Both Levin and Nary came out of their cover and resumed their battle against the Squid Sisters. Marie and Callie didn't take long to react and also jumped back into action, but what they didn't expect was the two of them going different ways, with Levin going for Callie and Nary going for Marie.
The black-tentacled idol quickly swung her roller at Levin, trying to cover him in ink. But predicting her moves, he quickly stepped aside to dodge before starting to shoot at her.
Meanwhile, Marie and Nary were on a similar position, except that now it was Marie who tried to put some distance between her and Nary, who wouldn't stop trying to close the gap between them.
In one occasion, Nary did land a shot on her while she missed hers, but just as Nary thought she finally got her, she changed into her squid form and swam through the path she had created with her weapon before returning to her humanoid form behind the new agent.
Almost slipping after turning around, Nary saw how Marie jumped over a fallen pillar and took cover behind it.
Taking advantage of this while Callie was busy with Levin, she went to where Marie had hidden like a moth to the flame. Noticing this, Callie instantly tried to run to her cousin in an attempt to cover her, only for levin to stand in front of her.
"Eyes on me!" he said with a defiant smile, shooting at Callie to prevent her from going further.
And from the sidelines, Shara and Nayls watched in amazement how the two of their friends were making things quite difficult for the Squid Sisters.
Now at the pillar where Marie had hidden, Nary jumped over it and aimed to where she thought Marie was hiding, only to see that there was no one there, leaving her in utter confusion. What she didn't realize, was that Marie was actually hiding in her squid form inside a puddle of ink behind Nary.
Feeling how someone watched her, she quickly turned around, only to see Marie kick her hero shot off from her hands, followed by doing a low sweeping kick and making Nary fall on her back.
And before Nary could recover, she felt Marie's foot on her chest, preventing her from getting back up while she aimed directly at her face with her charger.
"Heh... Not bad for a rookie" Marie commented with a smug grin, before pulling the trigger and splatting Nary on the spot.
Going back to Levin's battle against Callie, he heard how someone had been splatted, taking a glance to where the sound came from and seeing a 'ghost' float towards the respawn platform.
For a moment he smiled, thinking Nary had finally splatted Marie, only to watch in horror how Marie stood over the pillar, sending a shiver down his spine, realizing that it was now him against the two.
But then, another voice made him flinch and focus back on the battle.
"Eyes on me~" said a grinning Callie from behind him, which startled Levin, but he couldn't get far from Callie in time, receiving a direct hit from her roller and being splatted by her, ending the training session.
Once Levin reappeared at the respawn platform, he just sighed and let his arms hang in defeat.
"Hey, Levin! You almost got them this time!" Nayls exclaimed as he approached him along the rest of the group.
"Yeah, but... They still beat us... Just like every other time" Levin said, remaining in the same position he was in.
"At least we did way better this time" Shara said in an attempt to comfort him.
"True, we'll probably do better next time... Well, even though I just started today, ehe" Nary added, playfully sticking out her tongue.
"Correct!" Now said Callie, who walked up to the group along Marie, now having returned to their usual colors.
"What you did this time was honestly surprising. And even though you didn't win, we have to admit that you made things quite difficult for us" Marie said, which made Levin lift his head.
"Yeah, I didn't see it coming when Shara tried to push me into Nayls's range" Callie commented, which made Shara smile while Nayls just had a dumb look on his face, feeling as if Callie's compliment was a confession of love.
"And you, Nary. Really good strategy, you didn't do half bad for someone who just started" Marie continued, to which Nary giggled while feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Hehe, thank you, but the idea wasn't mine. Levin was the one who told me to close the gap" Nary replied, now making everyone look at the aforementioned inkling.
"Well, now we know why you're the leader" Callie said with a playful smile, Levin feeling a bit flustered by her words while everyone chuckled at him.
But the laughs didn't last long, since they were swiftly silenced by Callie, raising her finger and putting on a serious face.
"Now, time to tell you about your flaws" she said, knowing that she now had to 'correct her students'.
"First of all, you need to have quicker reflexes. In a real battle against the octarians, those slippery slugs will do everything to catch you by surprise, so you should always expect the unexpected. In Shara and Nayls' case, you were doing good by distracting me and trying to splat me from behind" Callie began explaining her analysis.
"Not to mention that Nary and Levin were stopping me from trying to cover her" Marie added.
"But you also had to make sure I couldn't counter at the last second. For example: If Nayls had been more focused, he would've avoided Shara when I threw her at him and shot at me to keep his distance, that way he could've avoided being the first one to fall" Callie continued, seemingly getting carried away by her superior skills, putting her hands on her hips and puffing her chest with an arrogant smile on her face, getting a deadpan look from the two siblings.
Noticing her cousin's attitude, Marie just sighed and rolled her eyes, followed by grabbing Callie by the shoulder and pulling her back, to which she reacted with a surprised yelp while trying not to lose her balance.
