[Excavation zone]
[Drake's POV]
Ok, now I don't know how I ended up in this situation.
Right now I'm in some kind of cave, I think. Right in the middle of what appears to be a heated argument between the two girls that kept chasing after me tirelessly, another four along with them, and what appeared to be another group of those girls, difference being that they had some odd clothes, as well as some strange goggles. Another thing was that their... Tentacles? They were different than the other group.
On the other hand, I was right between them while they argued, not knowing if they should point at me or the other group. And judging by the tone of their voices, things were looking kinda rough, So I opted for remembering how I ended up here.
[Inkopolis]
[Two hours ago]
[Drake's POV]
I didn't know how to react, the blanket that was previously my only piece of clothing was now on the floor.
One of the two girls that were after me, passed out, while the other was completely red in the face and couldn't take her sight away from my... Manhood.
And not only that, but the crowd behind them was also petrified, especially the girls, who were noticeably blushing, others had passed out like the white tentacled one, and I think I saw one of them drooling.
And this scene would've dragged on for even longer, if it wasn't for the black tentacled broke the silence with a scream.
You don't even need to know their language to realize that scream sounded something like "KYAAAH!" despite the gurgle in their voices.
Meanwhile, I saw this as my opportunity to escape from them.
So I quickly wrapped the blanket around my waist, pulling it tighter so it didn't fall again, and looking everywhere, I saw a not-so-tall building with a lot of pipes I could climb on, without a doubt I ran towards it and with a good leap, I grabbed a pipe and started climbing.
[POV: Third person]
It only took a couple seconds for Callie to give herself in to the curiosity and slowly open her eyes, only to see that the human was no longer there, which startled her in response.
"He's gone again!" she exclaimed while she turned to look at her passed out cousin. She immediately followed by trying to wake her up.
"Marie wake up! He's escaped again" exclaimed the black tentacled idol while shaking her cousin, who for some reason was blushing up to her nose, as well as having a dumb smile on her face, and drooling slightly through the corner of her mouth.
"hehe, don't be so rough..." babbled Marie in her dreams, making her cousin desperate.
"WAKE UP!" ended up yelling Callie, before smacking her in the face, Marie woke up jumping out of Callie's hands and taking on a sitting position.
"Big and hard!" exclaimed Marie the moment she woke up, while Callie just stared at her.
"You forget everything I've said and I'll buy you a whole bucket of fries" proposed Marie once she noticed what she had said, not even turning to look at her cousin.
"Deal" replied Callie smiling, helping Marie get back up on her feet.
"By the way, where is he now? Did they already take him away?" asked Marie, seeing as the human was nowhere to be seen.
"Well... Something like that..." replied Callie rubbing the back of her head and giving her a nervous smile.
"He escaped didn't he...?" asked Marie once again, looking at her cousin with her eyes half closed, as if she already knew what Callie was about to say.
"Pfft... What? Of course not... You see, what happened was..." Callie tried to explain, but as soon as she looked at her cousin, only to see that her expression was telling her "You suck at lying" making her give up as she tried to keep up the lie.
"He escaped..." said Callie with her head and arms hanging low, while Marie just let out a sigh of frustration with a hand on her face.
"We gotta find him, and quickly" said Marie looking around searching for the human.
"I know, I'm no dummy" replied Callie before doing the same thing as her cousin.
"You said it, not me" said Marie in a mocking tone, her relative turning to glare at her in response.
"Hey, he's over there!" suddenly yelled Nary while pointing towards a nearby building, making the Squid Sisters and everyone else look in that direction.
And sure enough, there was the human, climbing up the building without much struggle, even a parkour god would be proud if there was one.
"Wow... Seriously, what is he?" asked Callie as she looked at how the human climbed.
"We won't know unless we catch him" said Marie strapping her charger to her back.
"Well yeah, but what are we gonna do with... Them" whispered Callie, referring to the crowd behind them.
"Let them come with us, after all, it would make it easier to surround him" replied Marie in the same manner.
