[Vault]
[Drake's POV]
As I slowly woke up I moved around a little.
The sensation of sleeping on a bed once again was almost divine.
And I would've gone back to sleeping if I hadn't noticed the feeling of me hugging something.
For a moment I thought it was maybe just a pillow or my bed sheet, but once I felt said 'pillow' move, I had to see what it actually was.
And to my absolute surprise, the 'pillow' I was hugging was actually Nary, peacefully sleeping right in front of me, not without mentioning that I was spooning her, with my lips almost touching her head.
I slowly tried to move away from her, but unfortunately for me, she was hugging one of my arms, so I had no other option than to wake her up, even though I knew it would be a bad idea.
"Hey... Umm... Nary..." I said as I put my other hand on one of her shoulders and gently shook her, not getting any response from her.
"Nary, wake up..." I said once again, shaking her some more.
But instead of waking up, she just whimpered a little and hugged my arm tighter, pressing my hand against her... Breasts.
I gulped and blushed a little as I felt the soft pair press against my hand.
And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I saw Bruce standing right in front of the door, just staring at us.
"How long have you been there...?" I asked without any emotion.
"I have just arrived... Am I interrupting something?" Bruce replied before making another question, now making me even more nervous.
"IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!" I yelled while getting red in the face.
But just then I felt the girl finally letting go of my arm and slowly wake up, maybe it was my yelling that woke her up.
[Nary's POV]
I slowly opened my eyes as some yelling made me wake up.
"What's with the noise...?" I asked while rubbing one of my eyes, still sleepy.
With my eyes still half closed, I looked in front of me to see the little floating thing in front of the door, I think Drake called it... Bruce, or something.
So I didn't pay any mind to it and went back to sleep, enjoying the warmth I felt behind me and snuggling close to it as well.
Until I finally realized where I was sleeping, instantly reopening my eyes once more.
I slowly turned to look behind me, only to see that Drake was staring at me.
And then the memories of what happened last night hit me like an anvil to the head, and to make it worse I didn't even return to my room, I just slept in the same bed as him.
I felt my face get redder than a tomato and quickly tried to jump off the bed, only to get caught in the bed sheets and falling on my back onto the floor.
In spite of that, I instantly stood up and apologized again and again for sleeping in his bed without permission, and although I couldn't understand what he was saying to me, I knew that Drake was telling me to calm down.
We kept on going until our eyes finally met, staring at each other for a few seconds and then looked away in embarrassment.
[POV: Third Person]
Both the inkling and the human looked away from each other for a minute, until Bruce finally decided to break the very awkward silence that had filled the room.
"Sir... I... Think it is time for you to leave the bed... I have just finished the first prototype" said Bruce, getting close to the young man.
"O-okay... Just let me get dressed up..." replied Drake still looking away.
"Alright sir, do not be long" said the robot as it left the room, flying past the inkling.
"Umm... Nary?" called Drake, making the girl gasp in surprise when she heard her name.
"Could you leave for a moment...? I have to get dressed up" continued the human, the squid girl leaning her head in response, not understanding what he meant.
"Uhh... Me.. Have to... Dress up" Drake repeated himself, making a gesture like he was taking off his shirt.
Nary seemed to understand now, since she nodded and headed back to the room she was supposed to stay in.
Once she entered her room, she stopped in her tracks and quickly turned around and peek through the door.
She tried to spy on Drake while he was dressing up, but her plans were frustrated right before she could see anything, since the doors of the human's room automatically closed themselves.
The squid girl couldn't do anything but sigh in disappointment, followed by walking towards her bed and taking her sneakers from under it.
But while she was putting them on, she remembered that she had nothing to brush her teeth with, making her somewhat nervous of having a bad breath, and just then, Drake entered Nary's room, with his torso completely exposed, though he had put some pants on, and carried a few things in his right hand.
"Hey... I don't know if your kind brush their teeth... But I brought these things just in case" he said, approaching Nary and giving her a toothbrush and some toothpaste.
The inkling gawked at Drake's half naked body for a moment, while she started to blush.
"Hey..." called Drake shaking his hand in front of her, pulling her out of her trance.
"You're taking these or not?" he continued, offering the toothbrush and toothpaste to her.
