I agree." She turns over Grina, resuming her neutral expression. "It's impossible that water was the responsible… however, you can't deny that a clear liquid surrounded this whole area."
Grina sealed her mouth. Mirii rose her head a bit.
"Ink is apparently ineffective against it… and stepping on the liquid is too painfully: at least, that's what I choose to not do." Her eyebrows went up. "I never felt such pain in my life…"
"Then, what are we going to do, Mirii?!" Hun walks in front of girl, with his eyebrows up and mouth downturned. "Is there a way to fly past it?"
Mirii left her mouth open: she smiles.
"The answer is right in front of my eyes…" She rose her head.
Hun opened his mouth a bit, as his right forefinger slowly points at himself.
"… me?"
Mirii nods.
"Hunley, I know very well you can Super Jump at will." Her hands adjusted her helmet a bit. "All you have to do is deciding how far you jump… then, you'll wait just a second so the rest of team will reach the same position."
"Aaaaah, that!" He smiles, as he turns behind. "Uhm… I wonder if I can jump really far…"
"Not over the warehouse, Hunley." Mirii's eyebrows rose. "The Stingrays will find us."
"Then, where this thing ends?" He opens his arms.
The girl bites her lips.
"This is getting troublesome…" Her right hand took the smartphone, which had still an image of the map.
Hun, do you know how far can you Super Jump?
"Not really…" His right hand covered his chin.
"If you are in the plaza, can you Super Jump over the treehouse?" Grina walks near him.
"Huh?" He turns over the girl. "If I'm in the plaza… well, I think I can!" He smiles.
"Then the problem is solved." Grina opens her arms, smiling. "Hunry, do the highest Super Jump you could get: we will reach the other side of the warehouse, right near the other trees in the distance."
Nice find, Grina! I can't believe you helped Hun understand this…
"Heh! I was the leader of this team, after all." She grins, while shaking her head. "Once we land on the ground, Mirii is going to take those Stingrays with her Stealthy moves… and congratulations, we got ourselves a nice and easy entrance for the warehouse."
Her head turns over Mirii.
"How that sounds like, genius?" Grina's hands were on her hips.
"… give me the reason, why you refuse to utilize your leadership skills all the time…?" Mirii lowered her head a bit, as her eyes were almost squeezed and her teeth gritted.
"Sigh… I think you might figure that one…" Her eyebrows rose.
"You let an insignificant fear force you to not help your team?!" Mirii frowns a lot, as she bends forward.
"Ehm…" Sweat jumps out from Grina's forehead, with her opened hands resting on her own body. "I-I didn't really wanted"
"Do you have any idea how useful your leader skills are for the Inkinators?!" Mirii snorted.
Grina felt shrinking a bit.
"Ye-yeah! I-I could have thought some nice ideas"
"You could… but you refused!" Mirii folds her arms. "What kind of person would act so selfishly…?"
Grina felt even smaller.
"I-I'm not selfish! I-I want to help out as much as possible!"
Mirii sighs, with her eyes closed for a moment, while shaking her head.
"Shoot! Is that something I would really do?! Th-this fear is getting a bit too much in the way… I must do something, otherwise I'd be a shadow of myself!" Grina felt returning in her original size, as she looks to her left.
Suddenly, a large shadow covered the girl. She tilts her head upwards, as she gasped loudly: a giantess version of herself was bending down on her knees.
"Greta Inkolina… what are you doing?!" The giantess Grina said, as her voice echoed.
Wind pushed the girl back a bit. Immediately, she opens her arms.
"I-I want to have fun, me!" Her eyebrows rose.
The giantess frowns a lot.
"But you are not that kind of person… or at least, not as much as you might think!" She grits her teeth. "Is this what you are doing to yourself?! Reducing to be a comic relief version of the famous Greta Inkolina?! Do you remember how different you were in the past?!"
Wind pushes her tentacles behind.
"No… no, I don't wanna think about it!" Grina stomps the ground. "I-I don't wanna go back there…"
"So… you decided to be a shadow of yourself?" The giantess Grina nods, with her mouth downturned. "Very well. Enjoy your life of"
"Nonono, wait!" Grina's arms moved sideways, in alternate ways. "I-I don't like that either…!"
"Then, start remembering who Greta Inkolina was in the first place…" The giantess snorted.
"Uhm… I-I don't remember much, actually…" Grina opens her arms wide, with her eyebrows up.
"Remember well, Grina… because Greta Inkolina must return once and for all. She doesn't want mindless fun… she wants art."
Art… I… I like art…? … yeah, I remember that… …
Grina was seeing Mirii, with Hun on her right.
"Mirii, I was a coward… I admit." She lowers her head a bit. " I-I just realized I could have done so much…"
Her right hand fell on her body, as her head rose a bit back.
"I was a giantess who could had ended the war, by just stepping on the opponents… yet, I was too scared to get my eyes hit."
"Whoa…"
Grina turns behind, seeing Bars with his mouth wide open.
"Girl… like, is that you?!" His irises shrunk.
Grina giggles with her right hand in front of her mouth.
"Well, that's what you get when you take away the fun side of Grina…" Her left hand took her right elbow. "You kinda get Greta."
"Bu-but Grina was fine too, girl!" He opens his arms, his eyebrows were up.
"Hey, I do like having fun with you Barsy…" She bends forward, winking with her right eye. "At the same time, I do wanna get rid of that fun at all costs part…" She turns behind, lifting her posture. "For now, I'm going to make sure the princess will live happily ever after with her knight in shining armor."
Mirii and Hun blush a lot.
"Eh eh." Grina closes her eyes, as her head tilts to her right a bit. "There is work to do, gang." She reopens her eyes, tilting her head back. "Let's make sure those crooks will never return again!"
All Inklings smiled, while nodding.