"Always looking for an easy way, aren't you?" commented Callie looking at her white tentacled cousin with half closed eyes, to which she replied with a smirk.
On the other hand, Drake now found himself on top of the building, taking some time to breathe and recover, as well as take a look at his surroundings.
"I knew going up here was a bad idea!" the young human complained to himself, looking for a way out of the city.
He then saw a forest on the outskirts of Inkopolis, not too far from where he was currently standing.
Without giving it a second thought, Drake started jumping from rooftop to rooftop, lucky him that some of them weren't too far apart from each other.
"Where's he going now!?" exclaimed Marie, almost losing track of him.
"Don't know, but if I remember correctly, Octo Valley Forest is that way!" replied Callie also trying to keep her sight on the ancient one.
"I got an idea! why don't we separate and then surround him before he gets there?" proposed the lime green Squid Sister, now panting while trying to keep up.
"Good idea!" replied her cousin, giving her a confident smile, although she didn't realize that they had already lost sight of the human.
"Callie, we lost him!" exclaimed Marie trying to find where he went.
"Don't worry, we already know where he's headed!" replied Callie with a somber grin, showing her fangs.
Drake jumped to one last building before falling to his knees and taking a minute to catch his breath. Running, jumping, and climbing around was truly exhaustive for him.
But he was way too close to his goal to give up now.
"Just a bit more" he encouraged himself before he went back to jumping around buildings.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" exclaimed Drake as he saw that he had run out of buildings to jump to, either being too far away or too tall to climb safely.
"No other option but going down..." said Drake looking for a way to climb down, sliding down a nearby pipe while making sure no one followed him.
"At least I lost those two maniacs" continued the human before reaching the ground.
Looking everywhere and making sure nobody saw him, to Drake's luck, there didn't seem to be anyone on the streets or other nearby places.
"Nice" he whispered before making a run towards the city's outskirts.
But before he could get too far, a crowd of inklings showed themselves from the rooftops and didn't take long to open fire on him, making Drake reprimand himself for falling into their trap, while taking cover behind a mailbox.
But without him realizing, a great number of inklings led by Marie came in from his right side.
At the same time, another crowd composed of SquidFire, some guards and led by Callie arrived from his left side.
"Fuck, so that's why the streets were empty!" exclaimed Drake, trying to think of how to get out of there, since he was getting surrounded once more.
Nevertheless, just as Callie and Marie had almost got to him, luck finally got on his side for the first time in the whole day.
Right below where he was taking cover, there was a manhole cover, ready to give him a way out of there.
Drake didn't even give it a second thought before lifting it.
And truth is that the mostly naked human thought the lid would be incredibly heavy, but it turned out to be quite light, reason why he could lift it without too much effort. And before the Squid Sisters captured him, Drake let himself fall into the sewers, not before taking some shots from nearby and drawing one last message on the mailbox with his finger.
The two famous cousins cautiously approached the place where the human had taken cover, which was completely covered in ink of various colors.
But the moment the both of them went behind the mailbox and aimed their weapons, the only thing they found was... Nothing.
The both of them were very confused, they had him surrounded and there was no way out, there was no way he could've just vanished like that.
"Wha-...? Where...? H-how...?" asked Callie in disbelief.
"Uhh... Callie?" called Marie while pointing at the mailbox before they both saw a smiley face sticking out its tongue drawn on it.
After Callie saw it, she frowned and closed her eyes shut, and gave a forced smile.
"Not only did he escape again, but he also has the nerve to taunt us like that..." said Callie making a fist.
But despite that, it didn't take long for Marie to see the manhole from which Drake had escaped.
"Callie, he must've gone through here" announced Marie while she struggled to open the manhole cover.
"W-wait, you're not asking me to go in there, right?" asked Callie visibly grossed out.
"It's okay, I won't ask you, you'll just have to do it anyway" said Marie feeling the same way.
"O-okay, but I don't want our fans to see us enter the sewers, who knows what they might think of it" advised the purple Squid Sister, while turning back to look at the crowd of inklings behind the duo, who were wondering what was going on.
"Well, think of something then" said the white tentacled idol.
