Service Elite

🔹16🔹

"Oh... Oh, uh, Zane?" Goggles bit his lip as Rider nervously shuffled on his feet. The green inkling scratched the back of his head, anxiously glancing back and forth, "He's, uhm..." He trailed off and darted his gaze away. N-pacer arched a brow, wincing violently at the loud crunch echoing from somewhere in the distance. 

"Is he leading the party," a gesture at Eging and Goggles, "to the tower or...?" Goggles whimpered softly, his heart sinking. 

There was no Zane to take the reigns anymore. 

Gods, not even Sev was anywhere to be seen. In all honesty, he felt safer with Zane than Sev, but if Zane was dead then... He shook his head rapidly, gripping the prism even more tightly as he grit his teeth. 

Remain strong. He had to remain strong. 

"Goggles..." There was a gentle blur of motion as the other boy, Prince, placed an urgent hand on his shoulder, "Zane... Do you know where Zane is?" 

"W-Well..." How should he put this? He didn't want it to be harsh, not too straight forward but at the same time he didn't know if he should just get it out. He tried to exchange a glance with Rider but the older inkling was still pointedly avoiding everyone's gazes. 

"What about all the other teams?" Prince's next question hurt even more than the first one. Swallowing the hard lump in his throat, Goggles sighed and released his tension. He slumped sightly, tears welling up in his eyes. 

"I... I don't know... I haven't seen the rest of Team Blue since the blackout." He fidgeted nervously with his fingers, "S4 ran in different directions and-" He had to cut himself off with a huge puff of breath, rubbing at his eyes. There was a long pause from everyone as they let the loud, loud screams ring through the air. It was a miracle a monster hadn't found them yet. 

After a while, Eging opened his mouth hesitantly, "I... I saw Vintage and his team earlier, if that helps." Rider blinks, his slightly gleaming metallic eye startling. 

"Wait what? Really?" he exclaimed, "The X-rank leaders are here?" Eging nodded, chewing on the bottom of his lip. 

"Emp was saying hi to them before the first match of the Plankton Cup." There was stiffed silence. The grief of the lost of pure and innocence before all of this started weighed too much for words. 

"Great." Rider eventually grumbles, folding his arms. He clears his throat, lifting his head regally, almost demandingly, "Aight, no more slacking, it's time." Tensing, Goggles nodded his head determinedly, gripping the prism in his grasp. Eging chewed on the bottom his lip, then shook out his legs. 

"I won't wait for you," he said in a slightly teasing tone, "So run as if your life depends on it." Sighing in annoyance, Rider tightened the laces on his black boots. 

"If your ass gets eaten by a monster I'm not waiting," he said back, earning a chuckle from the other male in response. Smiling smally, Rider turned back to Goggles, a stern expression on his face, "Even if you see someone that needs help, don't you dare turn back for them, got it?" Startling, Goggles found himself reluctantly nodding his head. 

"Y-Yeah, I-" 

"And that includes teammates." Unable to contain his gasp, Goggles found it rather hard to maintain his eye contact with the lime green squid. 

"W-What?" he managed to breathe out, "Th-That's..." 

"You heard me." He turned away almost immediately, nodding stiffly to N-pacer who in turn gave him a calm look back. 

"Go, hurry. They're growing..." Eging's rough hand hooked Goggles around the arm, dragging him out of the slight canopy of shelter. Blinking a final look at a grim Prince, Goggles turned around.