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"So, does the name ring any bells?" Tonna smiles a bit.
"Our smartphones are ringing." Grina grins, as her hands stand on her hips. "Looks like that harmless game has a Squid Beakon hidden inside the closet…"
The woman nodded slowly, still keeping her smile. Her right hand puts the box back on the table, her left hand puts the paper on the box's left side. She turns behind, walking towards a completely white board with two pens sitting sideways on the right side of the board's small platform.
"Basically, the mission…" Her right hand picked the black pen, which was sitting behind the red pen. "… involves the most famous game of this generation."
Her right hand was writing Inkling letters, which were reading "Inknet Wars".
"Now, the goal of this miss"
"WAIT JUST A MOMENT!"
Tonna immediately turns behind, with her eyes wide: Mirii was shivering, with her knees bending down, her eyelids lowered to the middle, her eyebrows a bit shaky, her forehead covered in sweat.
"You…" She swallows silently. "You are not seriously suggesting that we must play through this ridiculous, overrated game?!"
"… if I say yes, what you would do?" Tonna rose her slightly downturned mouth a bit. "Complain in front of a chief?"
"No… I'll leave the room." She turns behind.
"WHAT?!" Tonna's jaw dropped, as her eyes grew, her back bended forward and her irises shrunk.
"Me… Mirii Hanache… playing a videogame? Nonsense! I live in a world of perfection… not in the world of illusions." Her shoulders turns to her right, same for her head: her eyebrows were down. "I refuse subjecting my dignity in front of virtual rules! How could I be considered a worthy citizen of the perfect world, if I hide myself inside this petty world of string codes?!"
"I didn't said you are forced to become a player of this game!" Tonna's arms stretched down, as her fists clenched. "Besides, I'll not let you escape like a DARN coward!"
"… hmpf. Your excuses are invalid." Her head rose. "I'm simply avoiding needless damage towards my perfect ranking…"
"Needless?! You are going to take that damage, Mirii Kelpshell!" Tonna bends forward, frowning a lot. "Do you want to know what it means for my status, if you abandon this mission?! People will start rumoring Ooooh, look at that Tonna! All proud to be a chief, yet she is incapable of making others work!"
"This is not an excuse for skipping work!" Mirii frowns, lowering her head and sliding her left foot forward. "In fact, that would have been another attack towards my status if that was the case… instead, my decision has a legit justification for letting me skip this one mission: I don't want to see others looking at me and claim I'm one of those lifeless Squids who waste their lives in front of electronic games! My worth would definitively vanish! I-I'll be recognized as a common Squid…!" Her hands grasped her tentacles, as sweat covers her whole face.
"… I'd find hard to believe you as a common Squid." Her mouth downturns a bit, as her arms folded. "In fact, you are anything but common." Her eyes closed. "If you would just stop following those ideas of yours, you would quickly understand the situation… but you left me with no other choices."
Her eyes opened.
"If you refuse this mission, I'll kick you out of this building even before lunch."
Mirii's mouth flattened, her eyes expanded, she stood completely still on her pose.
"You'll lose access to the Headquarters, your rank… and your future." She smiles, lowering her eyebrows and folding her arms.
"N-no!" Mirii's hands pulled her tentacles, as sweat start coming down from her forehead. "I-I have a bright, perfect future ahead…!" She swallows a bit loudly.
"Oh yeah? You don't even have any decent degree, aside the one from middle school… the only successful career you can ever aspire is the cleaning street job." Tonna snickered.
Mirii's heart stopped for a moment.
"… you… how could you throw mud at a friend?!" She frowns down. "I gave you the possibility to reach the maximum rank and your answer is to threat my future career?!"
"That's not a threat… that's something chiefs do to deserters like you." Tonna frowns a bit. "I can help you solve your little problem, if you give this mission a chance… but if you decide to sink, I'll make sure YOU are going to be the only one sinking."
"No!" Hun stands in front of Mirii, frowning and opening his arms. "I'll stop you if you dare!"
Mirii blushes a lot, as her mouth opened wide.
"… Hun, I didn't mean to literally destroy her…" The woman shakes her head slowly, while closing her eyes.
"But you are making her sad, Tonna!" He bends a bit forward. "Threats are not nice at all!"