"In any case... Shara, you got carried away by anger and that made you more predictable, you should always watch your surroundings. Trust me, the octarians will take any opportunity you give them, no matter how small it is" After saying that, Marie placed her eyes on Nary, who was begging in her head to avoid being lectured.
"Nary, you didn't do half bad, but just like Shara, you got carried away thinking you had already won, which is why you fell into my trap" Marie continued, to which Nary just placed her hands behind her and lowered her head, as if she was a kid being scolded by her parents.
"Guys, you shouldn't give anything for granted until you're fully sure of it, and like Callie said before; you should always expect the unexpected" Marie finished, Callie jumping in front of her a moment later.
"And now, regarding Levin..." She said, placing her eyes on the aforementioned inkling and making him gulp.
"You're... Too absentminded!" Callie declared, leaning forwards and pointing at him.
"Eh? A-absentminded?" Levin asked in confusion.
"Yeah, you get distracted too easily, that's why you were almost the first to go down, and it's also what allowed me to finish you off earlier" Callie replied, straightening up.
"And it's not the first time that's happened, Levin. You get distracted watching Shara fight more often than not, or when one of your teammates get splatted" Marie added, making Levin look away from her with a light blush on his face, feeling Shara's eyes on him upon hearing Marie's words.
"Listen, it's fine if you keep an eye on your friends, but you should also watch for your own safety" Callie continued with her usual bright smile.
But while the two cousins continued lecturing the new agents, they didn't notice Cuttlefish approaching them, stopping right beside Marie and interrupting the two.
"Girls? Aren't you forgetting something?" the captain asked, placing both of his hands on his cane.
Both of them looked at each other for a second, and followed with a long sigh.
"You think they can do it? They haven't finished their training" Callie commented.
"You also didn't finish yours when you headed out for the first time" Cuttlefish replied, making his granddaughters feel flustered and look away, which left the four friends behind them completely confused.
"Umm... Sorry to ask but... What are you talking about?" Levin asked, getting a laugh out of the captain.
"Your first mission, of course!" he replied. And as soon as those words left his mouth, the four friends were left petrified.
"C-c-could you repeat t-that?" Levin asked, just as surprised as the rest.
"Tomorrow at noon, you'll be carrying out your first mission as agents of the New Squidbeak Splatoon" the captain finished, taking on a more determined stance.
After a long discussion, and some time to rest and process what they were just told, the four friends were getting ready to go back home, but Nayls and Shara had planned to play some turf war matches, inviting Levin and Nary while they were there. The blue tentacled inkling joined in right away, but to their surprise, Nary refused, which made all of them ask her why.
"W-well... It's not that I don't want to, it's just..." Nary left her sentence half-finished while trying to find the right words and twiddling her fingers.
"Hmm?" they all muttered, getting closer to Nary, to which she reacted by stepping back with a nervous smile.
"I... I forgot my splattershot and ink tank at Drake's vault, hehe..." Nary finally replied.
And upon hearing her words, the three friends just fell on their backs like a classic cartoon trope.
"For cod's sake, Nary! How many times have we told you to be more responsible!" Shara commented while getting back up.
"Well, what did you expect!? If you were in my shoes you would've also forgot something so trivial back there!" Nary argued, crossing her arms and pouting, to which Levin just sighed and approached her.
"In any case, did you tell Drake about it the other day?" Levin asked.
"I... Think I didn't, I guess I was having so much fun that I forgot about that" Nary replied.
"Yeah right, you sure were having fun trying to steal a k- OW!" Nayls tried to joke, but just before he could finish, Nary had taken one of her slippers out and threw it right at his face, hitting him and making him fall on his back while Nary furiously blushed.
With a surprised expression, Levin decided to voice his proposal, seeing that none of them had anything else to say.
"What if we all go and look for Nary's stuff together? Seems like a good opportunity to visit Drake as well" he asked, getting everyone to look at him. Well... Almost everyone, since Nayls was still knocked out cold while Shara poked at him with a stick.
"Umm, are you sure? He's probably busy with that whole Octarian deal, who knows if there's octopi in his vault" Shara commented, now inserting the stick into Nayls' nose.
"If there are, I don't think Drake will let them attack us, and besides, Otome could also be with him" Levin continued before noticing that Nary was trying to scurry away from their sight, carrying her slipper in her hand and tip-toeing her way out until she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch and stand still like a statue.
"Going somewhere?" Shara asked, Nary only replying with a nervous laugh while slowly turning to her.
"Come on, Nary. We got the rest of the day off, let's go look for your stuff" Levin said, dragging Nayls by his legs.
"You really don't need to, guys. I can just ask Drake another day" Nary replied, once again trying to get away, but her friend's grip on her prevented her from doing that.
"That wasn't a question..." Shara said with an eerily calm smile before picking up Nary and carrying her on her shoulders, following Levin on their way back to Inkopolis.
