Shaking. An alarm. Red lights that flashed through the green liquid that surrounded him. Bubbles arose from his mouth as he was startled awake, his mind and his vision left equally blurry. He didn't understand much of what was happening, he couldn't even fully grasp the feeling that he was floating; he just largely felt numb. He looked over; the darker-skinned female was next to him, staring outward. He blinked and followed her gaze, but wasn't able to see much before the world around him jolted yet again. The liquid around him started gushing forward as the glass ahead of them broke, pulling them both along with it.
He was thrown to the floor as liquid splashed everywhere around him, leaving him to gasp for air as the freezing air bit his skin. He gasped again and loudly panted, curling up tightly as his eyes shot around. Again, his vision remained blurry, but he could still make out the figure above him, the terrifying mask briefly glancing back at him. Panting still, and more terrified than ever, he slowly started to get up, shakily scrambling to his feet. His legs were still numb, however, and he wasn't able to make it far before more masked figures appeared before him. A small scream escaped his mouth as he tried to turn the other way, but was unable to escape as they grabbed him.
G2PL19 then awakened from his nightmare, his eyes opening wide as he panted even more, taking a moment to control his breathing. This wasn't the first time he had that nightmare, nor would it probably be the last, but it was easily his most important memory. The memory that haunted him the most. After he was again breathing steadily, he sat up, alone in his private Octarian quarters. The black clothes on his body, his pink Octoling mohawk hair, and his codename were the only things that gave him identity. As far as his personal life went, nearly all of it was just in this room, with the sad, metal walls and all of his personal thoughts that belonged only to himself.
He hung his feet over the edge of his pathetic, small bed, as he sighed and rubbed his face. He sat there for a few minutes in silence, thinking to himself, before his time was cut off by a banging sound on his door.
"G2PL19." An Octotrooper's voice said to him from the outside. "Get up. No more late mornings. Last warning." He finished with a last thud.
He sighed. With that, it was right back to the same work he did every day without a break. Except, well... today was going to be different. It had to be different. Today, he was finally going to make a change, for better or worse. Anxiously, he got up, got changed into his armor, and then reached for his open mask. He stared at it before putting it on, allowing it to form around his head before he grabbed his weapon and headed out.
New Squidbeak Splatoon: Ascension
Part I- The Galaxy's Union
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It was a dark morning, in a small, window-less, triangle-shaped bedroom, that contained not much more than a bed, a dresser that was inside the wall like a closet, and a few Off the Hook decorations spread out around the room. Actually, there wasn't much of a method to tell if it was morning or not. There wasn't even a proper way to tell time. Instead, a small device rested nearby the bed, every once in a while giving clicks to signify when it was time to do tasks like eating, or waking up. Marina, with her taste of music, called them 'beats', and it was how they told time now.
She made a different click sound as she plugged a headphone jack into her phone, and slipped her headphones on over her ears, playing the opening lyrics to Ebb & Flow. A small paper photograph fumbled through her fingers, before resting under her thumb as it faced her. It was a simple picture: It was herself, smiling and holding the camera at a small house party set at her old house, along with the grinning Pearl, who was behind Marina with her hand behind Marina's head in a 'bunny ears' pose. Bridgett was in front of them, a shy smile on her face and a black headband on her head.
She hadn't seen her or the house in three months. Three months since she and the others had left on their mission, and she missed Bridgett a lot. Thus, she looked at the picture often, just to think back, and give time to herself to wonder when and if she would see her again...
But at least she wasn't alone. She looked over at the other side of her bed, where Pearl was fast asleep. She snored lightly with her mouth wide open, and a line of drool had steadily streamed from her lips onto the bed. She smiled slightly and reached over, petting her hair briefly before turning back to her own business. She was intent on relaxing, but unfortunately, the day had other plans. A blaring alarm suddenly erupted from outside the room, just loud enough to be heard over her music and catch everyone's attention. She took off her headphones and looked around.
"...Hm...?" Pearl said as she awoke, too disoriented to tell what was happening.
"Crap!" She threw her headphones aside and ran to the door, where she pressed a button in the wall. The door slid open, disappearing into its slot, as she ran into the Ray's hallway outside.
Across the hall from her room was a second bedroom, which also opened up. Marie ran out as well, her hair messy and untied as she conjoined with her. "What's going on!?"