"That's the only way to make her understand the situation!" Tonna snorted, as her arms stretched down. "Again, I'm willing to help her as much as possible, so the entire team doesn't have any problem with the mission itself… if she refuses the cooperation, I'm forced to kick her out."
"Why are you forced?! Can't chiefs give anyone"
"Ooooh no no, they don't!" Tonna shakes her head. "I think that the previous chief was too kind with you four… and even the other Agents!" She sniffs silently. "But now, everyone is starting to watch your movements… because you let me become a chief, which is something considered very rare!"
"And thus, one wrong move could cost you that rank…" Grina folds her arms, smiling.
"That!" The woman nods. "This is a mission which you four must absolutely attempt… no excuses."
"Nnngghhhh!" Mirii's right wrist drenches her forehead covered in sweat. "M-my wasn't an excuse… it was logically reasonable…"
"Look… as you said before, we are friends." Tonna smiles a bit. "Let me explain the mission and then, I'll let you send in any further judgments, ok?"
Mirii rose her head, sealing her mouth. Tonna's eyes closed.
"I'll take that as a yes… very well!" She turns behind, facing the board. "Alright, listen up: this mission is referring to the famous videogame, available on pretty much all smartphones of this generation. I'm sure yours is up on date…"
"Yep!" Grina's left hand was raising her smartphone, while grinning and closing her eyes. "What fun can you have, if the freshest apps can't make the oldies run?!"
"Eh eh, that's something youth is always good at… but anyway!" Her right hand was writing down other letters. "The objective of this mission has a medium difficulty setting… yeah, saying that just to get to the point as soon as possible."
A smaller word formed on the left, reading "Inkopolis". Tonna turns behind, while smiling.
"Your goal sounds a bit tricky actually… ehm…" A sweat drop appears on her head's right side, as her irises looked down Mirii. "I hope you'll not immediately jump into conclusions here…"
Hun was staying on the girl's right side: smoke was coming out from her ears, as her arms folded and her eyes squeezed.
"Your goal is to… well… defeat the Squid King, which is hiding somewhere in Inkopolis." She chuckles a bit.
Silence fell in the room.
"… the… Squid King?!" Veins popped out from her forehead. "How dare you treating US like little children?!"
"I-I swear it's the truth!" Tonna's hands were moving back and forth. "Calm down, please…"
"Like, it's the boss of Inknet Wars?" Bars' look towards the ceiling, while folding his arms. "Hmm… that smells fishy, girl."
"WOMAN!" Tonna frowns a lot, while bending forward, stretching her arms down and clenching her fists. "I TOLD YOU MANY TIMES, BARS!"
"Whooooaaa, like sorry gir-woman!" He chuckles, as sweat appears on his forehead.
"… and what do you mean by smelling fishy?!" Tonna kept her pose.
"You see, the game is all about covering areas… that dude from before didn't told us anythin' about a boss to fight."
Tonna sealed her mouth.
"… siiiiigghh…" Her irises shrunk, her mouth flattened, her forehead was covered in sweat. "How do I know anything about those toys?! To me, they all look the same!"
"Hmpf. It seems the solution is sealed inside those three boxes…" Mirii rose her head. "What's inside them?"
"Contact lens! Also, a pair of earpieces…" The woman walks towards the boxes. "… which, according to the papers, you must wear in order to play the game."
"WH-WWHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTT?!" Mirii bended down, as her eyes expanded. "Contact lens… earpieces?! Wh-what kind of madness are you implying?!" She frowns down. "Everyone we met was just using"
Suddenly, her hands covered her mouth while lifting their posture.
"Wait… … don't tell me…" Her eyes blinked two times. "Those people passing the road, while looking at the smartphone… th-they were wearing earpieces too?!"
"Huh? Passing the road…?" Tonna's head tilted to the left. "What's the matter with that…?"
"Those people kept walking, while cars were coming!" Mirii frowns. "That's why they never stopped… they hardly even heard the cars coming!"
"Huh?! Disgusting!" Tonna frowns. "They choose to care more about a toy than their own life?! This game must be banned immediately!"
"No use, if you can get money from it…" Grina shrugs, while shaking her head. "… besides, the whole idea about the game doesn't sound as bad as I thought…"
Immediately, Mirii turns behind while frowning even more.
