My eye twitched as Hange proceeded to squeal like a fangirl. Armin was smiling brightly whilst Hange showed him all the things she found interesting on her PDA. He undoubtedly read all there was to offer but was still happy to talk about them with someone just as eager.
"Tch. Are we almost at the fucking shallows yet?" Levi asked, sick of Hange's shit already. Letting out a sigh, I momentarily glanced at his face reflected in the glass.
"Almost. Just a bit further." I answered, keeping my eyes in front of me so as to not accidentally bump into anything that could damage the Cyclops.
As we passed through the Kelp Forest, I brought the Cyclops around and turned off the engine. Stepping back from the wheel, I turned around and walked over to the others. "Alright. Hange, Mike, Sasha, and Mikasa, get your helmets on and make sure you have everything with you."
Hange immediately took her glasses off and put them in her inventory before sliding her helmet on. Mike and the two females did the same before turning their attention to me.
"Remember what you're looking for," I said, grabbing my PDA and showing them the images of Shale and Sandstone Outcrops.
"Your targets are these and you will be looking for both Lead and Lithium. Don't get into trouble and stay away from Stalkers, Crashfish and Gasopods." With firm nods from the group, I reluctantly let them exit the Cyclops. I grabbed Mikasa's arm before last minute, biting my lip in worry.
"If anything happens, and I mean anything, contact me using your PDA. I will stop whatever it is I'm doing to come and get you guys." My brows furrowed in worry as I watched Mikasa's emotions through her helmet. With a firm nod, I let her exit the Cyclops as well, sighing as I did so. Feeling a gentle hand on my shoulder, I turn around and look up at Marco.
"They'll be fine." He said, aiming a small smile my way. I gave him a half-hearted smile in return and nodded.
"I hope so." I then made my way back to the cockpit and grabbed the wheel. "Let's get a move on, shall we? We're wasting light and I don't want to be out here when it gets dark." I brought up the cameras to make sure all four of them were facing away from the Cyclops before pushing the wheel forward towards the location of the Bulb Zone.
"What do you think we'll find there?" I heard Armin ask as he walked up beside me and looked out at the ocean. I stood there in silence for a moment, trying to think of a reasonable answer to give him.
"I don't know. It's a biome close to my old ship, so who knows if it was affected by the radiation in any way?" My mind suddenly brought up the image of the Reaper and the one moment I felt like I wasn't going to make it out alive. I brought my hand to my arm where I had been bitten and felt my grip tighten on the wheel as I thought about it before I heard Armin cleared his throat.
"Well, uh, all I can say, is I hope we find something amazing while we're out here. This world is so drastically different compared to our own, but it's amazing and beautiful in its own way." I froze for a moment, looking at him as he finished speaking. Armin then looked back at me with a raised a brow.
"Is something the matter? Did I say something wrong?" I shook my head, giving him a faint smile.
"Not at all... It's just, you reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago. That's all." I stated, turning my attention back to the ocean and slowing my speed as soon as the water began turning dark. I turned the submarine to the left and kept low to the seabed to avoid unwanted attention.
I didn't want another run-in with a Reaper again. Even if it was the same one that I had blinded, I still wanted no part of it. At my thinking, I thought it'd be wise to remind everyone of the potential danger we'll face.
"Everyone, keep your eyes and ears open. This is the area where we were attacked. If you hear or see anything big in the water, let me know immediately and we'll leave. Understand?" I questioned, aiming it more towards Armin and Marco since I was more than sure that Levi was aware of the situation. They nodded and I kept pushing forward until I saw the dark indigo and their bio-luminescent lights.
"Alright, we're here. Is everyone ready?" I asked, looking back at the three males. They all gave quick nods as they put their helmets on and made for the ladder. I put my helmet on before joining them.
"Go ahead and exit the Cyclops. I'm going to take the Seamoth out so we have a quick way to get our oxygen back since we're so far down." They all left the Cyclops and I climbed up the ladder. I walked over to the hatch that was holding up the Seamoth and climbed in. The floor opened up beneath me as the latches released the vehicle, dropping me into the water. Ignoring the gasps from Marco and Armin, I connected my helmet and spoke.
"Follow me. I'll go slow so you can keep up." They each took out their sea-glides out and I pushed forward. As we got a bit further in, our PDAs all went off.
'Detecting volcanic activity, and several unusual electromagnetic signatures in the region. Exercise caution when diving deeper.'
Hearing this new information made me furrow my brows in confusion. 'Volcanic activity? How far down would we have to go to reach such an area? And electromagnetic signatures? From what exactly?' As the thought entered my mind, an eel-like creature in appearance was seen several meters ahead.
"What the fuck is that disgusting-looking thing?" I heard Levi's voice say through the speakers in my helmet.
"I'm not exactly sure. I could get out and try to scan it, but it's definitely a hostile creature." 'Those bulbs lining its body are producing electricity. That must be what's causing the EMS.' I thought to myself.
"For now, try to avoid them. We're here for one thing and one thing only. If you find anything that looks like it would be of interest, let me know, but first, you all need to get your oxygen back." I said, climbing out and letting the other three take turns.
Meanwhile, I swam ahead a bit and began searching around for any rubies that I could find, all while trying to avoid any unsavory creatures that'd get too close for comfort.
After a while of searching, we'd managed to find two giant chunks of the Aurora that had been blown from the ship. While searching through them, we happened across a few fragments for power transmitters, light sticks, and even a Cyclops Sonar upgrade! What luck.
And of course, Armin being the curious boy he is, grabbed two creature eggs to take back to base for the Alien Containment tank we put in. I was a bit hesitant at first since these are creature eggs that looked like they had something dangerous inside, but I complied and we continued on searching for rubies.
"Have we found anything yet?" I asked as I swam around a bit more.
"I think I found some, (F/n)!" Armin called out.
Levi and I swam over and found four vents that had ruby gathered around the outside of them. "Be careful. Those vents are hot, so grab what you can, and let's get going."
Marco soon spoke up. "Hey guys, I think I found something! It's over here."
I stopped what I was doing and told Levi to stick with Armin while I went with Marco. Swimming towards Marco's direction, my brows furrowed with confusion and curiosity at Marco's discovery.
"What are these things?" I questioned, glancing at Marco.
"I'm not sure. We've never seen anything like these before. Have you?" He asked as I took out my scanner and swam towards the bright blue plant.
"We're in the same boat." I said, the scan now 100% complete.
"Blood Kelp?" I whispered in confusion. Levi and Armin then came down to where we were, surprising me a bit.
"Quick learner, huh?" I said towards Levi as he got out of the Seamoth. He 'tched' while he and Armin took their spots next to Marco and I. Me and Marco then took turns getting our oxygen back as Armin swam down towards the base of the blue kelp and scanned the red blobs that gathered at the base of it.
"Blood oil?" He questioned as he picked up a few, quickly looking at his PDA them before swimming back up to us.
"They're called Blood Kelp and they produce these bubbles of oil. I grabbed a few just incase we might need them in the future." Armin stated, his eyes widening as we all snapped our heads towards a roar we heard in the distance.
"Shit. I think that was a Reaper. We need to hurry and find more rubies so we can get the hell out of here." I said, quickly pulling out a beacon and marking it as 'Blood Kelp'. With that, we traveled back towards the vents and gathered more rubies that we could reach, taking the Seamoth and returning back to the Cyclops.
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(Yeah this is very late. Again. Also, is it just me or was this chapter kinda... Meh? I didn't really change much but I'll try to do more next chapter. Until next Thursday, take care!). -Tommy