"Don't know!" She ran with her down the hall.
They both ran to the end of the hall, where a ladder that led up the next floor rested. Marina quickly climbed up, crawling into the control center in the cockpit. The large front window revealed a beautiful but terrifying sight: In front of the pure void of deep space, and all the different stars and other lights that lined it, was an army of asteroids, of all sorts of shapes of sizes, that blotted out some starlight as they headed directly for their ship. Marina's eyes widened as she looked out the window.
Marie climbed into the cockpit after her. "...Asteroids? We checked for asteroid fields!"
"Just activate emergency flight!" She ran up to her pilot seat and got situated at the large control panel. Marie ran to the side monitors that had their own unique control panels, where she deactivated the alarm and pressed the emergency flight button.
The next person to crawl in was Callie, who took one look outside before her eyes also widened. "Holy mother-"
"Sit down and buckle up!" Marie hissed at her before she sat next to Marina, buckling herself in. Callie desperately ran to one of the back chairs to do so, while Marie quickly got her controls set up. "Can we fly around it?" She asked Marina.
"We're already in it!" Marina hissed back, pressing a whole flurry of different buttons.
She sighed, doing the same. "I'll guide us through, just stay calm. How many hits can we take?"
They were interrupted as an asteroid that was on the smaller side crashed into their window, breaking up into smaller rocks before floating away.
"...Nothing much larger than that." Marina replied.
"Great..." She muttered, seeing that there were much larger rocks coming up, straight ahead. "Callie, activate the laser system! Break up as many rocks as you can!"
"Awesome!" Callie replied before getting to work on her own control panel.
She took a breath. It was time to put her own piloting skills to the test. "Ok, hold on tight." She took the ship on a nose-dive downward to dodge the larger rocks, flying under them. As Marie began piloting through, swerving through the assortment of larger rocks while allowing themselves to take hits from the smaller ones, Callie activated the laser system and pulled her control panel close. Using a small screen next to her to aim, she began firing at the larger rocks like she was playing a video game. The ship began hurling yellow plasma lasers at her targets as she fired at them, chipping away at the larger ones while straight up destroying the small ones, blowing them up and sending their pieces flying elsewhere.
Caught up in the action, they had made it through a good chunk of the field before Marie took a look behind her for a second. "...Where the hell is Pearl!?"
Marina groaned. "Dammit, she's probably still resting!"
"She should be buckled in!"
"She'll be fine, relax." She looked ahead, noticing that Marie had gotten a bit distracted from her flight, and more big ones were coming in straight ahead. "Problem, problem!"
Marie gasped a bit before suddenly flying straight-upward to dodge, which only sent them hurdling fast through a barrage of smaller rocks. They all flinched as the ship shook, watching a flurry of rocks rain down on the windows, as Marie desperately swerved away. After a few more desperate turns and spins, trying to fly back out through where they came in, Marie had piloted them directly toward a couple much larger ones, which only got larger as they drifted forward. Callie did her best to fire more lasers at them, before realizing that these particular ones were too big and too close. "Uh oh..."
Watching the rocks close in fast, and not seeing any other choices, Marie panicked and decided to fold in the wings, barely squeezing the ship in-between the giants. Everyone held their breath as they glided through; The ship shook more violently this time as they skidded against one of the rocks, before coming out the other side, otherwise unharmed. Marina sighed in relief.
Marie pulled out the wings again, before swerving to the side, piloting them back out to the edge of the asteroid field. Setting them on a course to instead travel around it, Marie let the Ray drift through a much more peaceful area, where what felt like a million small rocks still surrounded them, clear of any immediate danger. Turning off emergency mode, she sighed and unbuckled herself.
Marina did as well. "I think it's fair to say your space-pilot skills have improved exponentially."
"Well... they say near-death experiences are the best teacher."
"What's going on...?" They suddenly heard Pearl groan as she climbed up the ladder. She looked around, her hair riddled with bedhead. "...What's shaking us...?"
She sighed and stood up. "Pearl!"
"...What?"
"You were in charge of checking for surrounding asteroid fields!" She turned and pointed at her.
"I did!"
"Then how come we almost died in one?"
"Don't look at me! The computer didn't detect anything!"
"How long ago did you check?"
"...Uh..." She paused. "A-A few beats ago."
Marina sighed. "You need to check after every beat, Pearl."
