Chapter 5: Pretty Please
The woods by Inkopolis were as calm as ever, as they were on any given night. The wind was blowing, no one was around, most of the animals were asleep, and all was calm, shrouded in peace. At least, until a brief, bright light appeared, as G2PL19 appeared out of thin air, a couple feet above the ground. He promptly fell, screaming as he was sent careening down the hill. He was halted only as he struck a tree, groaning in pain as his mask cracked slightly.
It took him a few moments to come to terms with his new surroundings. He slowly looked around, unable to see much at this time of night, and he stretched his shoulder before he reached to pull off his mask, throwing it aside. He looked around, confused, having to slowly figure out where the teleporter device just sent him to. Reaching for his gun, he turned on his flashlight and looked around as he stood up, now able to see the many trees around him. He paused as he saw all of them, slowly reaching to rub his hand along one of them, feeling its bark. "…Huh…" He looked up as well, able to see the starry sky above him. He… had never seen anything quite so… real, like this. So natural.
"...Woah…" He spent a few minutes just admiring these visuals, feeling some more of the trees. He then even looked down at the ground, reaching to feel the many blades of grass and some fallen leaves on the ground. He picked one up, amazed at how soft it felt, even curling up his fist to crush it just to see how it felt. He couldn't help but chuckle as he let it fall from his hand again.
As he slowly made his way out of the woods, toward the closest exit he could find, his next beautiful visual to see was easily his favorite; the grand city of Inkopolis, just a mere distance away from him, with lots of visible, lit up buildings. He again stared for what felt like several minutes. "…Oh… my…" He smiled. At last, it seemed, he was free… He was actually free. Not to distract from the fact that he was on a mission- a pretty important one at that-, but for once he could do it in whatever way he wanted. In his own way. He could carve his own path. Finally, he had a true moment of adventure all to himself.
And an adventure was exactly what he was going to get. The peaceful moment didn't last long as he subtly heard an other-dimensional sound behind him, and he quickly turned to see the sudden light that only appeared briefly. It was quickly followed by the visual of flashlight beams, starting to cut through the woods as they searched for him, and the subtle noise of Octoling voices.
He stared for only a moment before he quickly moved away, rushing down the hill toward the many buildings of the city before him. It wouldn't be hard for Gideon's forces to deduce that he'd run to the city, but it didn't matter. He had his mission, and he had to complete it. He ran for the city as fast as he could, soon disappearing into it.
The Next Day
Jessica's Apartment
As morning rose over Inkopolis, beams of sunlight peeked in through the barely-opened curtains of Jessica and Bridgett's bedroom. An ambience of cars and construction noises could be heard from outside, but the girls were both too fast asleep to hear it, sprawled across their own separate twin beds. Bridgett had fallen asleep in the middle of writing her poetry, with her notebook open right next to her face and her pencil still in her hand. Jessica, meanwhile, slept on her abdomen, with one of her legs hanging off the bedside.
Unbeknownst to either of them, a low rumbling noise was slowly overtaking the city, and after a moment, the construction noises outside began to halt. The car noises persisted as always, but with the addition of a few activated car alarms. Following that, the girls' bedroom suddenly jolted hard, as the building swayed a bit from the impact, awakening both girls.
Bridgett sat up and looked around, immediately recognizing the shaking.
Jessica, just as alarmed despite her dazed state, got up and tiredly looked out the window, hearing more car alarms that activated. As she stared, another tremor happened, shaking their room further. She stood still, while Bridgett gripped her bed. A couple things started falling from their closet.
Jessica rushed over and grabbed her goggles, putting them on and activating them. After the shaking subsided, she looked around a bit as the goggles gave her the results of its scan. "…5.4." She read to Bridgett.
Bridgett panted a bit. "…Scared the shit out of me…" She stood up. "Was… that our strongest one?"
She took off her goggles. "…Yeah…"
"...Oh no… What if they keep getting stronger?"
She sighed. "…Maybe it's time we give HQ another call. See if they're learning anything new."
She nodded a bit, before rushing to get changed. Jessica did the same.
Splatoon HQ
Sheldon was humming to himself as he tinkered with his weapons, a bunch of his parts scattered across the floor in a messy manner.
The elevator eventually opened up as Cap'n Cuttlefish walked in, holding his cane tightly.