Of course, Nary kicked and thrashed around trying to free herself, yelling at her with comic teary eyes, but Shara didn't care in the slightest, even if the other bystanders shot confused looks at them.
[Octomburg's outskirts]
Drake walked around on the surface surrounding the city, searching for a good river or an area with fast wind speeds, but everything he had done just ended with the same result. Even at higher altitudes, the wind speeds just weren't enough to constantly feed a wind turbine.
"Could it be because it's summer...?" Drake asked to himself while looking at the little data pad that Bruce had given him, containing its studies about the environment around the city.
"I guess wind power isn't it then" he continued, scratching his head with a pen. Of course, he wasn't alone, since Otome was looking for something not too far away from him, but it seemed that she didn't have any luck as well.
"Come on, it's a forest... There must be a good river or something" Drake complained, but no matter how hard they searched, the few streams they found just weren't strong enough to build a water turbine in. Another thing they had to scratch out for now.
"Doesn't seem like geothermal's an option either... What do you say, Bruce?" Drake asked, pressing a button on the data pad to communicate with his helped.
"Unfortunately, it does not seem possible, sir. I have calculated the depth and movement of the tectonic plates below us, and it would simply take too long to consider it a viable option" Bruce replied through the speaker on the device.
"Well, shit... Another thing to scratch out. Nuclear isn't even an option either, so I guess we're just left with solar energy for now. Or at least that's what Bruce considers to be the best option" Drake thought to himself before being reminded about the zapfish.
"Oh, right. I told that Hiaku guy I would study them later. Maybe I'll find a better use for them" he kept thinking, but just then, a certain voice pulled him out of his own head.
Turning around, he saw Otome running up to him, lifting her goggles and showing her beautiful green eyes.
"Tell me you found something, please" Drake pleaded, but Otome just sighed and shook her head in denial.
Upon that, Drake let out a frustrated grumble, but quickly put on a slight smile afterwards.
"Well, at least it looks like there's only one good option left" he said, which made the girl in front of him lift her gaze back up.
"And which one is it?" Otome asked, a little curious about the human's choice.
"Seeming like there isn't any other viable option, I've decided to go for solar power to feed at least part of the city" Drake replied, but of course, the octoling didn't know what he was referring to.
"Sorry to ask but... With solar power you mean like... The sun? How are we going to use the energy of a star that's light years away from us?" Otome asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion, to which Drake just giggled at her response.
"We don't have to go all the way there to get what we need, we just need to use its light" he explained, but this only gave the lieutenant more questions than answers.
"its light?" she kept questioning, raising an eyebrow.
"Haha, I'll explain it to you once we get back with the engineers" Drake said, walking on his way back to Octomburg and being followed by his octolings friend.
And while they were heading back, they didn't notice that there was a third person following them from not too far, seemingly reporting something to someone.
Otome turned around upon feeling like she was being watched, forcing the shadowy figure to hide behind a tree. Seeing nothing as she turned around, more than feeling reassured, Otome just got a bad feeling about it, squinting at the trees to focus better on them, but then, Drake called to her, making her walk away once again.
After making sure they haven't been spotted, the figure peeked out of the tree, focusing on the ancient one walking along the lieutenant before taking their fingers to their goggles and taking a picture of them. The figure then disappeared between the bushes afterwards.
Back at the power plant, Drake didn't take long to start explaining his idea of using solar power to feed a part of the city, of course using Bruce's help to explain the more complicated parts. The engineers found themselves intrigued by this seemingly new way of generating energy, even the chief was attentively listening to the human.
After finishing his explanation, he would've started creating the blueprints for the solar panels, the energy storage system, the resources he would need, and the zones were they would be placed. But there was one little problem that Drake hadn't considered until now. He didn't know how to write in inklish, and even worse, the octarian's dialect seemed to be different than that of the inklings, which made things harder for him.
Now sitting at a desk and tapping a pencil's tip against it, he was completely stumped while staring at the schematic Bruce was projecting onto an empty blueprint. After about fifteen minutes later, the human still hadn't even moved a muscle.
"Sir, I know you are not in a hurry, but I remind you that you should drawing the blueprints for the octarians, just trace over the projection" Bruce finally broke the silence, noticing the human's anxiousness.
"I know, it's just... How are they going to understand what I wrote if they don't know our language?" Drake argued, looking up at the ball-shaped robot.
"No need to worry about that, sir. I can translate our language for-..." Bruce tried to explain, but he was quickly interrupted by Drake.
"Their written language isn't the same as the inklings'" he said, looking back down at the projection on the empty blueprint.
Upon hearing that, Drake's robotic helped stood silent for a moment. Only to follow up with an expected response a moment later.
"I could analyze the octarians' written language and add it to my data base so you could-..." it tried to argue, but once again, it was interrupted by the human.