"That's not what you said!"
"Yes, it was."
"No, it wasn't!"
They quickly derailed into a back-and-forth argument, before Callie shouted above them. "GUYS!"
They stopped and looked at her.
"...It's my fault." She said. "I was on the previous shift, I told her doing it every beat didn't seem necessary..."
They all fell into a frustrated silence, staring at her, before looking back at Pearl. Pearl didn't respond, awkwardly smiling just to remove the tension.
Marie groaned and sat back down. "Just... come on, guys, we need to be more careful than that."
"Agreed, we're supposed to be running scans as often as possible." Marina added.
"Well, pardon me for what wasn't my mistake." Pearl gave a smug shrug as she took her own seat. "I don't even know where in the galaxy we are, but just saying, I've still been doing my part. I haven't made boo-boos."
Callie just sat down, feeling a bit bad. "...Look, I've been trying as well, but get cooped for long enough, and it just... gets harder to keep track... sorry..."
Marie went over to rub her shoulder. "...I get it... This trip has been going on much longer than promised."
"Well, we're close." Marina said, looking out the window. "...The Octarians can't run forever... and somewhere among those lights out there? I know Axcia is there... closer than ever."
"Yeah, you've said that..." She rolled her eyes a bit.
She turned back to her. "Don't believe me? We're a jump or so away. You'll see."
"Welp..." Pearl stood up, stretching. "I really hope to god we're almost done, because I dearly miss taking actual baths and bright blue skies and all our friends and shit..."
"Well, don't forget... we're not even on the turning point of the round-trip yet..."
She groaned. "Aw, shit... I actually forgot about that... oh..." She sat back down and sunk into her seat, covering her face with her hands. "My dreams are gonna keep alluding me..."
"...Guys." She sighed. "I know this is hard... but you'll be glad when we shut down what the Octarians are up to and put this behind us. So... you guys are still with me... right?"
"You know we are, Marina." Callie replied, before looking around. "...And I for one am glad we're out here. I mean... we've done cool things! We saw a star up close. And we saw a freaking lava planet! How many other people can say that?"
"Uh... the Octarians that we're chasing, maybe?" Pearl replied.
"...Yeah, maybe, but we're among the first."
"But what about the others?" Marie asked. "Back home?"
Marina's expression dampened a bit. "...I've tried to send them messages... I don't know if they've received them."
She sighed and looked down. "...Even if they're doing ok... Gramps is probably worried beyond the point of three heart attacks by now..."
She put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he's fine, Marie. Your grandfather is strong in will."
"...I know..."
"...As for the rest of the team... well... we all know they can hold themselves up perfectly fine." She gave them a reassuring smile. "...I believe we have more to worry about up here." She said, before her smile again faded more slowly, as she wondered if she was just telling herself that.
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Earth
Inkopolis
The sun was setting over the big city, painting its many buildings with a gorgeous orange hue. Over the last few months, life had been going on relatively normal, occasional mysterious earthquakes and remnant Underdogs aside, although for the New Squidbeak Splatoon members that had remained on Earth, it felt more like an agonizing merry-go-round of constant searching and multiple dead ends. But at least today, they had one more lead, and they didn't intend on wasting it.
Bridgett was propped up on the edge of a small building's roof, staring out over the streets below her. She was wearing her usual Deepsea Metro outfit and was gripping her Octo Shot, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice. She barely even blinked as she watched the streets beneath her, up until a small group of Octolings exited the building across the street, all of them gathering into a car.
"They're on the move... green Inkola... I count four targets... they... appear to be armed." She spoke into her comms, standing up straight as she watched the car drive off. She immediately turned to her Octopus form and performed a super-jump up onto the taller building to her right, and from there continued giving chase across the rooftops. She glanced at the car often, parkouring her way across the buildings to her best ability. "It's turning right, onto 7th street!" She added as she again transformed to perform another super-jump across the street.
It wasn't hard for the car's driver to glance into his rear-view mirror and notice the pink Octopus flying across the street. "Looks like we've got company. Gotta be the Splatoon."
The Octoling in the passenger seat scoffed. "We all know our orders, then." He pulled out his gun, cocking it. The others did as well, all prepared for the upcoming fight.