Sheldon turned to notice him before he brushed all of the parts under a desk. He then stood up and saluted. "Cap'n!"
"Agent 5…" He ignored the mess that he saw and just walked up toward the monitors. "Talk to me. I want a breakdown on that new quake."
He leapt up onto his desk by his computer. "It's the same as all the other ones, sir. It spiked up to 5.4 on the Pitcher Scale, and no, before you ask, I haven't been able to trace it to anything notable…"
"How hard have you tried?" He looked at him.
"...If you're angry about the mess, Cap'n-"
"Forget the mess. I'm worried." He looked up at the monitors. "Marina was right… they're getting stronger…"
Sheldon awkwardly cleared his throat, straightening his neckerchief. "…So… what do we do?"
He tapped his cane against the ground, thinking. "…Have you received any messages from Marie? Are they on their way back yet?"
"Can't say I've heard literally anything."
He sighed, sadly turning back toward the monitors. "…My hearts are too old for this…"
"...Well… Not an entirely inactive day, though. Agent 3 has been trying to reach us."
"Trying? Have you been ignoring her again?"
"...Maybe…"
"...Ok." He sighed. "Put her on."
He nodded and pressed a button. Soon enough, Jessica's voice came on, her likeness appearing on one of the monitors. "This is Agent 3."
He nodded up at the monitor. "Good morning, young lady. Is Eight there with you?"
"I'm here." Bridgett's voice said.
"Good. Our situation is getting more pressing… The earthquakes are getting stronger. And more frequent."
"We know. Did you get anything on it?" Jessica said.
"Still no fault line source, like the last million times I've been asked…" Sheldon said he looked over his computer. "We're still as in the dark on this as we were last week."
"...As if last week was an improvement over anything?"
"My point is-"
"We're glad you reached out." Cuttlefish interrupted. "I'm starting to feel more and more uncomfortable about this. We need to start finding answers. And fast."
"Agreed. What do you want us to do?" Jessica replied.
"...Maybe we can start talking to Johnson about this." Bridgett said. "He might be able to help us trace the Underdogs, and we can trust him-"
"No." Cuttlefish interrupted. "We talked about this. We need to keep out of the police's way. I don't like what's bubbling up with the KRAKEN situation. This is up to us." He paused and thought about it. "…I do want you to see if you can get Agent 4 in on this again."
Bridgett fell silent.
"Agent… again?" Jessica asked. "He won't like that."
"This isn't about what he likes or what he wants." Cuttlefish continued. "Half of our agents aren't even on Earth right now. We need more than what we have."
Sheldon was rubbing his helmet. "Yeah, not to mention that if these earthquakes persist, we can potentially be looking at quite a bit of mass destruction."
"Which is a lot of innocent lives lost. Agent 8, I know that Agent 4 loves you. I want to see if you can appeal to him."
"...I can… try talking to him." Bridgett replied after a moment.
"Thank you, young lady. I know you'll do good."
"Also-" Sheldon continued. "I kind of skipped breakfast, so, if you ever stop by, can one of you bring me a seanw-" He paused as he heard the line go dead. "…Damn…"
Cuttlefish looked at him, sighing. "Come on. Get back to work." He told him before walking away.
"Yes, Cap'n…" He sighed back and sat down.
In the void of space, far away, all was peaceful and as silent as could be. In one particular spot, however, a distortion effect was starting to form, as if a wormhole was about to appear; the distortion suddenly erupted into a bright light, as the Ray sprung forward from nowhere, and its cosmic surroundings fell calm once again. The ship drifted forward toward its destination.
In the cockpit, Marie and Marina were taking them out of jump-mode. Marie slowed the ship down, while Marina pressed some buttons. "…Jump successful. Someone check where we are?"
"On it!" Callie, along with Pearl, ran to the side monitors, checking up on their location.
"...Is this it?" Pearl asked.
Marie got up and looked at a monitor herself. "…It's…" She paused. "…I… think we might be here…"
"...Pearl, check our surroundings!" Marina pressured.
"Um… uh…" Pearl pressed some buttons and ran a scan.
The scan quickly turned out to be pointless, as Marina turned the ship, turning to face the new planet. As it came into view, a tint of both gray and green, as if the green color had all the life drained from it, bled in through the ship's windows.
"I think Marie's right, I'm reading a large, planetary object on our flank- woah…" Pearl turned to looked out the window and see, as she and Callie both walked up to take a closer look, amazed.