"And how long will that take, Bruce? We're not even done with the inklings, we just know the basics of their written language... Speaking it was one thing, writing it is a whole other deal" he kept arguing, scratching his head with the pencil while trying to find a solution for his dilemma.
"What do you suggest then, sir?" Bruce asked, shutting off its projector and moving in front of the human.
"I don't know..." Drake said, sighing in defeat. But then, a voice made him turn around, and peeking outside the cabin's door, he saw Otome, seemingly saying something important to him.
Noticing that he couldn't understand her, he quickly took his translator patch out of his pocket and put it on.
"Sorry, could you repeat that?" Drake asked while the octolings walked into the cabin, closing the door behind her.
"The chief Tane asked if you could show him and his workers one of the blueprints you've made" Otome said, trying to take a peek at whatever the human was drawing, only for Drake to constantly move in front of her to prevent her from seeing that he had made absolutely nothing.
"Yeah, well... About that..." Drake tried to find something to persuade her. But with one swift move, the lieutenant moved past the human with a playful smile, only for it to vanish in an instant upon seeing the empty blueprints.
"I... Assume you've already finished, right?" Otome asked, hoping for Drake to take out the already finished blueprints.
The human just kept thinking of a way out of this, but upon seeing Otome's pleading eyes, he couldn't fide the truth any longer.
"I... Haven't even started..." he confessed, looking away in shame.
"B-but why!? You seemed really eager to show this thing to us" Otome said, a bit worried that he had caught up with Octavio's plans.
"I mean, yeah, but... I realized that you octarians don't have the same dialect at the inklings, and I didn't want to give you blueprints with stuff you couldn't understand" Drake said, which made the lieutenant feel relieved, since she had a solution for that.
"Oh, why didn't you tell me before? I know a bit of the inkling's language, and I think the chief does too" Otome said, placing her hands on her hips and giving Drake a smirk.
Upon hearing those words, Drake's eyes widened in surprise.
"Really!? You think you can translate it for me!?" Drake asked, grabbing Otome by her shoulders and getting dangerously close to her, taking her by surprise and making her blush.
"Y-yeah... You could ask me or the chief if you want" she suggested, looking away while a nervous smile showed up on her face.
"Thank you, Otome. You don't know how much this means to-..." Drake interrupted himself upon noticing how flustered the octolings was, and with a smug grin, he thought of a prank to play on her.
"Otome, look..." Drake said while making his move, and when Otome looked back at him, she was met by Drake being even closer to her, to the point where their noses were touching each other, not to mention that Drake was giving her an almost predatory look.
As he expected, the lieutenant's entire face took a deep crimson shade, her breath turned ragged and her eyes were darting all over the place, her mouth slowly opened itself as if wanting to say something, but the only thing coming out of her were nonsensical babbles.
After a short moment, the girl let out a yelp that could be heard even from outside the cabin, followed by turning around and covering her face.
On the other hand, Drake was laughing his ass off in his chair with his hands on his belly. And upon hearing the human's laughter, Otome's flustered expression instantly changed to an absolutely upset one, lowering her hands and making a fist.
The only thing heard afterwards from outside the cabin was a loud thud that quickly silenced Drake's laughter.
"Tell me when you finish those blueprints..." Otome said before heading out of the cabin and leaving the door open, and as it slowly closed itself, a kneeling Drake was seen on the floor, holding his stomach in pain.
He didn't say anything to Otome, he just coughed as he gasped for air before the door finally closed.
Now with the translation problem fixed, Drake had finally started to draw the blueprints Bruce was projecting onto the desk, he also asked it to remind him to never play another prank on the lieutenant.
He took longer than he expected in finishing the blueprints, but he was sure that the engineers would understand what was in them. Even if he wasn't a scientist like his father, or a field engineer of some sort, he was sure that he knew how a solar panel works, but still, he thanked having Bruce there to help him.
"Well, that's most of them done... I just hope Otome isn't upset with me after that prank... Heh, who would've thought a boneless being could punch so hard" Drake commented, looking down at the bruise on his belly.
"My guess is that since they do not possess a bone structure, their bodies can allocate more space for muscles" Bruce said, making the human just roll his eyes.
[Octo Valley Forest]
[5:00 PM]
[Near the excavation zone]
Nary now was completely bored out of her mind while she was still being carried by Shara, who was following Levin and Nayls as they walked through the forest.
Having stopped trying to make Shara put her down since long ago, Nary just sighed and let her limbs hang down.
"Can you put me down?" she asked in a vane attempt to get back on the ground.
"No" Shara replied dryly, chewing on some gum and making a bubble out of it.
"I can't feel my legs though..." Nary complained.
"How can we be sure that you won't try to run off again?" Levin asked, walking up to Shara's side to look at his orange-tentacled friend.
"I swear I won't. I already know I can't escape from you..." Nary said, pouting and crossing her arms.