"Me!? Why don't you do it!?" argued Callie crossing her arms.
"Callie, you know I'm not good at lying" said Marie staring at her cousin.
"Come on think of something before they realize what we're about to do" continued the same squid girl, looking at some inklings that were approaching them.
"Listen everyone! We the Squid Sisters have released a new album now available in all stores, and that's not all, the first inkling to buy it will also get... Umm... Also get... Oh, Marie's splat charger!" exclaimed Callie while the white tentacled idol was left with her jaw on the floor.
And as soon as Callie ended her 'announcement,' everyone in the crows and even the guards ran away like a horde, racing each other to be the first to buy said 'album.'
Except for four inklings who turned out to be SquidFire, them being the only ones who didn't buy that lie.
Well, three of them. Shara was holding onto her younger brother to stop him from going along with the crowd.
"Nayls stay put!" Shara scolded her brother as he kept trying to run away.
"Let me go Shara! I have to be the first to buy that album!" yelled Nayls, still trying to get her sister to let go.
"There's no album, Nayls, they only said that to get us out of here" said Levin who was standing next to them.
"Have you lost your mind!? I'm not going to give away my charger!" exclaimed Marie, holding tight onto her weapon.
"Relax, we haven't done such a thing" replied the hyperactive squid girl, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well you better keep your word, or else..." Marie warned her, jumping into the manhole without finishing her sentence.
"Of course I will, tell me, when have I ever lied to you?" asked Callie as she also went down the manhole and grabbed its cover.
"Do I have to answer that...?" asked Marie, clearly knowing the answer, to which Callie just sighed and closed the manhole.
Meanwhile SquidFire approached the place where the duo had previously left.
"We're gonna follow them, aren't we?" asked Shara while Nary, Levin and Nayls just smiled in response, Shara only letting out a sigh in response.
[Excavation zone]
[30 minutes after Drake's escape through the sewers]
The octoling group shined their flashlights as they went deeper into the cave, almost reaching the vault's door.
"Dang, those inklings really made such a big hole" commented a member of said group.
"Looks like we've finally arrived" announced Otome, pointing her flashlight at the enormous door.
The octoling group just stood there along with her and admired the giant piece of metal in front of them.
"Get your weapons ready" advised the leader, while getting closer to the opening the scientists had made earlier.
The moment they entered; they saw the same things the scientists did.
Lots of wooden crates of various sizes going as far as the eye could see, as well as several vehicles, both for regular use as well as combat use, to which the private gave an impressed whistle.
"Uhh... How are we taking all of this back?" she asked as she approached one of the crates, almost double the size of hers.
"We'll need more manpower" commented Otome while getting ready to contact emperor Octavio, but the moment she was about to do that...
"Lieutenant! We heard someone approaching!" warned an Octoling that stayed outside to keep watch, while running towards the group.
"DAMN IT! JUST OUR LUCK!" yelled Otome in frustration as she ran towards the opening.
"Come on, we'll let them get close to us, and then we ambush them" continued the octopus girl, being followed by her squad.
"Finally some action!" exclaimed the private with a smirk as she headed outside the vault.
[Inkopolis]
[Sewers]
[Drake's POV]
Right now I'm deeply regretting having chosen this place to escape, the smell is so horrible that it's making me sick, even if I'm covering my nose.
But oh well, what else did I expect from the sewers, at least I didn't have to walk through the sewage since there were platforms on which you could walk.
I had no idea where I was going, so I had to rely on my intuition to make my way to that forest.
So I just kept on walking, turning corners when I thought I should.
But as I did that, I thought I heard footsteps that weren't mine, stopping to focus on the sounds around me to see if my ears weren't playing tricks on me, though I wasn't sure, since the only things I could hear was water dripping and the flow of that reeking sewage.
People always used to tell me that when you walk alone in a place where sound echoes, your ears make you think that there's someone behind you.
But since I couldn't hear anything else, I decided to keep walking.
On the other hand, Callie and Marie were complaining and arguing with each other while they both covered their noses.