"...Oh… my… god…" Callie muttered.
In front of them was, all things considered, a small planet, with a dead-looking surface with colors of green and gray; dark clouds swirled over, encroaching the land with an eerie, apocalyptic feel. At long last, they had arrived at Axcia.
"...This is it? Pearl asked.
"...Yes…" Marina responded.
"...What happened to it?"
"...If a planet could die, this is what it would look like." Callie pointed out. "Looks sketchy down there…"
"The Octarians are here?" Marie asked.
"Hard to say, we haven't been receiving anymore signals from them." She stared at the planet, pausing for a moment as she thought about it. "…We're going in."
"What?" She looked at her.
"I said, we're going in." She got ready at the controls again.
"Marina, there's no way this is safe."
"Nothing about this mission has been safe. But we've made it this far. We have to investigate."
"Marina, as one leader of this mission, I'm going to tell you right now that you do not get to send us to some random, desolate planet, with no idea of what to expect-"
She turned to her, snapping suddenly. "Do you want the Octarians to get what they want, or not!? Do you really want this whole trip to be for nothing!? We've come this far, I need to investigate further. Are you with me, or not?"
Marie looked at the others. Callie just shrugged a bit. "...I trust Marina…"
She scoffed. "…Fine… but we better play this safe."
"We will." Marina turned some switches.
The others all gave each other looks, before sitting down by their own controls.
"Ok, activating thrusters..." Marina continued.
They all pressed some buttons to get prepared, while Pearl groaned to herself. "Of course this ugly planet is gonna be where we die…"
"Positive thoughts, Pearlie." She reminded her.
"...Sorry, babe."
Callie gave Pearl a reassuring smile before turning to her own controls. Marina soon pressed forward, and the ship took off, heading toward the planet's surface.
The surface of Axcia was a somewhat chaotic environment; dark clouds mixed in with the tint of a dark-green sky to create an ugly hue, while the surface itself was largely gray and lifeless, made up of what appeared to be millions of gray crystal-like structures. In fact, it was straight up a crystal planet, with mountains that were literally just massive shards, as if threatening to tear through the sky itself.
The Ray, soon after arriving through the atmosphere, flew around for a while, doing several scans on the atmosphere and signs of life, especially for Octarians. The clouds above them occasionally erupted with thundering green energy bursts, almost like lightning bolts.
Everyone on board was either staring out the window or at their camera feeds, watching the scenery as they flew by. "…Woah…" Callie droned. Even Marie seemed pretty mesmerized.
Marina looked over the results of her multiple scans on her screen. "…I don't… understand…"
"...What?" Marie glanced at her.
"...I am getting other-dimensional signals here, but it's nothing close to what was estimated… Callie said it first. It's like the planet died…"
Callie was looking over her own scan results. "Don't get gloomy yet. I'm picking up slight life signals." She looked at them. "It could be Octarian."
They all looked at each other, feeling fairly tense as they started following Callie's scan. The ship slowed as they searched for the potential scan source, but after finding that an overhead view wasn't giving them much, Marina instead started searching for the most stable ground to land on. Locating a spot, they came to slowly touch down, and the wind the Ray created bounced off the ground, blowing away some small crystalline rocks.
Entering stand-by mode, and after running more atmospheric scans, the ship soon opened up. The Splatoon team began exiting one-by-one, wearing oxygen masks that covered their faces and full-body uniforms to partially protect them from whatever may be out there. Marina led the pack, scanning the area with her tablet, while the wind blew a couple straps on her uniform, making them flow behind her.
Callie and Marie followed her out, looking around. "…Wow…" Callie droned. "Are we the first Inklings to set foot on an alien planet?"
"I dunno." Marie replied. "Are you one of those people who think the moon-landing was fake?"
She awkwardly cleared her throat. "…Um… no… of course not…"
Pearl was the last one out, looking around. "...Alright, so here we are at Krypton…" She craned her head toward the sky. "Lots of clouds to greet us… interesting ground pattern that will possibly stab us if we so much as fall down… Fucking hell. I'm never gonna see Inkopolis or a proper hot dog again. Because we're clearly gonna die here! Everything about this place is foreboding as fuck!"
Marina turned to her. "Now what happened to following me to the very end of the universe?"