They didn't drive much longer before they stopped the car by a random alleyway on a more deserted street, quickly parking before getting out. The city was steadily getting darker as they carried out their weapons, and quickly made their way down the dark alleyway, circling behind the building. They pointed their weapons and their flashlights everywhere, waiting for their attacker, knowing she could pop up at any second.
They remained perfectly silent, listening for anything; they thought there was no real way for Agent 8 to just waltz up to them from here, but unfortunately for them, Bridgett simply didn't care enough to play their game. Leaping down from the top of the building, holding onto the bricks and a fire escape to slowly navigate downward, she rolled to her feet as soon as she touched the ground. The Octolings quickly turned to fire on her, but not before the vigilante suddenly threw something at them, before quickly turning to her Octo-form to roll and dodge their fire.
Three miniature Tenta Missiles flew from her hand as they soared down the alley, locking onto their targets. The Octolings, who had never seen these before, stared in confusion before the missiles penetrated their shirts, gushing out a bunch of pink ink before they then exploded, splatting all but one of the foes.
The last one in back was equally confused, but regardless pointed his gun forward, not reacting quickly enough as Bridgett emerged from her ink and punched him, grabbing his gun and throwing it aside. He reacted quick to punch her back, quickly resulting in a furious hand-to-hand match as Bridgett forced him to back up more and more. She soon knocked him against a dumpster, and he groaned as he quickly stood up straight, pulling out a knife.
This time, Bridgett was the one backing up as he relentlessly slashed at her, forcing her to dodge and counter-act with punches wherever she could. It wasn't long before he managed to cut her while she was dodging with her Octo-form, and she groaned in pain, even more pissed than she was before; Anticipating his next move, she managed to land a dazing punch to his head, knocking him against the wall. She disarmed him of his knife before she kept punching him into submission, knocking him back further and further, quickly losing more and more of her temper. Growling, she kicked off the wall to land her final punch, and he fell down, unconscious.
She stumbled and lost her footing after her last move, panting heavily. He was out cold, and Bridgett held her heaving chest, remembering that she needed him awake to ask the questions she needed to ask. She had over-exerted herself once again. Things only got worse for her as she reached down and pulled up his sleeves, seeing absolutely no sign this guy was even an Underdog.
"Oh, fucking shit!" She groaned as she stood back up, before using her hand to wipe some ink from her new wound. On top of having wasted her time, as she held up her hand to see how much ink she just collected, a faint light was also visible on it, before it moved toward her head. Her eyes widened as she realized it was a charger light, and she turned around, unable to do anything against the additional Octoling that was now standing behind her with a high-pressure charger.
Just before she could pull the trigger, Jessica swooped in from behind, her cape soaring behind her as she struck her head and knocked her down.
Bridgett sighed in relief, holding her wound as she faced her friend. "...It's a dead end... these guys aren't Underdogs."
"I know. But we've gotta move." Jessica replied.
"...Cops?"
"KRAKEN."
Bridgett swore yet again under her breath, now noticing that she could indeed faintly hear a helicopter approaching.
"Let's go, now." Jessica turned to her Squid form before she blasted off into a small super-jump, soaring over her head toward another alleyway.
Bridgett sighed as she glanced at the fallen Octolings, before she did the same to follow.
Indeed, not long after the vigilantes were already gone, a large, red truck made its way over toward the alleyway entrance, its owner printed on its side in bold text: KRAKEN. It came to a stop just outside the area, and multiple armed men, in red full-body armor and with large high-pressure guns, exited the vehicle just like soldiers, looking around. It didn't take them long to find the aftermath of the fight, with several splatted or unconscious Octolings in the alleyway and on the street. They all went over, investigating every single person to deduce themselves that they were not the Underdogs they were looking for.
"All clear." They concluded.
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Over the last few months, the Splatoon and KRAKEN forces hadn't been the only ones investigating into the Underdogs. G2PL19, in fact, had been researching even deeper than that, into everything he could possibly know about what Gideon was up to.
He had now heard the stories of the "Underdogs Incident" in the city. In his locker that he went to every day to smuggle more stolen items, he now had printed logs of two of the most key figures: Hugh Ward, the former Underdogs leader, and Agent 3's own brother, Daniel Murdock, from his days of being the Underdog's Executioner. He didn't know either of these people personally, with Ward being dead and Daniel being in Inkling custody, but one thing became clear that interested him; Back in the day, Hugh Ward and Gideon had done some work together, before the Underdogs were even formed and Ward turned to utilizing nanotechnology. That was the main connection he could find; and he knew he had to act fast before Gideon started pushing anymore plans forward. He had to act now.
