Thailand had peered around the corner at the closest turn in the air vents; being the last one in, he had plenty of room behind him to work with while he turned himself around to watch. Though it had been quite a nerve-wrecking thing to do, he managed to get the others to hide as quickly as possible from view if anyone should happen to look for them. He managed to get them to do so silently as well, which was quite a feat.
He could feel the tension in the air behind him where the others froze and waited. Thailand had to give them credit for not twitching or shifting around uneasily as the doppelgangers (at least, that's what Thailand thought) peeked into the vents.
Their voices were clear when they spoke even though they expected the desk to muffle some of the sound. However, what the doppelgangers were saying made South Korea and Hong Kong grit their teeth a little. Thailand had to glance back over his shoulder, giving them a small smile in order to reassure them.
"And after the rats we sent up there?" Dark Philippines was saying.
"Those bastards," South Korea scowled. "They did send those rats up after all, da-ze."
"Shhh!" Thailand motioned for Taiwan to do something about South Korea, and she hastily clapped her hand above his mouth.
"Move the desk," Dark Mongolia's voice said calmly from down the vent. They all exchanged concerned looks. "Let's see where they are this time..."
"We have to move, like, now." Hong Kong hissed.
"Follow me," Greece whispered, from the back. With his flashlight clenched between his teeth, he slinked ahead, closely followed by the others. Thailand wondered if he had the time to turn himself around or if he'd have to go backwards.
"Stay like that," Taiwan told Thailand when she glanced back at him. "You can be the look-out."
Greece, South Korea, Taiwan, Seychelles, Hong Kong, and Thailand painstakingly made their way through the system, crawling around using Greece's intuition as their guide. Whether his guts were reliable or not, they didn't have time to spare to analyze the situation. The doppelgangers sent up rats once ("They probably had rabies," Hong Kong said.) and they didn't want to find out what else they'd send up.
"Do you think Japan will be okay?" Taiwan asked.
"Japan will be fine," Greece said calmly. "You'll need a lot to take that country down. Anyway, first thing's first: we need to find a safe way out of the air vents. If they're looking for us here, they won't be looking for us elsewhere."
"Well of course, da-ze," Korea said, "but what if they do find us unintentionally down there?"
"Do what we've been doing," Seychelles said.
"Which is, da-ze?"
"Run," she said wryly.
Korea considered the default plan for a brief moment. "We do a lot of running," he said pensively. "When will we go back to the good old times where we actually fight back, da-ze?"
"The good old times where we fight back?" Thailand repeated somewhat incredulously, glancing behind his shoulder since he was still facing backwards. "You do realize that we're not going against anything like we had in the past, right, ana?"
Korea glanced back over his shoulder to give Thailand a small pout that reminded everyone behind Korea of a small child longing for ice cream. Taiwan, Seychelles, and Hong Kong also glanced behind them if Thailand would give Korea the frosty delight.
"It's best to avoid fighting right now, ana." Thailand said wisely, giving Korea a smile. "But I think that when we leave Kawasaki, Japan might let you play around for a minute, ana."
Korea grinned broadly. "Well, I know what I'm doing the last few minutes, da-ze."
"As long as we don't have to clean up your mess," Taiwan chided him.
Greece halted above a square grate, large enough for a person to fit through, and flickered his flashlight off. He motioned for the others to be silent as he inspected the room below them. A light was on, but many empty rooms could still have lights on. There was no rule that said you couldn't, unless, of course, there was one that said so, but Greece was completely sure that there was no such rule in the building.
The room appeared to be a lounge; Greece could start to smell the faint aroma of fresh coffee beans over to the side of the room where a coffee machine stood by its lonesome in the corner. There were several armchairs and coffee tables spread out with a few magazines neatly piled up at the side of the tables.
"What do you see, Greece?" Seychelles asked quietly.
"It's just a lounge," he whispered, rescanning the area. "It's safe."
"I smell coffee," Hong Kong murmured. "Could we, like, get some if we have time?"
"Do you really want coffee right now?" Taiwan asked in surprise. "We have too much to do for a coffee break!"
"You know, I find it hard to imagine the doppelgangers just relaxing and drinking coffee." Korea said, rubbing his chin. "Reading magazines too...wonder if Japan's got Playb-"
Korea let out a sharp breath and clenched his teeth, shooting Taiwan and Seychelles a look. "Will you both please release your demon-claws off of my leg, da-ze?"
Taiwan and Seychelles retracted their hands, scowling at him. "This isn't the time to be thinking of that," Seychelles said.
"I was kidding, da-ze." Korea said, scratching the back of his head. "Trying to lighten up the mood, you know?"
"Ana, Greece?" Thailand called from the back. His tone worried them; he sounded nervous.
"What is it, Thailand?" Greece asked hastily.
There was a silence, but in that silence, they noticed that there were small, rapid pit pats echoing in the vents. The first thought that popped up were more rats; everyone shifted uncomfortably. The second thought was a 'what if?'. What if they sent up something other than rats? What would it be then?