Once she saw them, Nary took them with both hands and looked at them for a second, later she gave Drake the iconic radiant smile that characterized inklings.
"Squi'kyou" Nary replied, making Drake turn around to avoid getting a sweetness overload.
Drake initially thought that these small beings were weird and strange, but now that he could look them up close, he realized that they were very... Adorable, as well as their voices, especially the girls'.
"J-just... Don't be long..." he said as he left the room, leaving a confused Nary behind, to which she just shrugged and went into the bathroom.
Now back with Drake.
The human wondered why the inkling sneaked into his room just to sleep on the same bed as him.
He came up with a possible reason, being that she couldn't sleep alone in an unknown place.
"Well, I'll ask her later about that" said Drake, putting on a shirt and leaving his room.
Now outside, the human leaned against a wall as he waited for the orange tentacled girl to finish washing up.
After about 5 minutes, Drake hear the girl say "Squi'cueeur" as she left the room, and walked towards him.
"Come on, follow me" he said giving her a sign, walking down the hallway while being followed by the squid girl.
Now arriving at the lab once again, Bruce was seen working on a little patch that it made on top of a table.
"Yo Bruce, we're here" announced Drake as he approached the robot, followed by Nary, who had to get on her tippy toes to see what it was doing.
"Just in time, sir... I was just giving the N.M.T prototype some finishing touches" said Bruce, putting its focus back on the patch.
"N.M.T?" Drake asked, leaning his head a little.
"Neural. Machine. Translator" replied the robot without looking at him.
"Nice acronym" complimented the human turning to look at Otome, who was still unconscious inside the sphere, he even wondered if she was still breathing for a second.
"Do not worry about her, sir, She is still alive, she is just sleeping" replied Bruce before Drake could ask anything.
"Oh good, for a moment I thought that-..." the robot interrupted Drake before he could finish his sentence.
"It is ready, sir, put it on and try to talk with your... Friend" it announced, turning to look at the human.
"Right, and I have to put it in my...?" asked Drake without finishing his sentence on purpose.
"Your forehead, sir" Bruce finished his sentence, making the human smirk while he grabbed the patch carefully.
"Will this make me speak their language fluently?" he asked, walking towards a nearby chair.
"Well, you will be able to make yourself understood. But remember, this is still a prototype, so I suggest not trying to use complex words" Bruce replied.
"So there's still lots of improvements you can make" Drake commented, staring at the robot.
"Actually, I already thought about that, which is why I installed a self-learning module, the more you talk to them, the more you will understand their language and speak it more fluently" added Bruce.
Drake didn't ask anything else and looked at the patch for a few seconds, then turned to look at Nary, who was tinkering with a test tube.
"Psst, Nary..." he called her, catching the squid girl's attention.
"Come here" continued the human, pointing at a chair in front of him.
Nary left the test tube in its original place and walked towards the chair Drake as pointing before sitting on it.
"Well... Let's hope for the best..." he said while putting the patch on his forehead, closing his eyes at the same time.
The inkling just stared at Drake in confusion, who was just sitting there with his eyes closed, she even tried to talk to him before being abruptly interrupted when she saw the human having a little spasm.
Drake then felt how his mind was getting flooded with words in Nary's language, but this time, he started to understand what they meant, once the process finished, he sighed in relief, now feeling a slight headache.
Drake reopened his eyes, placing them on the inkling in front of him, who looked at him with a mix of intrigue and worry.
"Hello... Can you understand me?" he finally asked, leaving the squid girl completely shocked, with her eyes wide open and her jaw almost reaching the floor.
[Excavation zone]
[Outside the vault]
A small camp was made outside the vault, while scientists both male and female walked back and forth.
Even some archeologists had jumped on board. After getting wind of yesterday's events, they couldn't let this opportunity pass up.
While everything around them was mostly chaos, in front of the vault's door was Binz, lost in his thoughts and holding his chin.
"Doctor! You have to see this, we found another-..." Jenny tried to talk to him, but stopped when she realized that her uncle wasn't listening to her.
"Huhh...?" she continued, putting a hand on his shoulder, pulling the old scientist out of his trance.
"Huh? What?" asked Binz, not having acknowledged anything his niece had said to him.
"You were staring at that door without moving a single muscle, again" said Jenny with a grimace.