He looked through more of his notes about Daniel and the Splatoon logs he collected, including Cap'n Cuttlefish, and stashed them in his pouch as he closed his locker. He briefly held Bridgett's notes close to his chest before he stashed it away as well. He only needed one more thing before he was ready to move along. And with no one around these parts that he could trust, or that was even on his side, there was only one way to get it.
Making sure they were hidden, he made his way over toward Gideon's office, walking down the hallways. As he walked, he looked around at some his teammates he had been working with for so long. All of their blank masks, their stoic postures, the way they all obeyed orders without a word or second thought. Lately, ever since he saw the incident where Shadow touched the crystal, the true terror of this place had only begun to sink in more and more. With every passing day, he felt more and more urgency. More and more... alone. Was he the only person here who felt empathy?
Again, he barely pulled out his notes of Bridgett, peeking at them. A small wave of comfort washed over him; he knew that somewhere out there, at this moment, Bridgett was free. He knew that in some way, their hearts were linked. More determined than ever, he again hid the note as he approached the office, which was guarded by two of those same masked Octarians, who stared at him as he walked up.
"Present identification." They held up an eye scanner.
G2PL19 pressed a button to open up his mask, pulling it off. They held it forward as they scanned his eye.
After identifying him, they typed something on their tablet, waited, and then opened the sliding door. "...All clear, G2PL19. Make it quick."
He nodded a bit and headed inside, not bothering to re-equip his mask.
Gideon was sitting at his desk, watching drone footage of Bridgett and Jessica fighting those false Underdogs, which was being projected onto the wall. It kept playing as he turned over to him. "Ah. Mr. 19. Unless, you have a nickname you'd prefer?"
He stared back at him. "...No other name comes to mind."
"Really? Hm... Oh, but have you seen your friend in action? She's quite the knock-out these days."
He stared at the footage, it not being long before it ended and shut off. "...She's really something..."
"I know." He chuckled as he turned off the projector and stood up. "But, I guess we should get down to business. You've been calling for a meeting... I've answered... so, why'd you wanna meet so bad?"
"...Well... I've had some pressing questions. You know... about Agent 8."
"She's wonderful, isn't she? She's special. She's very special. What, do you have concerns?"
He paced a bit. "Well, I understand that we plan on making our move on her soon..."
"Oh, yes." He nodded. "Yes, yes, yes. But, it's like I told our other friend, you need to have some patience. Eeeverything will line up, in a massive union..." He held his hands up, shaking them. "And when it does, the Octarians will reign supreme once again." He turned to pour himself a drink.
Once he wasn't looking, G2PL19 took the brief opportunity to slip Gideon's badge from his desk, stealthily moving it into his pouch. "...What's our window, though, sir? What do you plan on doing with her once you capture her?"
He turned back toward him, drinking his juice. "Can I ask why the interest?" He walked up to him, just barely not seeing him close his pouch.
"...I'm just curious, sir. Everyone among our forces, we've had... concerns... I just want to make sure you know what you're doing."
"Concerns!?" He suddenly grabbed his arms, laughing a bit. "So naive! You know exactly how this is going to go, Mr. 19. I've seen our future. Agent 8 will become a part of us once again... and we will take our rightful place among the gods. Something I've dreamt about since I was a boy..." He pet his hair. "Ease up. Ease up right now. I don't need you to be so worried, boy."
He didn't respond, tensing up a bit.
"Why did you really come here? Really? Are you really that concerned about how things are lined up? I've planned it so perfectly... how do you not see it?"
He stared at him, choosing his words carefully. "...I'm sorry, sir... I do see it... I guess that I just... wanted to be reaffirmed."
"Well..." He let go of him. "I'm not going to humor these silly concerns. You get out there, and you tell everyone that everything's going just to plan. Our future is set. You hear that? Our future is set."
"...Yes, sir..."
"Good. Go now." He sipped his drink.
He turned head out.
"And Mr. 19?" Gideon interrupted him one more time.
He paused before he slowly turned back to him, eager to get out as soon as possible. "...Yes?"