"If it has, like, rabies..." Hong Kong started slowly, but he never finished.
The pit pats had gotten quicker and heavier, so heavy that they pounded on the metal, sending clangs ringing in the ears.
"What the hell? Did they send dogs or what, da-ze?" Korea scowled.
A bark echoed down the vents; the noises became louder and quicker.
"You had to say dogs?" Greece groaned. "Let's go, everybody out!"
Greece handed his flashlight back to Korea and pulled at the grate. As the sounds came nearer and nearer, Greece's determination soared. He did not want to be around dogs. With a surge of energy, Greece ripped the metal grate from its place and tossed it aside. Cheers rang behind him but he didn't stop; he slid a little past the opening, pulled his feet in so that he could lower himself feet first down into the room, and dropped.
One by one, the others followed. Greece and Korea had prepared to coax the girls but they gave them a shake of the head, a grin, and jumped down with no hesitation whatsoever. "That was fun," Seychelles said brightly, brushing off imaginary dirt as Taiwan followed suit. "Come on Hong Kong! You can do it!"
"I, like, already know I can!" he called down, sticking his feet down into the room. Seconds later, he dropped and landed swiftly, hastily moving out of the way for Thailand.
"Thailand, drop!" Korea yelled hastily. "Seriously, who sends dogs in the vents? I mean sure that's kinda smart since they can sniff people out and all but...who am I kidding, I'd send dogs after my enemies as well, da-ze..."
"You're not, like, helping, you know." Hong Kong said.
"Come on Thailand! You can do it!" Seychelles called up.
Thailand would consider it but he knew that if no one covered up the opening, the dogs would fall through and eventually, catch them. The thundering coming from the dogs' direction hinted that they were big dogs. They seemed small enough to travel through the air vents but regardless of size, Thailand wondered how many there were.
"All of that sound will surely lead them to us, ana." Thailand called down to them, crawling over the opening. They expected him to drop his feet in first, since he was facing the other way, but when he completely passed them, they exchanged grim looks.
"You're not thinking of distracting them, are you?" Greece asked. "We need you with us!"
"What else can I do, ana?" Thailand asked quickly, poking his head back over the opening. They noticed the grate was in his hands, ready to seal the hole.
Korea dug his hands into his pockets and retrieved a small object. "Catch, da-ze!" he called, tossing it up.
Thailand dropped the grate in surprise but he managed to catch Korea's cellphone. "What do you want me to do with this, ana?"
"Throw it down the vent and come down. We'll have someone call it and the sound of my phone will distract the dogs, da-ze."
"Wait!" Seychelles said suddenly. "They're dogs, Korea. They can still smell our scent."
Korea looked her and Taiwan seriously in the eyes and said calmly, "I never thought I'd ask you guys this but, spray me, da-ze!"
"What?" they asked blankly.
"Come on, anything! Perfume, body mist, anything, da-ze." Korea insisted, spreading his arms out as he shut his eyes closed tightly, contorting his face. "Spray me!"
Taiwan glanced at a bewildered Seychelles. "Do you have a skunk?"
They heard Thailand slide the phone away and were relieved to see him jump down to join them, sliding the grate over the opening just before it became out of his reach. Taiwan sighed in relief, knowing that everyone was safe for the time being. Then it struck her that there was still Japan.
"Snap out of your trance," Korea said, shaking her shoulders roughly. "I need some of that perfume! This is the only time I'll ask for it, da-ze."
"Alright, alright, here, hold on. I don't know if it's strong enough to block our scents but- hey wait, if we're already wearing perfume, how do we block our scent now?" Taiwan asked abruptly.
"Switch perfumes," Hong Kong said at once. He pointed at Seychelles. "You wear Taiwan's perfume and you," he pointed at Taiwan, "wear Seychelle's perfume."
"Good enough for me," Seychelles said, digging around in her backpack. "Here you go,"
"Thank you. Here's mine," Taiwan said hastily as they made the switch. "Alright Korea, eyes closed, mouth shut, don't breathe in until I tell you to!"
Korea stiffened, contorting his face once again after he took a deep breath. Taiwan squirted several mists of perfume all over Korea, circling around him quickly as Seychelles did the same to Greece.
"Next!" they both called, and Hong Kong was treated by Taiwan while Thailand received the perfume treatment from Seychelles.
Korea coughed, waving the air in front of him. "How do you stand it, da-ze?"
"They don't put that much one usually," Greece grimaced. Choking, he added, "At least, I think so."
"Let's get out of here. And block out this room too. Doppelgangers will notice the smell if they walk in here and they'll figure out what we did," Seychelles said worriedly, switching perfume bottles back with Taiwan after they gave themselves a last minute touch with each other's bottle.