"Hmm... Are you sure you won't try anything to get away from us?" Levin asked.
"Yes, I am" Nary answered with a deadpan expression.
"Are you really sure?" Levin asked once again.
"Yes!" Nary slightly raised the tone of her voice.
"Really, really sure?" Levin kept insisting.
"Yes!" Nary said, already getting fed up with her friend's attitude.
"Absolutely and completely sure?" Nayls chimed in.
"WOULD YOU JUST PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN!?" Nary yelled while shaking her arms and legs, to which both Levin and Nayls took a step back, looked at each other and sighed.
"Alright, Shara... You can put her down now" Levin said. The dark-skinned inkling just rolled her eyes and stopped walking before simply dropping Nary onto the ground.
Getting back on her feet, she did some stretches and sighed with relief.
"Thanks, but that doesn't mean I'm not mad at you!" Nary said, crossing her arms and giving everyone the cold shoulder.
"Oh, come on, Nary... Why don't you want us to go to Drake's vault? Are you two on bad terms or something?" Levin asked with his hands on his hips.
"Oh, I know! She's probably still embarrassed about yester-... day..." Nayls tried to tease Nary, but seeing how she was reaching for her slipper with malicious intent, he just shut his mouth and gave her a nervous smile.
"Anyways, we're almost there, so let's keep going" Levin finished, getting back with his friends on their walk through the forest, though Nary hanged back with her arms crossed and an upset face that looked kind of cute.
It didn't take more than half an hour for everyone to reach the mouth of the cave, looking just like it did when they first arrived.
As they descended into the cave, they kept an eye on their surroundings just in case. But then they realized that none of them had brought a weapon, so they had to make do with the hand-to-hand combat they've been taught.
They cautiously walked up to the vault's door, looking everywhere around them, but they seemingly found nothing, or so they thought.
Levin, Shara, and Nayls were dumbfounded while staring at the giant door before them, now knowing that this would be the first time they would enter Drake's vault, but they quickly came back to their senses when Nary called to them.
"Guys, are you coming in or what?" she said as she stood in front of the hole in the door.
The three friends glanced at each other before walking up to Nary, who had already gone inside.
Once inside, everyone but Nary was constantly looking around, seeing just how big the place was, and being marveled at the vehicles and other human relics from the past.
"This place is crumbling to dust!" Nayls broke the silence.
"Agreed" Shara added.
"Oh, come on, guys, it's not that bad" Nary argued, giving her friends a disapproving look.
"Huh...? Oh, no, it's not that. I mean this place is literally crumbling to dust, look" Nayls explained before stomping the floor and raising a cloud of dust.
"Oh, well... Drake was always more focused on fixing up this place than he was on cleaning it... Actually, I don't think I've ever seen him cleaning up" Nary said, muttering that last sentence to herself with a bit of disappointment.
"Let's search for the big guy then, if he's here, he'll surely be somewhere in this place" Levin said while everyone else followed him deeper into the vault.
"You'll be better off with me as your guide. I've been here for two whole weeks, so just stay glued to my back" Nary said with an arrogant look on her face, pointing at herself with her thumb.
But the moment she took a step forward, the memory of Drake at her secret place fell on her like an anvil to the head, freezing her in place.
Upon seeing that, the three friends tilted her head to the side as they stared at Nary, until Shara cleared her throat to make her come back to her senses.
"Huh? Oh, right... O-over here" Nary said, trying to regain her arrogant attitude from earlier.
As expected, the two siblings and Levin were curiously looking around, noticing the several crates and other objects littering the place, as well as the cryogenic pods, which made them think about whatever happened to the others like Drake.
Until they reached a dining hall that could once fit a really big amount of people, though now it was completely empty.
"Looks like he's not here... Come on, maybe he's somewhere else" Nary said, turning around and taking another path, but just then, Levin heard a strange noise somewhere, stopping for a moment and focusing on his surroundings.
But upon not hearing anything else, he just scratched his head in confusion.
"Is my mind messing with me?" he asked to himself, before being called by one of the two siblings.
"Levin, you coming?" Shara asked, catching her team leader by surprise.
"Ah, right... Sorry" he said before walking up to Shara and going on their way to search for the human.
And as they walked away, they didn't notice that an octoling had hidden amongst the shadows. And once the two were out of sight, she came out of hiding and exited the facility.
After going out of the dining hall, Nary guided everyone to the dorms where she and Otome had spent the nights in, though now they looked desolate since there was nobody in them.
But Nary was more focused on how Drake would react upon seeing her, well knowing what happened the other day, but she was more than determined to win over the human's heart, and getting all flustered wouldn't help her achieve her goal.
"D-Drake?" She called, opening the door to his room.
But upon not receiving any answer from him, Nary flicked up the light switch and turned the lights on, but just like the cafeteria, the room was completely empty.