Pearl looked back at her, pausing. "…Yeah, I said that. So what?"
Marina smirked under her mask, even though Pearl couldn't see it.
She could still tell regardless, crossing her arms. "...I guess I just didn't realize it would feel so scary in the moment, ok!?"
"Well, you can relax somewhat." She turned back around, scanning around with her tablet. "The atmosphere isn't deadly and I'm not seeing too many signs of life. And… given that the environment isn't a complete death trap, it's not a stretch to say sentient life existed here at one point… probably not in its current state, but I need to know more to be sure. So fascinating… I… could spend years and years studying this place."
Marie stood next to her. "So what signs of life are you getting? Any Octarians?"
"...It's something underground… I can't make out what exactly it is."
The other three all glanced at each other, even if their faces were blocked by their masks, as they all silently questioned what she just said.
"...Come on, guys." Marina continued, starting to walk off. The others paused before they reluctantly followed, holding their weapons close as they started their long journey. Callie looked around, glancing at the Ray as they walked further from it.
Earth
While the city of Inkopolis was still recovering from the effects of the most recent quake, everyone seemed a bit on edge today as they too wondered: where the hell were these earthquakes coming from? What was going to happen if they persisted?
G2PL19 did know part of the answer to that, but he kept it to himself as he wandered the streets of Inkopolis, looking at all the different buildings in complete amazement. So many things to do, so many shops to look into, so many people to talk to… it felt like he was walking through a waking dream. It felt like he had entered a different reality from his own.
He looked around at the different people that he passed, making sure that there were no other Octolings on his trail. Some people on the streets would give him some stares in return, looking at his somewhat dirty Octarian appearance, but he didn't really mind, too amazed by the many people that lived here. So many lives that were at risk… he shuddered a bit at that thought, but pressed onward.
He soon wandered up to a street with a food stand, where an Inkling man was selling sandwiches. Smelling the food from across the street, he looked both ways before he eagerly starting crossing; multiple cars stopped and honked their horns at him, one angry driver going as far as yelling swear words at him. He held a hand up in apology as he walked up to the stand and waited in line.
"What'll it be?" The Inkling asked him.
He looked over the food. "…What… are these?"
"Sandwiches. You gonna pick one?"
"...Yes." He picked one up and started eating it.
"Buddy, you gotta…" He noticed his appearance as his hunger helped the revelation dawn on him. "…Oh, shit… you one-a those Octo people, arentcha?"
He didn't respond, eating his sandwich.
"...Whatever…" He felt a bit bad now. "…Take it on the house, I guess. But just this once, alright? I don't run a charity."
"On the house?"
"It's… an expression."
"...What's your name, kind sir?"
"My name?" He shook his head. "No one needs to know my name. I just sell sandwiches. I'm not here to be your friend."
"Oh…"
"Besides, I don't even know your name."
…Even he didn't know his own name. Pausing a bit, he looked over at the nearest sign, which described the sandwiches on sale. One word took his attention: Olives.
He looked at him. "…My name's Olives."
"Olives?" He squinted.
"...Yes."
"Ya… mean Oliver?"
That sounded even better. "...Yes. Oliver. Sorry… My name's Oliver."
"Whatever… take your sandwich and go, kid, I've got a line."
He swallowed the food in his mouth as he turned to leave. "I don't know your name, but I promise you, I will not forget you. I will protect your life when the time comes. I promise." He then walked away.
"...Uh… ok?" He watched him leave before he shrugged that off and turned back to his other customers.
Elsewhere in the same city, Jessica and Bridgett were walking down the sidewalk toward Dylan's apartment, hands in their pockets. The walk was going painfully quiet for several minutes, as Jessica occasionally glanced at her, reading her facial expressions.
"...I can do the talking, if you want." Jessica finally spoke up.
Bridgett glanced back at her. "I'll talk to him…"
"You haven't otherwise."
She sighed. "…It's… just been hard, ok? He's different now, I haven't seen him in weeks, and I… I don't know what he'll say, after… what happened."
She shrugged. "…Couples fight. It happens."
"...Are we even… still a couple…?"
She shrugged yet again. "I can't answer that for you, but I can tell you I think that explosion knocked the god damn sense out of him…."
Bridgett looked down as they kept walking, stopping as they arrived at the intersection. The street did seem a bit off today, as a large, red truck blocked part of the street, while a few KRAKEN soldiers in full-red armor were on guard duty, holding massive, threatening guns as they dictated the paths of the nearby cars, no matter the status of the stoplights.