"And whose great idea was to follow him through the sewers!?" asked Callie, annoyed, as she followed her cousin, who apparently wasn't in a great mood either.
"Then why did you follow me?" replied Marie without turning to look at her.
"I followed you? You were the one who said I had to!" replied Callie, even more annoyed.
And the two of them would've kept arguing if it wasn't for the sound of footsteps behind them, to which they turned around, but since they couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary, they just went back to arguing, but before one of them could say anything, the sound of footsteps was heard once again, as well as a voice approaching.
The duo looked at each other and nodded, followed by both of them shooting at the sewer's ceiling and jumping towards the ink they left taking on their squid forms, hiding in it.
Both Inklings waited until whoever they heard got close to them, but the closer they got, they realized that it was more than just one person.
Once they heard the group go past them, surprisingly, they went down and aimed their weapons at the group. They also aimed their weapons at the famous duo in response, not before getting startled first.
But the moment Callie and Marie saw who they were, they instantly lowered their weapons.
"You...? What are you doing here?" Callie asked, realizing that they were none other than the members of SquidFire.
"See? I told you we hadn't lost them" said Levin towards Shara, turning to look at the dark-skinned inkling.
"Answer the question" added Marie in a serious tone, making Levin put his attention back on them.
"Oh right... We came here to help you out" replied the blue tentacled rookie with a smile.
"That's so sweet of you guys, but we don't really need help, besides, shouldn't you be worried about being the first to-" said Callie before being interrupted.
"We already know you lied" said Nary, leaving the two cousins petrified.
"B-but how? We didn't-" tried to reply Marie, but she was also interrupted.
"Because you would've let us know way earlier and in a better place, instead of in the middle of chasing someone" said Levin while the two famous inklings were sweating bullets, desperately trying to think of something.
Drake was already starting to doubt if he was truly alone.
"Wha?" murmured drake, turning back around to look behind him, hearing more footsteps behind him.
Drake stood still for a moment, trying to listen carefully, he even thought to have seen a shadow off in the darkness.
The human then focused on that shadow to try and identify what it was, but to Drake's surprise, said 'shadow' shot a jet of lime green ink that barely missed his head, making Drake scream in shock while leaning his head off to the side, even if the shot had missed him.
And the moment he regained his composure, he heard several footsteps approaching him, the sound of them echoing through the sewer walls.
Drake didn't even think it twice before he started to run away.
And looking behind him as he ran, he saw in terror the Squid Sisters, as well as the SquidFire team chasing after him, causing him to pick up the pace.
"I FUCKING HATE YOUUUUU!" yelled Drake as he kept running, being chased by the inklings once again.
Seeing how Callie and Marie were cornered, they simply sighed in defeat.
"If we tell you to go back, you're just going to follow us anyways, right?" asked Callie, looking at the quartet in front of her.
"Yup" said the four in sync, giving them an innocent smile.
"Alright, we don't have much time anyways, so you'll have to come with us" said Marie begrudgingly.
The moment they heard that, the team got really happy, with Nary and Shara hopping around while Levin and Nayls high fived.
"Come on, we have no time to waste" Callie interrupted them, followed by her and her cousin walking past the group, the four inklings following them shortly after.
After a few minutes of walking, the group seemed to have heard footsteps in front of them several times, but when they stopped to listen carefully, they couldn't hear anything but water dripping and the flow of the sewage.
Until they reached an almost completely dark zone, making the group stick closer together to avoid getting lost.
"Hey, do you guys wonder, what he is?" asked Nayls to break the ice.
"We have no idea what he is, but we're sure of one thing, he's not an inkling" replied Callie, trying to see where she was going.
"We all know that, Callie. Everyone can tell by just looking at him" commented Marie, making her cousin look bad, the same way she always did when they were on the news.
And even though they couldn't see anything, Callie turned to where her white tentacled relative was, glaring at her.
"What if he's an octoling?" now asked Shara, carrying her roller on her shoulders.
"Doubt it, he was too tall to be an octoling, and he also didn't have tentacles, instead he had... Uhh... You know, that think Judd has all over his body" replied Callie.