"Soo... This is Drake's room, right?" Levin asked as he looked around the room, which despite being dimly lit, the contents of it were still quite visible.
"Hey! this one's open too!" Nayls exclaimed, looking into the room in front of Drake's along with Shara.
Upon turning around, Nary instantly recognized the room and smiled.
"Oh, this is the room Drake gave me and Otome to spend the nights in" she said, walking into the room and remembering the many times she had argued with the octoling, whether it be because she wanted the top bed, for being too noisy, kicking the other's shoes under the bunk bed, and so on.
But while still in her memories, her face turned bright red upon remembering the many times she had snuck out in the dead of the night and into the human's room, which didn't go unnoticed by Shara, who smirked and walked up to Nary, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"So you slept right in front of a man's room, huh?" she asked with a mischievous tone.
"Huh...? Y-yeah, why?" Nary returned the question, already regretting having done so.
"And you didn't sneak into it? Not even once?" Shara asked once again, feigning amazement for having missed such an 'opportunity'.
And upon hearing that, Nary's face turned a deeper shade of red, not because of the question itself, but because she had done it way more than just one time.
"O-of course not! Who do you take me for!?" Nary blatantly lied, clenching her fists while trying to hide her embarrassment, to which Shara just giggled, seeing right through her.
"Hehe, just asking. If I were in your place, I could've talking this little opportunity because... Well, he's a male ancient one, isn't he? Don't you feel a little 'curious' about him?" She insisted, giving Nary a playful nudge.
"W-well... Maybe just a little. But not in the way you're thinking! And besides... What would Levin think if he heard you talking about other men behind his back? I know you secretly like him" Nary countered, leaning forwards and slightly pushing Shara with her finger.
"What? Me? Like him? Pffft... First of all, he's a good friend and all, but I don't like him that way. And second of all, even a brick would be more entertaining than him" Shara argued, trying her best to stay cool, but her slight blushing gave her true feelings away.
"So you wouldn't mind if I asked him directly, right?" Nary said while walking up to Levin, who was scolding Nayls for having climbed on top of the bunk bed.
But right as she was about to place a hand on his shoulder, Shara pulled her back to where she previously was, getting an arrogant smile out of her.
"Ha! I knew it!" she whispered, to which Shara just sighed and returned to her usual laid-back attitude.
"Alright, you win... I'll stop teasing you if you just shut your mouth" Shara tried to negotiate, looking away still having a slight blush on her.
"Deal. Alright, guys! Since Drake isn't here, we're better off searching somewhere else!" She shouted so the other two guys could hear her.
Turning around, Nary walked out of the room, being followed by Shara, Levin, and lastly, Nayls, who almost tripped over as he was catching up with the rest.
After some more time searching for the human, the only place Nary hadn't searched in yet was the lab, this place being the one she had seen Drake many times trying to call for someone in his native tongue, or at least that's what she thought.
The four friends walked down the hallway leading to the lab, but upon opening its doors, they found it just like every other place they searched.
The lab was completely empty, with the only thing in the room being the many tools and instruments the ancient scientists used, as well as other things that they didn't recognize.
"Wow, look at this... If the researchers in Inkopolis saw this, it would knock their tentacles off" Nayls commented, approaching one of the machines and reaching for one of the buttons, only for Shara to slap his hand away.
"Drake didn't tell us he was into this science stuff" Levin said, taking one of the test tubes and looking inside with curiosity.
"I don't think he is. I mean, he's smart and all, but I think he's more of a fighter than a nerd. And besides, he isn't too fond of the researchers in our city" Nary remarked, remembering her first meeting with him.
But then her face turned bright red upon remembering the time he showed up topless in front of her, his toned torso and big arms completely exposed for everyone to see, and it wasn't until Levin snapped his fingers in front of her that she came back to reality, also realizing that she was drooling with a dumb smile on her face.
"S-sorry! I got a bit distracted... Hey, what's that!?" Nary quickly pointed to a half-opened locker, trying to get the attention off from her.
Approaching the locker and looking inside, she was surprised to see her splattershot and ink tank inside of it.
"Hey, guys! I found it!" she exclaimed while holding the gun and checking for any damage on it.
"Well, I guess we can leave now, right?" Shara asked.
"Yeah, but... What about Drake?" Nary argued.
"It's obvious that he's not here, he's probably out there with the octarians doing cod knows what. Maybe we could visit him some other day" Levin suggested before walking up to the lab's doors and making a sign for everyone to follow him.
The two siblings didn't argue and just followed Levin, leaving the lab along with him.
On the other hand, Nary was still debating whether she should feel relieved knowing the human wasn't home, disappointed for the same reason, or jealous, realizing Otome had him all for herself now.
After a deep sigh, she strapped the ink tank to her back and walked out of the lab with her splattershot in hand, keeping in mind that Otome wouldn't have it so easy, thinking about the moment her bond with Drake almost went beyond just friendship... Even if it was just her being delusional.