"I'm sorry, it's just... We made so much progress in just one day, only to end up back where it all started, it's just so... Puzzling" said Binz with a deep sigh.
"Don't worry unc-... I mean... Doctor, I'm sure we'll find a way to get over this" continued Jenny, trying to comfort her uncle.
"Heh... Thank you, Jeny" said the scientist, giving her a smile.
"At your service" she replied before going back to doing her tasks, not before turning back to look at her uncle, who was once again staring at the giant metal door, now with his hands on his hips.
Truth is that she wouldn't be surprised if he went back to standing still like a statue while looking at that vault, Binz was always someone that would get lost in his thoughts, completely unaware of his surroundings.
Another great turf war could happen right behind him and he wouldn't even notice.
Jenny just let out a little giggle as she thought of that, before going back to her research.
[Inside the vault]
[One hour later]
Otome slowly started to wake up, while her vision was still a bit blurry.
Using her arms to support herself, the octoling sat on her legs, rubbing her head a little.
"What happened...?" asked Otome, now seeing that she was back inside the glass sphere, only difference being that the inkling she had been imprisoned with was no longer there.
"What did that thing do with her?" she wondered while a fleeting idea came to her mind, making her blush.
She then shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind of such 'thoughts', then turned to look at a random place, only to see Nary right in front of her, outside the sphere.
"Hi!" she greeted her with a friendly smile, while Otome almost jumped out of her skin.
"Wh-what...? How did you get out...? Argh it doesn't matter now, quick, get me out of here!" demanded the octoling with her hands on the glass.
"Umm... About that... There's two issues... One, I don't know how to do that, and two... I don't think he's gonna like that" Nary replied, scratching her neck.
"He?" asked Otome, making a frown.
The inkling didn't reply, instead, she pointed behind the octopus girl, making her turn around.
And to her surprise she saw Drake sitting right behind her inside the sphere, with his arms and legs crossed. How did she not see him?
Her reaction was, of course, putting herself on guard and getting ready to pounce at the human, but just before she could do that, the brown-haired man raised his hand and did something that petrified her.
"Hey, calm down... I'm not here... To fight" said Drake, trying to speak the language he just 'learned' as fluently as possible.
Otome couldn't even begin to believe what she just heard, did that thing just speak in her language?
"D-did you just...?" tried to ask the octoling, before being interrupted by Drake himself.
"Speak in your language...? Yes" he replied, leaving her even more speechless than she already was.
"Listen... I know you... Have so many questions... Which I will answer... But I want you to... Answer mine as well" said Drake, trying his hardest make Otome understand him.
Although Drake could now somewhat speak their language, he didn't have their iconic gurgle that each inkling and octoling has in their voice, giving him a very odd accent.
"And why should I do that!? I don't have to answer you an-...!" said the lieutenant as she crossed her arms before being suddenly cut off by Drake, who had punched the floor in frustration, scaring her and Nary.
"STOP BEING SO FUCKING CHILDISH AND LISTEN WILL YOU!" Drake yelled in his tongue, now fed up by the octoling's behavior, leaving her staring at him in shock.
The human just sighed with frustration afterwards, putting his hands on his face.
"Look... Sorry for yelling at you... But right now... I'm not in the mood... I'm alone in this base... Can't find my people anywhere... And this... Thing... That lets me speak your language is giving me... A really bad headache... So please... I need you to cooperate with me... Please... I promise I will answer... Your questions later..." said Drake trying to sound as calm as possible.
After hearing this, Otome felt guilty for the human's current situation, and also noticed a bandage wrapped around her left arm, so she sighed and sat with her legs crossed.
"Alright... I'll answer whatever you ask me..." now said the octoling, turning to look somewhere else.
With that said, the brown-haired man smiled, brought a hand to his back pocket and took out a bar of chocolate, same as the ones she had offered Nary before, not without mentioning that she smushed her face against the glass when she saw the candy.
"Take it... You must be hungry" he commented while offering the snack to the octopus girl.
With a bit of doubt, Otome didn't know if she should take the human's 'peace' offering, but then her stomach answered for her, giving her no other option than to take the chocolate.
"Alright... My first question is... Why did you react that way?" Drake asked, looking at the octoling as she was eating the chocolate.