"And he doesn't speak our language either" added Marie.
"and his body felt... Warm..." whispered Callie, while looking somewhere else with a faint blush on her cheeks, remembering when she was holding onto the human's legs.
"Said something, Callie?" Asked Marie looking towards her, leaning her head.
"N-nothing! Let's just keep going" mumbled Callie, picking up the pace.
But in that moment, the black tentacled inkling had seemed to hear something in front of her, even if she couldn't see exactly what it was.
"Hey, Marie, Come over here" Callie called to her cousin in whispers, making the white tentacled inkling get close to her.
"What's wrong?" asked Marie, standing next to her hyperactive cousin.
"Could you shoot over there?" continued Callie, pointing in front of them.
"But why?" asked Marie, looking where her companion was pointing.
"I think I heard something in front of us" replied Callie.
Marie didn't argue against Callie's proposition and aimed with her charger roughly where Callie was pointing, not caring if she was actually going to hit anything,
And moments later, she pulled the trigger, a jet of lime green ink coming out of the barrel of her weapon, before getting lost in the darkness.
And to everyone's surprise, they all heard Drake's scream of surprise not too far from where they were standing.
"It's him! Quick! Go, go, go, go!" exclaimed Callie instantly as she started to run after him, followed by her cousin and the SquidFire team.
As they started to run. Another scream came out of the same human: "I FUCKING HATE YOUUUUU!"
Once again Drake found himself involved in another chase sequence, him being the prey and the Squid Sisters being the hunters.
He had to dodge their shots several times, both from the cousins as well as the SquidFire team. Fortunately, Drake had to go through a fenced area on one occasion, which luckily for him, had the door open.
Without giving it a second thought, the human went through and closed the door behind him, followed by a smirk, confident in having lost them.
But that smirk quickly vanished from his face, as he saw impressed and somewhat scared, how the inklings took on their squid form and went through the fence effortlessly.
But it was also expected since the inklings were mostly composed of water.
Back on track, now getting tired, Drake saw a door at the end of the tunnel, running as fast as he could towards it in response, getting a little further from the inklings that were chasing after him.
And as he reached the door, without bothering to check if the door was open or not, Drake rammed against it, causing it to burst open, while Drake fell onto the floor for not measuring his strength.
Despite this, Drake recovered as fast as he could, followed by closing the door and blocking it with his body.
Taking a good look at where he currently was, Drake noticed that it was a small room where the workers probably stored their tools, noticing that there were a few shovels, buckets, cement trowels, a chair, and a ladder leading upwards.
Without giving it much thought, Drake grabbed the chair and leaned it against the door to block it. And the moment he placed the chair, the Squid Sisters tried to open it.
Without stopping, Drake looked where the ladders were leading to, only to see a manhole cover, and some light filtering through its holes.
The young human quickly climbed the ladder as he heard the group ramming the door, which made him pick up the pace.
As he reached the top of the ladder, drake pushed the manhole cover out of his way to finally get out of the sewers, only to see that he finally made it out of the city, with the forest being right in front of him.
But remembering who he was fleeing from, he put the cover back in its place and ran towards the forest, hearing how Callie yelled at him from inside the sewers.
"See you never~!" exclaimed drake happily, hearing how Callie was still yelling at him in her language, now with an even angrier tone.
"COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD!" yelled Callie as she struggled to push the manhole out.
"See you never~!" she heard the human say as he was getting further away from them, and even if she couldn't understand what he meant, the way he said it was more than enough for Callie to realize that he was mocking them.
"I SWEAR I WILL FIND YOU, AND THE MOMENT I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I-...!" yelled Callie, seething with rage.
"Callie, calm down" said Marie below her, while Callie grumbled and put a hand on her face.
"Alright, sorry... Marie, could you help me out?" asked the black tentacled idol, making some space for her white tentacled cousin to climb next to her.
Once she got next to her, Both Callie and Marie pushed the manhole cover out of their way, now finally getting out of the sewers, followed by SquidFire.
"Where did he go?" asked Nary, looking everywhere.