Jessica just sighed as she watched.
Bridgett blinked. "...What are they doing?"
"Probably trying to maintain control after the quakes. In their own fucked up way."
Bridgett kept watching. Of course, it felt like the city just kept changing for the worst after the Underdogs incident… so was it ever going to stop?
"Come on." Jessica pulled her along to Dylan's place.
It wasn't too much longer before the girls walked up the Schultz apartment, where they climbed up the steps to his floor and then knocked, awaiting an answer. After a moment, the door opened, revealing Samantha. "Hey, Bridge." She smiled a bit.
"Hey, Sam." Bridgett replied.
She then looked at Jessica, pointing a couple 'finger guns' at her. "Jessie!"
"Don't call me that." She replied.
"Right… sorry." She straightened herself and cleared her throat. "So, you feel the quake this morning?"
"That's why we're here." Bridgett nodded.
"Cool. You here to pull him back into duty? Top secret Splatoon stuff?"
"...Well…"
"Right, right, I shouldn't press further. I'll get him for you." She turned around. "Hey, Dil Pickle, your girlfriend's here!" She yelled, before turning back to her guests and stepping inside. "Well, come on in."
"Thank you." She stepped inside with Jessica, where she waited for Dylan.
A moment passed before Dylan stepped out of his room. It seemed that he had largely recovered surprisingly well from his injuries over the past 3 months, but otherwise didn't seem that great; He looked like a complete mess, actually. Aside from the slight limp he still showed, he was still in his pajamas, and now had a messy-looking beard after neglecting his shaving and any other general care for his hair. "Bridge?"
"Hey." She smiled a bit and opened her arms.
"Hey!" He accepted the hug, pulling her close. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
"I know, I'm sorry…"
He hugged her for a moment, before kissing her cheek and breaking off. "You haven't been answering my calls."
"I've been busy."
"Well, it's just, after that fight we had, I wasn't sure if you…"
She sighed. "…I'm not here to talk about that."
"Can't sweep that under the rug forever, you know." Samantha said, rudely standing nearby with her arms folded and a grin on her face. They looked at her. "…Right, right, I'm not here." She turned away.
Dylan turned back to his girlfriend. "Well, then, what's up? You want a drink or something?"
"Well…" Bridgett responded. "Can we… can we talk?"
A few moments later, the trio finally got seated at the couch, away from Samantha. Dylan sat down with his own drink, while Bridgett and Jessica sat across from him, empty-handed.
"So, what did you wanna talk about?" He asked, before pausing for a second. "…I assume you coming here on the same day as another earthquake is… not a coincidence."
Bridgett rubbed her hands together. "…Cap'n Cuttlefish wants you back on the team."
He sighed in disappointment, sipping his drink. "I knew you weren't here to chat…"
"The earthquakes are getting worse, Dylan." Jessica explained. "We need all hands on deck so we can find out what's coming."
"...So… if you're coming to me, that means… you've found absolutely nothing these last few months, huh?"
She sighed. "…I wish we could say otherwise."
He set his drink down again. "Then what do you want me to do about it?"
"We're figuring it out." Bridgett responded. "The Underdogs are still out there, those crystals might still be out there… Not to mention that we've had trouble tracing these quakes. They're not normal. There's something going on and it could put Inkopolis at risk. We need to stop it before it does."
He leaned back. "…So… you just need me to fill the void while Marie and the others are out on their space mission?"
"...Yes."
He sighed again. "…How are they?"
"...We haven't heard from them…"
"Of course not…" He rubbed his forehead.
"...We need your help, Dylan." Jessica continued. "It'd be nice if you can stop… moping around here and get your Hero Outfit out again."
"I'm not moping here. Ok? I-In case you've forgotten, I did kind of get blasted in the head last time I was in the field. And for once, I've been… I've been trying to focus on me. And what I want for my life. Before, you know, I almost lose that opportunity again."
"We get that you were injured, but it looks to us like you've largely recovered." Jessica pointed out. "There's no reason to keep hiding."
"It's not all about my injuries."
Bridgett reached forward, putting her hand on his. "…Dylan… if these quakes are what we fear… then we'll have a lot more lives to worry about. What happened won't matter."