"What do you mean?" Otome returned the question, putting her eyes back on the human.
"When I let you two out... You attacked Bruce" he replied, still giving Otome a serious look.
When she heard that, Otome remembered what she had done the moment she got out of imprisonment, which made her start to get nervous.
"W-well... Because... I..." she couldn't find the words to reply to the human.
"Because...?" Drake insisted as he stared at the octopus girl.
"S-she knows!" finally replied Otome, pointing her finger at Nary, startling her at such an unexpected response.
"Wh-what...!? Me!?" asked the inkling, surprised at seeing the octoling blaming for what she did.
"You know anything I don't, Nary?" Drake asked, not putting his eyes on her,
"I-I don't know anything, I swear!" replied the squid girl while shaking her hands and head in denial.
"She already told me everything she knew... That she's an inkling, and you... An octoling, right?" Drake said, waiting for the octoling's reply.
"Y-yeah, I am... B-but I'm sure that she knows... You took her to... You know" said the Octarian while a slight blush showed up on her face just thinking about it.
"I only took her to talk with me... The same way I'm doing it with you right now" Drake replied.
Feeling doubtful, Otome decided to get a more concrete answer from the squid girl.
"Can I ask her something?" she asked, pointing at the inkling.
"Hmm... Okay, but I want to hear it as well" Drake replied with a serious tone.
"I-it's... An embarrassing question, I wouldn't want to do that with you listening" said Otome, now even more nervous.
"Alright... But Nary will tell me later" replied the human while crossing his arms.
"Fine..." the octoling finally accepted Drake's terms, slowly moving towards the inkling.
Drake just sat in place, hearing both of them whispering but couldn't make anything out of it, that made him grow a bit impatient.
But then he heard Nary exclaim a loud "WHAT!?" in a surprised tone, while her face was getting redder than an apple.
"Just shut up and answer me!" Otome exclaimed just as loud, making Drake suspicious of what they might be talking about.
"Everything alright over there?" he asked, looking at the cephalopods with a puzzled expression.
He didn't get an answer, instead, he saw how Otome went back to where she was sitting before.
"Alright... I trust you... And could you ask me anything else...? S-she's gonna tell you anyways..." said Otome, looking away from the human, still blushing a little.
"Ok good... Could you tell me your name?" Drake asked now feeling more comfortable with their language.
"My name is Otome... Otome Garnet..." she answered, now looking at the human.
"Well nice to meet you, My name is Drake... Drake Forrest" he replied while extending his hand towards her.
Still being wary of him, Otome shook his hand, and was surprised at how pleasantly warm it felt, she almost didn't want to let go of it.
"Alright... Let's start over..." Drake said now with a sincere smile, as well as clearing his throat.
[Inkopolis]
[One hour later]
Inside a moving train, Nary's three friends could be seen, all of them having a worried expression on their faces.
"Guys... Do you think Nary is-...?" Nayls couldn't finish his sentence before being cut off by Levin.
"Don't even say it Nayls..." he replied, shaking his leg anxiously, before turning to look at Shara, who was sitting beside him.
"Shara... You alright?" asked the blue tentacled boy to the dark-skinned squid girl, who was hugging her legs and hiding her face in them.
"What do you think...?" Shara replied, lifting her head up a little, to the point where only her eyes could be seen.
"I was just asking..." commented Levin, returning to his previous position.
"Argh...! Can this thing go any slower!? We were supposed to meet the Squid Sisters at 15:30!" suddenly exclaimed Nayls while looking at the time on his SquidPhone, and remembering that the three of them were called by the duo, even though they never gave the girls their numbers.
"Calm down Nayls, we still got five minutes, and the next stop should be ours... And could you tone your voice down a little? They explicitly told us to not let anyone know" said Levin, turning to look at his violet tentacled friend.
After about three minutes that seemed eternal for them, they finally arrived at their stop and quickly got off the train, running as fast as they could until they finally reached the place where they were supposed to meet the two popstars.
"Where are they?" Levin asked, searching everywhere for them.
"I don't see them anywhere..." added Shara while looking at other passersby.
"They're gone! We took too long!" now exclaimed Nayls as he kicked a soda can.