"It's obvious he didn't go back into the city, so he must've gone to Octo Valley Forest" replied Marie, turning to look at said forest.
"And what are we waiting for? Let's go after him!" proposed Nayls raising his fist, for the first time in the whole day everyone finally agreeing with him, raising their fists next to his and exclaiming one big "Yeah!."
[Inkling research center]
[One and a half hours after Drake's escape]
Every scientist was running from one side to the other, some giving orders to the guards and other scientists as well.
On the other hand, Binz was sitting on the same stretcher where Drake previously was, in a thinking pose with his fingers intertwined, while there was nothing but chaos around him.
"How long are you just going to sit there!?" asked Jenny, while going through the door with some reports in her hands.
Binz didn't reply, in fact he didn't even move, making Jenny approach him and move him around a little.
"?... !... UNCLE BINZ!" Jenny ended up yelling that last part, making the old inkling finally react.
"Huh? What?" asked Binz as she turned to look at his niece.
"Is there something wrong? I was talking to you?" she asked again, giving him a serious look.
"Sorry... It's just... I was thinking on what went wrong..." replied Binz staring at the floor.
"That's not the issue now, we still have to find a way to locate the ancient one" said Jenny putting a hand on the old scientist's shoulder.
"You're right, no time to cry over spilled milk" accepted Binz, getting down from the stretcher.
"Well said, Uncle" said Jenny, followed by covering her mouth, while Binz turned to give her a serious look.
"Jenny, how many times do I have to tell you that while we're at work, you will refer to me the same way I refer to you, you must refer to me as Doctor or Professor Binz, is it clear?" asked Binz, putting his hands on his back while approaching his niece.
"Yes, Doctor" said Jenny staring at the floor.
"Well, do you know where our... Guest... Might have headed to?" said Binz, staring at his niece.
"Uhh... Yeah, we received some reports of a strange creature attacking some turf war players, another one about some kind of creature jumping through the rooftops, someone being chased by the Squid Sisters and a crowd of inklings, and the last one we got mentioned something coming out of the sewers on the outskirts of Inkopolis and then heading into Octo Valley Forest" Jenny read each report she was carrying on her.
"Looks like our guest has caused quite the commotion" Said Binz putting a hand on his chin to think and turning his back against Jenny.
"Yes, although I don't understand why he opted for going back into the forest, I thought he was a civilized being" said Jenny, looking at how the old man was getting lost in his thoughts.
"I don't know, unless-" and before he could finish his sentence, something clicked in Binz's head, realizing why the ancient one headed towards the forest.
"He's going back to the vault..." whispered Binz.
"Could you repeat that again, Doctor?"
"Quick! Jenny, no time to waste! We must go!" exclaimed Binz, turning around and pushing his niece towards the door.
"B-but where are we going?" asked Jenny once again, not knowing what was going on.
"No time for that, I will explain on the way there" replied Binz taking his niece away, who was completely confused.
[Octo Valley Forest]
[Near the excavation site]
[One hour after getting out of the sewers]
[Drake's POV]
I don't even know where I'm going, I'm starting to think I got lost.
And I won't say: "At least I lost those two maniacs" because I have the feeling that I will encounter them once again.
I kept aimlessly walking for a few minutes, until I finally saw the tracks of what appeared to be the tracks of a crane or excavator, so without giving it much thought I started to follow them and try to see where they led to, I had a good feeling about this for once.
It didn't take more than twenty minutes of following the tracks before I finally saw where they led to, a big cave not too far from what appeared to be the sea.
But just as I was about to enter, I heard what, for me, was the piercing scream of one of those two maniacs, rapidly approaching me, to which I quickly turned around, and of course, there was the dynamic duo heading my way.
Or was it the trio?... Arghh! I don't give a shit if it was the duo, the trio, the quartet or what-fucking-ever!
The issue was that those two maniacs were still chasing after me, along those other four.
So I ran directly into the cave without a care in the world.
The way down was so steep that I almost fell face first onto the floor several time, but once I reached the bottom, I saw many trucks and excavators inside this 'cave.'