"Don't act like I don't care about the city's population, because I do."
"Then why won't you help us?"
"Because…" He sighed. "…I don't know if the Splatoon was ever right for me, ok? Something I realized is that… there are other ways to help. On the small side. I can… go to school and get a nursing degree, I could… join charity. Help the poor. Something… not out in the open."
"...But we want you to help us on the big side."
"...I've already tried that, Bridge… but you know it went south. For all of us. I, in particular, almost got disintegrated for it…"
Bridgett and Jessica looked at each other before Bridgett looked down.
"...That explosion was my fault, too…" Dylan nodded a bit. "I pulled my attention away from that guy, I… I was having… a panic attack… and I almost killed you guys for it. I'm lucky I still have my own life…"
"...No one blames you for that, Four." Jessica replied. "None of us knew how to react."
"Well, you should, because I should've reacted better and the blame does fall on me. And I'm not even saying that because he jammed my gun. Trust me, I had a lot of time to think about what happened… and I made all the worst decisions."
At this point, the girls had no arguments against that, sighing to themselves. Bridgett kept her gaze down. "...What if I said 'pretty please'?"
"...My answer would still be the same."
She sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"...I'm sorry. But it's… best you find someone else."
"...Who would we find?" Jessica asked.
"Don't know… but the Cap'n and Marie both found new agents from just stalking up the city a bit. I doubt you'll have a problem."
"...I always thought… you liked the Splatoon… with me." Bridgett said, finally looking at him.
"Bridge…" He reached forward and cupped her cheek. "Of course I like you. I love you… and you know I'd love to spend more time with you… I'm just… not sure this is the way for me anymore. Look at me, I'm… I'm not the same…"
She sighed, slowly pulling his hand from her cheek. "…I'll just go…"
"...Bridge…"
"Come on." She told Jessica as she stood up, heading toward the door. Jessica just quietly followed.
Dylan sighed and stood up, facing them. "…Bridge, uh… I'd really like to… go out again, sometime. You know… just us. We could catch up. I'd really like that…"
Bridgett stopped at the door, looking at him.
"...Sound good?"
"...Maybe." She nodded a bit, opening the door. She began walking out, before-
"Wait!" Samantha suddenly shouted, running up. "Sounds like you guys need a new Agent 4. Right?" She got a bit closer. "Right?"
Jessica stared at her. "…You were listening?"
"...Only a bit."
"...Come on, Bridge." She rolled her eyes and walked out. Bridgett ignored her, looking at Samantha.
"Bridge." Samantha continued. "I would be a perfect replacement. I can- I'm up at A in Rainmaker. I'm all the way up at S in Splat Zones. I've gotten better, because I've honed my skills in ink battles. And yeah, sure, I still have room to grow, but I can- I can face whatever, I'll be prepared for whatever." She nervously smiled. "You know I've wanted to help you guys for a long time. So… what do you say?"
She paused a moment. Deep down, she still wasn't sure Samantha was the best choice… but… what was she supposed to say? "We'll, uh… talk to Cuttlefish." She gave a slight smile.
She smiled wider. "I won't let you down."
"Yeah…" She then awkwardly closed the door, dropping her smile as she walked away with Jessica. Dylan looked down and sighed as they were left alone again.
Unbeknownst to all of them, they were all being watched; As Bridgett and Jessica left the apartment building, heading down the stairs, a small, robotic bug rested on the wall across from Dylan's apartment. Losing sight of them, it opened its metal wings, taking flight off the wall to continue following the agents.
Down with the Octarians, the many Octolings were still cleaning up the labs after G2PL19's escape, putting everything back to the way they were.
Gideon was in his own office, still seething over the incident, when he looked up at the video that was projected on the wall, which showed the bug's camera feed of the Agents leaving Dylan's apartment. He stared at the feed all the way up until the bug managed to get a view of Bridgett's face, who remained unaware that she was being watched.
He paused the feed there, standing up. He stared her down, smiling a bit. "…I know it's been a while… but I'll reunite with you very soon… just a bit longer… juuuust a bit longer…" He stood up straight. "…You don't know it yet… but it's time. Our next phase has already started… so you just wait. Just you wait…"
Axcia
Many minutes had passed as Marina's group explored the unfamiliar planet, following Marina's scanner to their best ability.