"We're only late by a minute, I don't think-..." before Levin could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by someone calling him not too far from where they were standing.
"Psst, guys over here!" they all heard an inkling calling to them in a nearby alley, making a sign with their hand for the group to go there.
The three friends wondered who the stranger was at first, but upon seeing the unmistakable black color of their tentacles, they instantly realized who it actually was.
Without thinking twice, they entered the alley from which they were being called, getting to see that Marie was also in said place.
And once they took a good look at them, they were surprised to see that they weren't wearing their regular outfit, instead wearing other clothing.
"Umm... What are those clothes?" Shara was the first to ask, while pointing at the cousins' clothes with her finger.
"Oh, these...? Well these are actually..." Callie left her phrase half-finished on purpose.
"Our incognito outfits" completed Marie, followed by the two of them making a pose in front of Nary's friends.
For a moment there was only an awkward silence, Nayls swore that he even saw a tumbleweed rolling between them and the Squid Sisters.
"You... Didn't like our pose?" asked Callie, getting somewhat anxious for their answer.
"No, no... It's cute, but... We just wanted to know why you called us here" commented Levin while he scratched the back of his head.
"Oh, right..." said Marie, clearing her throat.
"The reason we have brought you all here, is to help you save your friend" she continued, making the three friends smile upon hearing that.
"Really?" they all asked at once while getting real close to the duo.
"S-sure... But first, we want you all to follow us" replied Callie putting her hands in front of her, in an attempt to calm them down.
"Wait really? Where?" now asked Shara, looking at the Squid Sisters go near the alley's exit and checking if there was anyone near them.
"You'll see for yourselves, come on just follow us" Callie answered, with both her and her cousin were going out of the alley, now being followed by Levin, Shara and Nayls.
"Uhh, girls...? Is there something you're not telling us?" asked Levin, looking at the two cousins as they looked everywhere to make sure they weren't recognized.
"Hahh... It's no use trying to hide from you guys any longer... We... We're not just regular popstars" Marie answered with a sigh, slightly turning her head to look at them.
"We're secretly undercover agents who watch over the safety of Inkopolis" now continued Callie, leaving the three inklings behind them paralyzed in shock.
"Wait... Does that mean that you were never popstars?" Shara asked, giving the Squid Sisters a suspicious look.
"What? No, did you mishear what we just said?" said Marie while turning to look at Shara.
"We said that we're 'not just' popstars" said Callie.
"So you're famous artists by day and secret agents by night...? IS THERE ANYTHING FRESHER THAN THAT!?" yelled Nayls with starry eyes, catching the attention of a few civilians.
"Shut your trap!" Shara scolded him while both her and Levin put their hands on Nayls' mouth, not to mention that Callie and Marie were doing everything they could to avoid being recognized.
"Let's just keep going, we're almost there..." said Marie, getting back on track with her cousin, and being followed by SquidFire once again.
"Hey, is there any other reason for you to dress like that" Levin asked, still holding one of his hands over Nayls' mouth.
"Well... Yeah... Sometimes, when we get tired of being in the spotlight all the time, we just go out and blend in with the rest of the civilians of Inkopolis using these outfits" answered Callie.
"B-but can't you do that without dressing up like that?" asked Nayls, barely getting to remove Levin and Shara's hands from his mouth.
"And that's the problem... Don't take it personal, guys, we love spending time with our fans, but sometimes... It gets kinda overwhelming going out on the street and then being chased by hordes of fans, asking for an autograph, or a selfie, or sometimes even confessing their feelings for you, it stresses us out..." now answered Marie, earning a worried look from the trio behind them.
"But let's leave that for later, we've finally arrived" announced Callie while they walked to what appeared to be a manhole, except this one had a grate over it instead of a cover.
"The sewers? Again?" Shara asked with disgust.
"I know what you're thinking, but trust us, just this once" said Callie with a smile before turning to look at her cousin, who had turned into her squid form, and went through the grate and into the manhole.
She was then followed by Callie herself, turning into a pink squid and jumping right into the manhole.
"Whatever..." Levin commented with a sigh, turning into a blue squid and also going in, followed by Nayls, and lastly, Shara who was doubting if she should go in or not.
"The things I do for you guys" Shara finally said before taking on her squid form and jumping in as well.