Looking back to the locker, it came to her mind that the human would later arrive and see that someone rummaged through his stuff and taken Nary's belongings while he wasn't there.
In view of that, the inkling returned to the desk where a bunch of scientific instruments were placed, searching for a pen and paper without a care for how messy she would leave the place.
"Nary!" Levin called from the hallway, making her look back for a second.
"One second!" she said while hastily searching for the items she wanted, until she finally found a piece of paper and a pen with ink that hadn't dried off.
It didn't take long for her to write a quick note on the paper, but she took her time to make a cute little drawing on it before placing it in the locker.
Nary giggled a little upon seeing the note with the drawing she had left.
"Nary, we're leaving without you if you don't come here!" Levin said with a mildly upset tone, before the distant sound of footsteps was heard from the hallway.
"Wait for me!" Nary yelled while running up to the group, the lab's door slowly closing behind her once she left.
After some time, the group had finally made it to the vault's door, being led by Nary through the bunker once again.
"Seriously, what took you so long back there?" Nayls asked, curious about what Nary was doing.
"I didn't take THAT long, and I was just leaving Drake a note to let him know we were here" she replied.
"Can he even understand what you wrote there though?" Levin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't think so, but maybe Bruce can" Nary said with a smile.
"Bruce?" Shara looked up from her phone to look at Nary.
"You know, the little robot that follows Drake around everywhere" she said, giggling at her friends for having already forgotten about the human's little helper.
But as they were approaching the mouth of the cave, they saw someone standing right below it, to which the four friends instinctively hid behind some crates and peeked out to see who it was. Taking a better look at them, they saw that it wasn't just one figure blocking the exit, it was several of them. A whole group of octolings seemed to be gathering outside the cave and were discussing something.
And the one who caught the agents' attention was none other than Reinek, who didn't seem to be happy about his soldiers' reports.
"So, did you find it?" The officer asked, staring down at every soldier under his command.
"We couldn't find anything, sir. This place is like a labyrinth, and the written signs don't say anything about weapons or anything like that" said one of them, to which Reinek just rubbed his eyes in frustration.
"Did you make sure to translate the ancient one's language?" he asked.
"Yes, sir. The only things we've found so far were: 'Entertainment zone', 'Dining hall', 'Restrooms', 'Supplies', and 'Engineering post'. But nothing about a weapon's deposit or anything of that sort" Answered another soldier while reading a little notepad they were carrying.
"Weapons? What are they talking about?" Levin whispered, looking to his friends for answers.
"Maybe they're making a new one" Nayls guessed, briefly glancing at his friends before returning to look at the octarians.
"Yeah, but... Why would they search for a new weapon here?" Shara asked, not too convinced about Nayls' guess.
"Unless..." Nary muttered while deep in thought, only for her eyes to widen in shock upon remembering her first encounter with Drake, who was using a strange weapon that shot projectiles way too fast to follow with her eyes, and could easily break the concrete at her feet, not to mention the weird blinding bombs that he had used against her and Otome.
And that was just one weapon, who knows if there were more like those hidden in the vault, and what the octarians would do if they got their hands on them.
Reinek and the other octolings turned to the cave as they heard Nary's gasp, her friends now all covering her mouth upon realizing what she did.
The officer took a step forward and raised his hand, but just as he was about to give the order to his soldiers to search the area, he was called by another octoling running up to him.
"Captain Reinek, sir...! We've got a problem!" the girl warned, turning out to be the same one who saw the four friends at the dining hall earlier.
"What's the issue, scout? And why did you take so long to get back to us?" Reinek asked, glaring at the octoling while she panted and tried to recover some energy.
"I'm sorry, sir...! I-I got lost, this place is... Way bigger than it looks, and... We've got inklings!" she said, catching everyone present by surprise, including the inklings hidden behind the crates.
"What? Inklings? Here?" Reinek kept questioning the octoling.
"Yes, sir. I saw them at the dining hall while searching for... The ancient one's weapons... I saw four of them" she replied, catching her breath.
"Did they see you?" Reinek asked again with a threatening tone, worried about the scout having possibly blown their cover.
"N-no, they didn't. I managed to hide before they saw me, I then saw them walk away and that's when I tried to come back to you" she sheepishly said, raising her hands in front of her.
Reinek stared down at the scout for a moment before turning to his other soldiers, who were now awaiting for an order.
"What do you say, sir? Should we find them and splat 'em?" suggested one of the soldiers.
"Hmm... Out best option would be to leave no witnesses, but since they didn't see us, it would be a waste of time and ink to go after them, and we still haven't found the ancient one's weapons" Reinek explained while holding his chin.