They travelled through multiple mountain-like hills, searching for any kind of clues or information that Marina could use, and her tablet suddenly beeped as they came across a hole in one of the hills, leading down into a nearby cave system. They all looked at each other.
"...We're not going in there…" Marie said.
Marina ignored her, wandering inside as she held her tablet forward. Callie and Pearl both shrugged as they slowly followed, and Marie looked up the sky, sighing in irritation before she reluctantly followed.
Marie and Pearl both equipped their weapons, using them to point their flashlights through the cave, while Marina used the light on her tablet to see ahead. Callie, with her roller, held a regular flashlight. They progressed carefully as the cave slowly took them downward, and they walked past several different crystalline pillars that shot up from the ground to the ceiling. Callie looked up at them, looking around. "…Pretty…"
"Oh, please. They look like knives." Pearl replied, looking around as well.
"...I think something here might be messing with my scans somewhat." Marina continued, walking forward some more as she looked around. "I can't get a clear reading… It's almost like… the planet itself doesn't want us here."
"...Can we go back to the ship, now…?" Callie asked as she followed with Marie.
Pearl, however, stayed behind as she knelt down, observing some of the rocks that were cemented somewhat loosely in the ground below. Feeling more and more of the rocks, she noticed some of them were… green. The unnatural, slight green tint that glowed faintly, similarly to the crystals Jessica and Bridgett had previously described. Amazed, she reached in to pull some of the crystals out, before the ground beneath her suddenly gave out. "WOAH!" She screamed as she plummeted through the ground.
"Hm? Pearl?" Marina and the others turned around. Her eyes widened a bit as she realized what happened. "PEARL!" She ran forward.
Callie and Marie followed closely behind, peering through the hole that Pearl accidentally created. They all shone their lights down at her. "…You ok!?" Callie shouted at her.
Beneath the hole, Pearl had landed on her face on solid ground not too far down, surrounded by several crystals that fell with her. "I-I'm fine!" She groaned as she rose her head, propping herself up on her arms. "…Ugh… I'll feel that one in the morning…"
"Do we have a rope!?" Marie panicked at Marina.
"No!" She looked down at Pearl. "Can you jump out of there, Pearlie!?"
Sitting up on her knees and wiping the dust from her eyes, she looked up, squinting up at them. "…Don't know! Kinda don't wanna risk bashing my head into that ceiling!"
"...We'll figure something out! Hold on!" Marie shouted.
Pearl looked around, her attention returning to the crystals that landed next to her. Light, green hues emanated from them, giving their immediate vicinity a faint green light. She picked one of them up. "…Guys?"
"What!?" Marina replied.
"Those glowing rocks… they're here! The ones the Octarians had!"
Marina fell silent as she stared down, not responding.
Curious about what else this cave held, she looked down again to pick up her gun. She stood up, wiping herself off, before shining her flashlight around. "…Woah…" The room she fell into, although still made mostly of crystalline rocks, was not natural; Instead, it seemed to be a withered, man-made room, with unrecognizable decayed objects inside, and was covered in some kind of dried up goop that were shaped almost like large spider webs. Jaw dropped, she stepped forward, looking around.
"...What do you see!?" Callie shouted down.
"...Stuff!" Pearl replied, leaning down to look at some of the objects. She carefully picked one up, trying not to touch the goop. She couldn't tell at all what it was for, but it did appear to be made of extremely old, rusted metal. In fact, it appeared to be some technological device, with a couple visible wires, even if it was long decayed beyond the point of ever working again. She looked at it all around, turning it to see different angles. "…There was a society here! An advanced one!"
"R-Really?" Marina replied. "…That's incredible!"
"But it's long decayed! Like an old human relic!" Getting bored of this current object, she dropped it and began picking up other ones. One of them felt hard; not quite like metal, or even plastic, but more like…
She turned it toward her, revealing that it was actually a fossilized, ancient skull, shaped unlike anything she had ever seen before. She screamed and dropped it again, standing up and backing away.
"Pearl!?" Marina shouted.
Pearl was about to respond, but stopped as she heard something else. Almost like, scampering footsteps somewhere behind her. Beginning to sweat, she pointed her weapon, lighting up the area.
"...Pearl?" Marina continued.
Ignoring her, she started inching forward, the ceiling's hole inbetween her and the noise. She dared not make a noise herself, but was unable to stop herself from making a somewhat audible gulping noise.
