Alright, send in a review or leave in a favorite/follow if you are liking the story so far!
"I still can't believe this…" He watched the girl stopping in front of him. "… I'm telling you for 10 minutes how I'm on your side and you still don't believe me in the slightest!"
"Why I should trust a complete stranger…?" Mirii put the key in the keyhole.
"Huh? You have a key?!" He frowned. "What the Squid?! You just told me"
"I'm not even sure that this will work, sir… I found it in a treasure chest lock, after all." Her hand twisted it.
Click.
Her mouth opened a bit.
"… I wasn't expecting that."
"How would you?" The man grabbed the fence, pulling the door out. "Why would they put the key in such place, anyway?"
Mirii pulled the key out, twisting it around while aiming her smartphone at it. The man walked away from the prison.
"I have a suspicion that those locks are literally the same type for both the prison and the treasure chests." Her head rose. "Such an inconsiderate choice, in my opinion."
"In any case, I'm finally out of this cage!" He smiled a bit. "But I don't know where the exit is… I never went in this cave! I didn't even knew its existence until the Stingrays carried me in here!"
"That would our next objective…" Mirii passed the man, walking towards the door-shaped entrance. "Follow me, sir."
"Don't walk too fast!" He immediately stepped after the girl. "I don't want to get lost around those corridors!"
"It's just one corridor, before we reach the ex-Stingray cove…" Her head rose.
"Ah… good!" He sighed silently. "Is your smartphone's battery full of energy?"
"Of course, sir." Her eyes closed, pointing her device over the rocky road. "My smartphone is pure technological efficiency"
Suddenly, the small machine began shaking on its own: her eyes opened back, watching the screen.
"Who's that?" The man took some quick steps, before bending in the direction of the smartphone.
"… let's stop in here for a second." She stopped, carrying her smartphone over her ear. "Greta?"
Eh eh! Glad to hear that you kept high your perfection reputation.
Mirii snorted, raising her head.
"Is there a moment when you just greet me and get to the point…?" Her eyes squeezed a bit.
But that would be a boring greeting, wouldn't it?
"Hmpf!" She shook her head. "Are you still inside the cave?"
I super-jumped away from the cave… together with the rest of the gang! We were lucky enough to find a crafted road leading right in the surface. Bars caught up with me rather quickly-
"What about Hunley?" She held her breath.
A bit shook by the events… but he's as fine as ever! Although, he's still in his little form, though…
Mirii's mouth flattened.
"Have you brought him in front of a doctor?!" Her face began getting paler…
… let's just say that I let his sister take care of him. Mr. Shollen doesn't know a thing about this, though… so, try playing a bit dumb about the whole situation.
"I'm sure you meant to say 'unaware'…" She snorted.
Sigh… then you wonder why I always happen to 'imitate' you, in certain occasions…
"Enough." Mirii frowned. "Right now, I'm inside that entrance I showed to you… I managed to rescue the scientist."
Good job! Then, why don't you two go to the bridge?
"… and why we should go there…?" Her head tilted a bit.
That's because I just had this rad idea I came up with, when I was inside Shollen's car: I thought to rent a small boat, so me and Barsy can reach the cave's lower side through the sea and pick you two up, without encountering that darn beast.
"… the idea doesn't sound too bad…" Her eyes closed. "… however, I don't think there is any tool or any kind of item, that could help us pass the river."
… ah, right. You can't even get in there… … well, it's not that much of a big deal! We could simply reach the other side through the river! I wanted to buy a motor boat anyway.
"Yes, a motor boat would definitively help…" She nodded. "… although, now that I think about it… how come you are telling me all this, right now? Why you haven't told me about this before?"
Ehm… eh eh…! W-well… I was running at full speed this night… an-and I tripped right on a small rock. When I fell down, I felt that I landed right on the smartphone… so, I picked it up and it was completely shut! Didn't thought too much about it, since I was in a hurry… but once I got back home, I opened my smartphone's back… and I found out that the battery broke down! Luckily, I had a spare… so, I used it and I went on and called you right away.
"… bah." Mirii grimaced. "So, that means you are still inside the villa…?"
We are about to leave, actually! You just need to wait… let's say half-an-hour or somethin'? Could be a bit more than that… but I know a place where I can always find boats for rent! It's not that far from here… and I'm sure we can reach the sea point just as easily!
"Can you even drive a boat like that…?" Her eyes squeezed a bit.
You should ask that to Barsy… he's the one who's drivin', you know! Well, now I have to go! Catch you later, Mirii!
"Bye." Her hand brought her smartphone in front of her face, as her thumb pressed on the red button on the screen.
"Looks like there is a safe way for escaping the cave, eh?" The man's voice came from behind her back.
"Yes… we just need to reach the river and wait for my friends' arrival." She resumed her walk, pointing her smartphone forward. "Follow me, please."
Steps were coming from behind Mirii.
"You know… I was thinking about before…" His head shook.
"I prefer focusing on the road, sir." Her head rose.
"Wh-why are you still trying to hide the fact that I know you are against Project Neo? You said it out loud!" He frowned a bit. "Also, that whole thing about the key, feels a bit too strange…"
"You can always check back inside that room… you will find a treasure chest full of beverage." Mirii snorted.
"I would like to see that!" He stopped. "Bring me back inside that room!"
The girl stopped too, while showing her back over the scientist.
"… you know that there might be some Stingrays lurking around the cave… you don't want to give them the chance to ambush us, right?"
"… you have a point." The man groaned. "But I still don't understand why you don't believe me."
"You simply misunderstood the whole situation…" Her feet began taking steps forward. "I meant to say the project related to the Stingrays, which has differences from this Project Neo you are mentioning."
Her head rose.
"I didn't wanted you to know this… it's supposed to be a secret for a selected few." She sighed. "Which is why, you are not going to hear any more words about this."
"… I don't really trust this…" The man was walking right behind. "… I don't remember the exact same words, though… so, you could be right."
Mirii pushed the air off her mouth, silently.
"That was a close call!" Her tongue stuck out for a second. "Even though I preferred to not expose my true intentions like that… I'm still satisfied that I managed to reach the main objective, aside from this rescue: making him talk about the project."
Her head rose.
"I just needed to make him lose his patience, so he would expose the truth without thinking too much about his own actions… even at the cost of making him think that I tried to hide back my previous mistake."
Her eyebrows went up.
"Maybe I should had believed him from the get-go, instead of applying such strategy…" She sighed. "... but he's still a complete stranger who's tied directly with Project Neo: how could I trust him fully?" Her eyes closed. "Besides, if I lowered my guard in front of his words… I might have caused another mistake, which would lead him to even remember that encounter we had in the past!"
Her irises went to her right.
"… enough of that. I must focus on my next objective…"
Her eyes squeezed a bit.
"… investigate Happy Squid Land."