"Oh, speaking of... On the way here I found a set of stairs that went down, and when I followed them, I found a sealed door, with the only thing next to it being some sort of scanner. I tried to open it but it didn't even budge, and the sign above it was completely covered in rust, there were only three letter I could make out, I think... I think it said something like 'Arm-'" The scout explained.
"'Arm-'? Are you sure about that?" Reinek asked, approaching the octoling once again.
"I-I don't know, I may have translated it wrong" she said, trying not to stutter before her superior.
"Hmmm... 'Arm-', 'Arm-', 'Arm-'..." the officer repeated to himself while pacing back and forth, thinking on what it could mean, not even caring about his soldiers looking at him with confusion. Even the four inklings were wondering what he was doing.
Until he suddenly stopped, turning to the scout once again.
"You said you could only make out the letters 'Ars-', and the rest of the word was covered in rust, right?" he asked, eagerly waiting for the scout's answer.
"Yes, sir. What are you trying to say?" the scout asked curiously.
The officer gave no answer and just grinned with malice before letting out a chuckle.
"Time to go, soldiers. We may not have the weapons, but we're leaving with valuable info" Reinek finished while giving a sign to dismiss everyone present, to which they left the cave as quick as they could.
And the octolings in command would've done the same, if he hadn't remembered that noise he heard earlier. So looking down the cave, he slowly approached the crates the inklings were hiding in.
Meanwhile, the tension in the group was slowly increasing, the last thing they needed now was the officer himself coming to investigate their hiding spot. If he found them, they were more than sure that a fight would break out.
"Oh crab! He's coming over here!" Levin whispered.
His words didn't help the situation at all, only causing more panic on Nary, Shara and Nayls.
"What do we do now!?" Nary asked.
"Maybe we could jump him all at once" Shara suggested, but the blue tentacled inkling instantly stopped her.
"Not without making noise and possibly alerting the rest of 'em" Levin said while peeking out of the crates, only to see Reinek still approaching them.
"I say we take them all down as well!" Nayls added.
"With what weapons, you idiot!? The only one armed here is Nary, and she can't take them all at once" Levin continued, trying to think of a plan to get out of there.
"We don't have any other option, if we don't move he'll discover us... At least trying to jump him will lessen our chances to end up as a puddle of ink, so... Get ready, and Nary... We're counting on you if this goes south" Levin finished while turning to the rest of his friends, who hesitantly nodded in response.
Reinek slowly got closer and closer to the agents' hiding spot, drawing his octoshot and cautiously walking up to the crates while aiming at them.
The inklings on the other hand, were getting ready to jump at the octoling, and Nary also got ready to use her splattershot if needed.
At this point, the officer was now almost at the other side, getting ready to jump over the crates and shoot at whoever was behind them.
And so, the five cephalopods made their move. Reinek jumping over the crates and aiming at where the agents would be, but he was surprised to see that there was nothing but a little slug on the floor.
Reinek slowly lowered his weapon and sighed in both relief and frustration upon finding nothing to shoot at. He then holstered his weapon once again and walked outside the cave.
The agents on the other hand, had hidden in a small space between the crates in their squid form, holding each other tightly to take less space while trembling in fear like jelly.
Peeking from the small space, Levin saw how Reinek finally left the cave and went out of sight. Upon seeing that, he and the rest of his friends came out of hiding and took their humanoid form once again, sighing in relief.
"I thought... I thought we were done for!" Levin said, still shaken up.
"My hearts...! I think they're about to explode!" Nary commented, taking her hands to her chest.
"I guess we have to thank my brother right here... His coward ass saved us all" Shara said.
"I'm not a coward...! I just thought of that at the last second!" Nayls said with an upset tone.
"Alright, that's enough... In any case, if Nayls hadn't turned into a squid, that octolings would've found us!" Levin said, now having calmed down a little.
"We still have a big problem in our hands though" Shara said.
"Yeah, we better tell the captain and the Squid Sisters about the octarians' plans!" Nayls chimed in.
"Wait, don't you think we better tell Drake first?" Nary suggested.
"Drake isn't here though, which means he's still at Otome's city" Nayls continued.
"For once, Nayls is right. We can't tell the big guy without risking being splatted by an octarian on sight" Levin said, turning around and waiting for everyone to follow him outside the cave.
"Speaking of... Do you think Otome... Knows about this?" Shara asked, everyone looking down to think of the possibility of her being involved in the octarians' evil schemes, thought they wished it wasn't like that, since she had proved to them that she wasn't a bad person, just misguided, and they also considered her a friend, even Nary, who had a little 'rivalry' with her.
"We don't have to think about that now, we have to get to Inkopolis first. Callie, Marie, and the captain will know what to do. Come on, let's go!" Levin said, everyone following him into the light.
Nary just stood in place for a moment, thinking about whatever the human was doing in Octomburg. She took a hand to her chest and clutched her shirt, praying for the human's safety.
After that, the orange tentacled inkling lifted her head and quickly ran up to her friends to catch up with them.