"That's even worse than before, since all those players are cut out from the real world!" Her eyes squeezed. "A world so imperfect, even an ignorant could break through its system…"
"But the game would become even more interactive!" Grina opened her eyes. "Instead of pushing buttons, you are out there doing stunt moves and"
"The game consists of just walking around!" Mirii stands on tiptoes, as her fists clenched. "It would be more satisfying walking around a forest and watch the scenery from a mountain, since it belongs to the perfect world!"
"But the perfect world doesn't have the fun potential reserved for this videogame!" Her head turns to her right, seeing Bars. "Aren't I right, Barsy?!"
"Eh eh, yeah I agree!" His right eye winks. "Can't wait to try the game out!" He grins a bit.
Mirii bends a bit backwards, as her irises shrunk.
"You… you just admitted to not be worthy for this perfect world… preferring to hide inside the world of dreams…" She inhales loudly from her nose.
"According to the papers, Squid King is apparently the creator of this game." Tonna's left hand was holding the papers, as her irises were resting on the top one.
"… the creator we must defeat? Does that mean this Squid King is doing something illegal…?" Mirii turns behind, folding her arms.
"In less words, yes: this Squid King never paid taxes from the revenue generated from the game shop, the app is considered a large virus which spies the related smartphone… there are indeed many accusations." Her eyes were still seeing the papers.
"That's the motivation I needed… because I'll participate in this mission too." Her head rose. "This criminal is harming the entire city with this idiotic videogame… I'll make sure to free the city from imperfection, same for the Application Shop Center." Her eyes closed. "Of course I would keep intact those educational apps, such as the Virtual Library app which is healthy food for the brain."
"Excellent!" Tonna smiles, while closing her eyes. "Now that's a true, logical reason I can understand!"
Mirii smiles a bit.
"Thank you, Tonna… now, would you mind continue the discussion?" Her head turns to her right, facing Hun. "I would like to hear Hunley's role in this mission… making sure he deserves the most perfect position, designed for him."
Hun blushes while smiling.
"Th-thank you Mirii…" He lowers a bit, while his hands were behind his back.
Both Grina and Bars were frowning, while looking at Mirii.
"… literally looking at fun like poison, hmm?" Her hands fell on her hips. "I'm sure that game isn't all that bad… it's not forcing you to play constantly or anything!"
"Yeah! Like, I totally agree with that!" Bars nodded twice. "I play videogames and I'm not as a geek as those Squids we encountered before! I would never be THAT dedicated player, neither would Grina!"
"Bars, if you had a passion for books, right now you would understand how this perfect world is truly the best option for a Squid." Mirii turns behind, raising her head a bit. "Alas, you choose to not be worthy of that possibility… thus, you cannot comprehend the truth."
"Girl, like you don't even know what videogames are!" Bars opened his arms.
"Because my valuable time can't be wasted by pondering myself towards such irrelevant matter… also, this game is even more dangerous and imperfect than the other games you keep playing, because not only is drenching in illegality… but it's also harming the city's own status"
"Yeah, go say that to everyone who's playing the game!" Grina snorted. "Then count how many of those Squids are actually that stupid, as you are implying…"
Mirii's head turned towards Grina, as her mouth opened a bit. Grina smiled a bit.
"Face it, Mirii: people don't give a care about perfection… they care about fun!" She grins a bit. "Money too, yes… but also fun!" Her head rose, as her eyes were seeing the ceiling. "There is a jungle out there and everyone want to have tons of fun… but not all of them can have that. At least they have the choice to fight for it… not that assures them fun times, but at least they will not complain about doin' nothing in their days!"
Mirii growled silently.
"Perfection is a gift for hardworking Squids… it's an essence much more powerful than fun, since the rewards are eternal."
Her left forefinger points the girl down, as her right hand rested on her right hip.
"You claim that people are seeking for fun?! I'll prove you those same people were just merely thinking to find perfection inside this ridiculous game… until I break down the entire system, thus saving the entire city."
Her left hand returned.
"Hunley… he must not live in a city polluted by madness." Her head rose. "Our future belongs inside Inkopolis… the perfect Inkopolis I'll restore with the use of my logic and immense knowledge!"