"Yeah, those mutts are practically right above us." Greece murmured, leading the way out. "We'll just lock the door from the inside. That will have to do for now,"
Before anyone could complain, the grate from above rattled dangerously as the dogs ran over it. Their hearts skipped a beat when they heard the animals stop, sniffing around.
"Call the phone, da-ze," Korea whispered anxiously to Hong Kong.
"I'll call, I'll call," Hong Kong said, fumbling with his pockets. "Let's just, like, get out of here now!"
Japan closed his eyes, lying down on yet another metal pipe that was teetering on the edge of being able to hold his weight or not. Perhaps he had spent too much time with America and maybe all of those fast food restaurants America insisted of having at his house was a little too much.
In the darkness, he could have sworn he heard barking. And was that a strange kind of thunder? It echoed all over the place, and it started to unnerve him.
"Have they...have they really sent up dogs to search for them?" Japan whispered to himself. He took a deep breath in order to clear his mind and he concluded that the doppelgangers really were willing to do anything.
Even sending up dogs in the air vents.
Japan grimaced at the thought. Within minutes, the entire building would smell of dog. The air circulating in the air vents would surely pick up the scent, and what if they did their business right then and there?
Perhaps it was best to leave the doppelgangers to clean everything up, depending on how things go.
Japan had been stationary for a while now. He realized that, but he had no intention of moving soon. He relied on the sound of the dogs to keep track of whether or not his team was still on the run or if they were captured. If they were captured, the dogs wouldn't be running around sniffing out runaway countries. At the moment, they were still barking their heads off, but even if they were still hunting, they had gotten more frenzied, more excited.
Japan had a sinking feeling they were getting closer to his friends.
"No, mustn't think of that yet," Japan ordered himself, giving him a small slap on the cheek to snap him out of his thoughts. "They'll be okay. As long as Korea doesn't try out his gaming skills and apply it to real life, they'll be okay,"
Now that Japan thought about it, Korea's gaming skills was superb. However, there was a fine line between gaming and real life and Japan was reasonably sure that people couldn't double jump or hack or run into glitches that would benefit them in real life. However useful it was, it wouldn't help them out here since it was impossible.
"Stay focused," Japan sighed to himself. "Don't think about games,"
What he really needed to do was to figure out a way to finish their mission. Disabling the doppelgangers and destroying the weapons...disabling the doppelgangers and destroying the weapons...disabling the doppelgangers and destroying the weapons...he had to repeated those objectives over in his head.
"Disabling the doppelgangers before destroying the weapons would be easier," Japan thought aloud to himself. "Or I can find a way to destroy the weapons and trap the doppelgangers in. I could blow the building up and have it collapse on everything-oh, but first I must rescue my people who are innocent. I cannot allow innocent people to die,"
The barking ceased a little and Japan's eyes snapped open, staring in horror at the darkness. Were they caught? Did they bring the dogs down somehow? What happened?
Japan stayed silent. He thought he picked up another sound, a distant sound that sounded familiar. Why?
It could just be his mind messing with him, however.
But then again...
Japan closed his eyes to further deepen his concentration. The small sound was definitely...yes, it was! Wait, no, it couldn't be...could it?
Japan frowned, cocking his head a little.
Yes...yes it was!
"Why is Korea getting a call at a time like this?" Japan exclaimed quietly to himself, opening his eyes again. "Germany told us to keep our phones on silent or off except for the captains and co-captains. Korea isn't officially a co-captain but still..."
Japan couldn't just lie there in the ceiling when his team was in danger. He just couldn't. But that didn't mean that he could throw away precious thinking time and recklessly prance around the hideout to save the team either. How did he know that they were captured? Perhaps the team was luring the dogs away or something.
Having mental capacity of a human, Japan knew that he should do something to help the others, or at least sneak around and find out what was going on. However, having the wisdom and experience of a country, he knew that something like that was a joke.
It was a very common trait for all countries to acquire; physically, they were still human and sometimes mentally, they act their physical age. Below the young appearance, a mere facade to the world's population, was a deeply rooted wisdom that most countries often forget they had.
Or chose not to remember.
That nagging feeling of ancient experience convinced Japan that he could trust the others to be well; they weren't countries for nothing. They had survived this long and whatever history they had, they held their ground and made it out with a standing government and a population of people they had the rights to call their own.
They'd survive.
Minutes passed in passive silence. Japan felt that his train of thoughts were finally reaching the station since it seemed to slow down. Why was that? Surely he couldn't be tired of thinking now, could he?
"I'm old," he stated quietly to himself. "but this isn't the time to admit my age."
Eventually, when he thought his mind had finally come to a stop, a seemingly futile idea developed into a bigger idea, one that had potential.
Now whether that potential would expand into a guaranteed game plan was up to Japan, and that was exactly what he needed at the moment. There wasn't much time left and he needed to get something thought up of.
But now that he thought longer about it, his idea definitely had potential.
If things went well, they'd be able to succeed in their mission.