But I couldn't just stand there and inspect my surroundings, I could hear my pursuers also going down, so there was no way back for me.
Forcing myself one last time, I headed deeper into the cave through the only way I could go, running right past the trucks and other vehicles.
[POV: third person]
The octoling squad had already taken position to ambush whoever came close to them.
But to their surprise, the only thing that arrived there was none other than Drake, who stopped in his tracks as he saw the vault door.
However, the human could hear his pursuers approaching him from behind, making him turn around to see how close they were to him.
Without doubting it, drake turned back around and ran straight for the door.
"Lieutenant? What is that?" whispered the Private next to Otome.
"Don't know, but he's headed towards the door, so we have to stop them."
And without previous warning, the octoling squad went out of hiding and blocked Drake's path, pointing their octoshots towards him, startling the poor human.
"No... No, no, no, nononono!" exclaimed Drake desperately the moment he saw the octopi girls, followed by turning back and trying to run away, but he didn't get too far before the Squid Sisters and SquidFire finally got to him, blocking his path as well.
"Octarians!" exclaimed Callie and Marie in sync the moment they saw them.
"Inklings!" exclaimed Otome, staring at the recently arrived group.
"I had the feeling this creature was with you, you two-faced octopi!" exclaimed Callie pointing at Otome.
"You won't trick us, that thing's with you, you greedy squids!" countered Otome pointing at Callie.
And so both groups started to argue with each other, while Drake only wished to be swallowed by the earth.
[Present]
[Drake's POV]
Well... That's how I ended up here, with two sides arguing, and me right between them.
"Why do you hate me, God?" I said almost sobbing, letting my arms hang and lifting my face up with a grimace.
But just as I did that, I felt something fall onto my head, which made me open my eyes and see that something had fallen right next to my feet.
I slowly picked it up, and taking a good look at it, I saw that it was a stun grenade.
I looked up again to see where it came from and my best guess was that it rolled off a crate above me. But that didn't matter now, a creepy smile showed up on my face, I had finally found my way to get rid of them.
"I take it back, oh lord almighty" I commented as I cleared my throat.
"Hey! Everyone listen please!" I announced as I waved my hand, making both groups stop arguing and focus on me.
"Now I know none of you can understand what I'm saying..." I began my little speech while everyone looked at me confused.
"But I have something important to say... FLASHBANG!" I yelled that last word, pulling the pin on the stun grenade and throwing it at them, not before throwing myself onto the floor and covering my ears, while I also closed my eyes shut.
[POV: Third Person]
Everyone saw how drake threw the stun grenade, putting their eyes on said object.
Except lieutenant Otome and Nary, who noticed how drake threw himself onto the floor, which made both of them think that something bad was about to happen.
They acted quickly and had no time to warn their companions, Otome and Nary threw themselves onto the floor, covering their ears and closing their eyes shut, in the same fashion as the human.
A blinding light and a deafening sound was heard when the grenade blew up, leaving everyone temporarily blind and deaf, except for the three people mentioned before.
Drake slowly reincorporated, somewhat stunned, while turning to look at both groups, who were completely out of themselves.
But to his surprise, he could see how Nary and Otome also started to stand up, somewhat stunned as well, surprised that both girls had copied his actions. But that was no motive to just stand around, so finally getting back on his feet, he started to run towards the vault.
"H-he's getting away!" exclaimed Nary as she started to chase after Drake.
As soon as the human reached the door and squeezed through the opening the scientists had made, he accidentally cut himself on one of the sharp ends of the hole.
But near said door, Drake had found a panel with a lever in it.
"This will buy me some time" he said to himself as he pulled the lever and went deeper into the vault.
As the lever went down, an alarm was heard, followed by a second door slowly lowering from the ceiling, blocking the first one.
Otome had slowly started to stand up, only to see how another door was about to block the first vault door, and how Nary got into it.
She reincorporated as fast as she could and ran towards the vault as it was closing.
Against all odds, Otome made it in time, dropping down and sliding through the opening with the second door mere centimeters above her.