A high-pitched growling noise filled the room as the source of the sounds revealed itself, stepping out of a hole in the wall and into Pearl's light, pushing its way through a web of goop. Pearl's eyes widened as she looked it over; It was four-legged, its shape similar to that of a dog, while its gray skin was rugged and strangely crystal-like, with crystalline shards poking of its joints, mouth, and back, in some regions forming a shell-like protection. Even its teeth seemed a bit crystal-like, and its face lacked any kind of eyes; Its face instead consisted mostly of its mouth. Its growl remained high-pitched as it stared at her, poised to attack, while Pearl remained still, staring back at it.
The other popstars noticed as well, falling largely silent. "…Pearl… get up here… now…" Marina said somewhat quietly.
Pearl didn't exactly know how to act. The creature was blocking her immediate path to the exit, and it seemed… hungry. After a tense moment, Pearl, not seeing another choice, suddenly raised her gun and fired at it. The ink shot only angered it, and it let out a deafening, high-pitched shriek. Pearl dodged to the side as it lunged forward, barely missing her with its devastating bite. It shrieked again, while Pearl desperately rolled back to her feet and ran back to the hole, wasting no time super-jumping out. In her humanoid form, she grabbed onto the ledge, dangling for a moment as some rocks fell back down into the hole.
The other agents all pulled her up. "Are you ok!?" Marina asked.
"NO! I just saw an alien skull and then just about became that things lunch!" She yelled, getting back onto her feet.
"Let's go!" Marie shouted, pulling Callie along as they began running back where they came from. They didn't get very far before they heard another shriek, and Callie looked behind her to see the creature leap up, climbing through the hole. In fact, it wasn't alone anymore, as two more climbed out with it. She screamed.
Marina, noticing as well, pushed them forward. "Ok, run faster!"
The monsters shrieked again as they gave chase, agilely sprinting after them. The one in front ran over the ground, while the other two used their claws to latch onto and run across the walls, which just barely slowed them down. Marie, without stopping, took notice of this, and charged up her charger before she turned to fire at one of the wall-climbers; it dodged, leaping up onto the ceiling as it continued its chase, shrieking at her.
Noticing that it did slow it down somewhat, she fired more shots of ink at them, forcing the creatures into more dodge movements. She kept doing this until one on the ceiling managed to close in, shrieking at her as its head moved in for a bite. She managed to fire a blast of ink into it first, and it lost its footing, falling off the ceiling and awkwardly collapsing face-first on the ground. The others were briefly halted as it blocked their path, and in response, she took the opportunity to hurl a bomb at them. She panted, running faster to catch up with the others as she heard it explode behind her, only hoping that it held them back.
Pearl was the first one out of the cave, and the others followed shortly behind her, as more shrieks could be heard down the cave, closing in even faster this time. Marie had slowed down a bit too much in her valiant effort to slow the hunters down, and suddenly fell face-first onto the ground as one of them caught up to her and grabbed her leg, inches away from the cave's exit.
Callie noticed and stopped. "MARIE!"
Marie screamed a bit, turning onto her back to wrestle with the creature as it climbed on top of her. She held its head away to her best ability as it lashed against her, scratching her up, while the second shrieker grabbed her feet, starting to drag her deeper into the cave. She grabbed her knife and tried stabbing at it to no avail.
"MARIE!" Callie ran up.
"No!" Marina stopped her, holding her back.
Marie wrestled with the creature to no avail, finding that they were simply too strong for her. Panicking, and hearing Callie's further screams for her, she closed her eyes, before desperately turning into her green squid form, super-jumping out of their grasp and out of the cave. She landed near the group, turning back to her humanoid form. The creatures, meanwhile, ran to the edge of the cave, but did not proceed further, even as the third one rejoined them. Instead, they stopped, opting to instead angrily roar at them.
"Marie!" Callie ran up to her, pulling her up. "Oh my god!"
Marie groaned in pain as she stood back up, feeling some of the scratches she sustained. "…Ow…"
"Can we get back to the ship!?" Pearl shouted.
"Yup!" Marina responded, helping Marie. "Come on, before those things change their mind!"
Callie helped her as well, as they ran back toward the Ray. Pearl briefly looked back in the direction of the monsters, before setting her sights back on their escape. The creatures all roared at the air of the outside world, while the sky thundered above them.