He rubbed his desk. "I understand if Agent 8 has been on your mind a lot lately... I just saw your eyes. There's so much sadness in them... And there's no shame in that. She's been on my mind, too. I miss her... so very dearly. But I don't want you to worry. Not for one itty-bitty little moment... Do you understand?"
He stared at him, unsure of how to respond. "...I understand." He finally walked through the sliding door. Once he was out of sight from the guards, he double-checked his pouch to ensure that, yes, he acquired the badge. He probably didn't have long before he was found out, but if he wanted to get to Bridgett first, he had to make his move now.
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Jessica's Apartment
Bridgett was in front of the bathroom mirror, having not yet even changed from her outfit, hissing to herself as she cleaned her wound with a wipe. Gritting her beak, she threw the wipe into the trash and ran her hands under running water, rinsing away any remaining ink.
Jessica came in next, already in casual clothes, having made it out of the fight with only some bruises herself. She looked at Bridgett's wound in the mirror. "...Got cut pretty good."
"Shut up, Jess..."
She sighed and grabbed the first aid. "Let me..."
Bridgett looked at her and sighed, slowly sitting up onto the counter. Jessica grabbed the stitches and got right to patching her up. Bridgett would again groan and hiss as she did her work, but otherwise held as still as possible.
Jessica occasionally glanced up at her as she worked. "...You're allowed to ease up a bit, you know... We'll find these guys eventually, but that doesn't mean they're just going to come out for us. A break will do you some good."
"Oh, and you take breaks...?"
She shrugged a bit. "When I need them..."
She sighed. "...If I take a break, we risk losing progress..."
"We have no progress, Bridge... I've been through this before. Constantly throwing yourself at the same brick wall is not progress."
Bridgett looked at the wall, tearing up a bit.
She noticed, but didn't pull too much attention away from the stitches. "...I get... that this is hard... but we need to stay sane. Both of us. Otherwise, the team won't have anything left. Not while half of it is still... out there. Wherever the fuck in deep space they are right now."
"...Thinking about that doesn't help..."
Jessica sighed. "...Well... I'm no good at pep talks... Just... all I'm asking is that you try to ease up a bit more."
She didn't respond.
She soon finished, putting the first aid away again. She looked at her. "...Have you heard back from our space friends, at least? Do we know where they are?"
Bridgett silently shook her head. "...Cap'n Cuttlefish has tried to maintain contact, but... I guess that's hard to do across the galaxy..."
"The Octarians figured out some kind of system."
She shook her head again as she got on her feet. "It's different..."
Jessica sighed. "...They'll be back eventually..."
"...I hope so..." She slipped her jacket on over her uniform. "Just... wondering why things had to fall apart this much... and if... they're even ok..."
"...Well... why don't you... change into some real clothes and we can try to relax for the night, alright? Some time off won't kill us."
She hesitated. "...Alright..."
Jessica patted her arm before she exited the bathroom. Bridgett watched her leave before she continued staring at herself in the mirror. Some relaxation did sound nice... and as she let herself relax some more, she was almost able to feel like she was floating... but of course, the moment she closed her eyes to enjoy the moment, it started to feel a bit too much like she was once again in the green ocean, floating in the endless void, and her eyes shot open again as she took a breath.
Ever since Pearl and Marina had left, those feelings had only become more frequent... and worse. Much worse. Shivering a bit, she zipped up her jacket and quickly left the bathroom.
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The Ray
Many small, floating space-rocks drifted past the ship as it itself drifted through the cosmos. As the ship flew along, the bright light of a nearby yet distant star reflected off of its surface, and some small rocks came to collide with it, bouncing off of it harmlessly.
In the ship's cockpit, Marie was climbing up through the ladder, carrying some canned food in her belt. Pearl, Marina, and Callie were hanging out inside; Pearl was sitting in Marina's lap as she pet her hair, while Callie stared out at the stars as if she was in a trance.
Marie came over, giving the first can to Pearl.
Pearl, after noticing it, rolled her eyes as she took it. "Great, more canned beans..."
She gave her a look.
"...I mean... more canned beans... yay... you're the greatest friend ever."
"...Whatever." She handed it to Marina, who replied with a simple "Thank you", and then Callie, who thanked her more enthusiastically. She sat down with her own next to Callie and opened her can.
Callie was still staring out the window. "...Still can't believe how pretty space is..."
