Love & Responsibility (Pearlina)

Getaway Plan

Chapter 11: Getaway Plan

"We should be getting close..." Marina whispers to her companion.  They take cover behind a rock as another Octotrooper passes by.

"What if we get caught..." Pearl asked, slightly nervous as another trooper passes by.

Marina flashed her a quick, reassured smile. "We won't get caught. I'll make sure of it.

Pearl couldn't help but blush at the small affection. Cod if only she knew....

Then a sound of something making it's way to the rock they were hiding behind.

Both idols held their breath as they waited for the enemy to pass by. Pearl felt Vian shift in the carrier.

Crap! Please don't wake up! please don't wake up!

Pearl desperately looked at Marina for help as Vian was shuffling more and began making noises. Fortunately the noise wasn't loud enough for the Octarian to hear.

*Clank* *Clank* *Clank* *Clank* -Silence-

Marina let out a sigh of relief as she no longer heard the enemy.

Slowly, she looks over the rock to see anymore enemies coming their way but instead she was looking right through the barrel of an Shielded trooper.

Thanks to her really fast reflexes, she ducked down just as the trooper shot. This alerted all the other troopers as they rushed their way to fire at the girls.

"Run!" Marina shouted, grabbing onto Pearl and pushed her forward.

Ink was flying everywhere as they ran. Because Marina was in the back, she received most of the ink damage. However, Octarian ink doesn't harm her as much as it would for an inkling so she would be fine.

Vian had woken up at this point and began to cry, which drawn more attention.

Ducking at another shot, she spots an small opening that was in a mount of rocks. "T-There! Run for that opening, to your left!"

Marina looks behind her and notices how much attention was drawn to them.

There's too many of them! I gotta hold them back somehow! Otherwise, they might follow us to the surface!

It was a risky idea but it had to work. Marina was thankful that she thought this out before they left to visit her family.

"P-Pearl, I want you to trust me on this! Once you get through the opening, Go to where we first met and wait for me!"

"Wh-What?! What do you mean wait for you!" Pearl shouted back, looking back at the co-host.

"Just trust me! I'll be fine so- so don't worry about me! Now go!" Marina said , turning round, facing the octarians.

"Mar- Damn it!" Pearl looked at her friend before sprinting through the opening.

Once the inklings made it through, the Octoling pulled out a set of dualies.

Cod, I hope these are still functional...

These pair of of dualies were the ones she had built, when she was only 13. It caused area damage that could splat more than one cephalopod, similar to a blaster.

Thinking she was going to take fire, the Octarians stopped their movement and waited for her to make the first move. Instead of shooting, she ran again, this time, away from the opening

After a few moments of confusion, they chased after her again. Marina turned a sharp corner and made haste to start her plan.

The DJ teared off her shirt and pants, revealing her old Octoling armor underneath. In her bag, she quickly pulled out her decorated goggles and placed them on.

Once she finished placing her things back in her bag, she took a deep breath and showed no emotion as she fired a shot and rounded the corner to meet her "fellow troopers".

The Octarian stopped their tracks as they saw the ex-solider.

"C-Commander Ida! Y-You have returned!" One of the troopers said.

"Of course. Did you think I would betray my own people? I was only gone to gather more research for a special weapon, I've been working on." Marina acted out.

"B-But the files said that You went AWOL after the Wasabi supply unit 2 years ago. And there had been rumors that you began living among the inklings!"

"Oct- Our King had updated my files so no one would worry or find me. He's the only one who knows about my little trip."

"Makes sense! Well we gotta go! There was an inkling and a traitor that was here and we wanna go splat em!"

Marina shook her head. "Not to worry, I already did so."

They look at the ink trail, thinking it was the ink of the intruder instead."Of course you would! You are one of the best after all."

"Yeah, well You guys head back to your post. And don't tell anyone you saw me. I'm still AWOL after all."

"Yes Ma'am!" They saluted before going off.

Marina waited until they were out of sight before releasing her posture.

Dang... That was tougher than I thought! At least it worked...

The DJ took another deep breath and began to jog to the opening to Mt.Nantai.

As she was jogging, her wounds was starting to catch up to her as she felt pain on face, back and shoulders.

I'll get those treated later. Right now, I wanna check on Vian and Pearlie.

She made one last look around before slipping through to Mt.Nantai.