"Yeah, it's nice in this part of the galaxy..." Marina kept petting Pearl's hair.
"I still can't believe we get to talk about it casually." Pearl ate her food.
"...I think the others would've loved to see it." Marie said.
"Well, we chose our team of four." Callie continued. "And I'm glad we picked who we did."
"...Yeah..." Marina nodded. "...But... I still think Eight... would've loved these sights..."
"Oh, she would've been floored." Marie agreed. "Dylan would've been too..."
"...Hey, 'Rina?" Pearl looked up at her.
"Yes, Pearlie?" Marina responded.
"Is Axcia gonna be this pretty too?"
She kept petting her hair as she stared out the window. "...It's going to be the prettiest sight of them all..."
"Oh, man, I kind of... can't wait to see it right now." Callie replied.
"Me, neither." Pearl nuzzled Marina.
Marina nodded a bit. "Well... we'll be there soon enough."
It wasn't long after she said that when they suddenly heard a ringing sound from one of the control panels. They looked over.
"Oops..." Callie set down her beans and walked over to the monitors at the side of the room. "...Ok, we're ready for another jump!"
Hearing this, the group sprung into action, as they all set their food aside and went to sit in their usual seats, buckling themselves in.
"Think this'll get us there?" Marie asked Marina.
"Maybe." She responded. "We're close. I can feel it."
"Ok..." Callie pressed some buttons to set up, and the ship began making a whirring noise. "In five... four... three... two... one."
When she would've said zero, Pearl pressed a big, red button at her own control panel, and they all braced themselves as the ship made some electric noises.
The area around the Ray began distorting a bit as it built up energy, almost as if they were creating a black hole. The distortion got more and more intense before suddenly collapsing in on itself, and the ship burst into a bright light before disappearing, leaving the swarms of small space-rocks and the nearby star behind.
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Earth
G2PL19 rushed down the hallway toward the labs, again making sure he still had Gideon's badge as he looked around, making sure no one was following him. He was getting some suspicious looks from his colleagues, and there was no doubt Gideon has noticed his missing badge at this point, or was at least going to figure it out soon. He speed-walked over into the lab, pressing the badge up against the scanner to gain access into the restricted sections.
He wasted no time walking inside, where a few scientists were already present, working on some of their bizarre crystal experiments in here. They all paused as they looked over, and he paused as well, waiting for them to attack him. They turned a blind eye, turning right back to their experiment.
He just made sure the door was closed before he starting looking around, pulling whatever notes and plans he could possibly find from the counters. He wasn't able to steal much before the alarms went off, flashing a light in the room. This time, the scientists all turned toward him. "Hey!"
A couple of them grabbed knives and one of them grabbed a gun, but they were unable to do much before G2PL19 pulled out his own gun and shot them down, splatting them. The last remaining scientist smashed a glass emergency box, pulling out what, at first glance, seemed to just be a harmless little metal tube. She was about to slam it against the ground, but was quickly splatted as well, and the tube instead fell from her hands and rolled until it hit the foot of a counter. He knelt down to pick it up, examining it, before he heard some of his own comrades shouting orders outside as they prepared for their assault.
"Dammit..." He swore under his breath as he made his last-ditch effort to access other portions of the lab. This time, the scanners rebuffed his badge, and he hit the wall before looking around some more. His ticket out of here was the teleporter device that Shadow had previously used, just in the other room, but first, he had to survive the upcoming assault.
It wasn't long at all before the door opened, and several masked Octolings along with some Octotroopers made their way in, pointing their weapons at him. "Stand down now!" They shouted.
G2PL19, unable to do anything else, just stared at them before slowly turning his attention to the metal tube in his hand.
"Drop it!" They commanded.
He stared at it, before again looking at them, slowly pretending to surrender.
As this went on, Gideon was running down the halls toward the lab along with a couple of his masked subordinates. "G2PL19, you said?" They asked him.
"Yeah, that sly little shit." Gideon responded. "We'll have to put him down quic-" He was interrupted as they heard what sounded like a Killer Wail coming from the lab. They looked at each other before they rushed in.
But they were too late. By the time they found the section of the lab G2PL19 had infiltrated, all of the Octolings inside had already been splatted, and the teleporter device was building up a charge. They could do nothing but watch as the teleporter soon calmed down again, emitting some smoke as it opened back up, revealing nobody inside.