Tale of the X7 : The Real One

Part 5

Daylily P.O.V

The Deepsea Metro was a mystery in itself. A few weeks after I came back to the surface in Inkopolis, we learned that it was like an other "dimension". Not in our world, but not completely his own, though. The Deepsea Metro was like a creature, with his own mind and breath. It was not evil, but neither it was good. It followed his own motivation, always changing his conformation to confuse his residents. Lucky was the one that understood how the Deepsea Metro worked.

I was not a lucky one.

Even though I lived there before I went to the surface, I barely remember anything. I was sanitized and controled by Tartar back then, so the only tiniest things I remembered were all like a dream. I really didn't know how that other dimension worked. The only thing I knew was that for my plan, I needed to find someone.

And to find her, I didn't need to take the Metro.

Which was good, because I really didn't want to meet people I knew, like C.Q.Cumber

(An unknown amount of time later)

The time didn't flow the same way either. It was slower. I felt that I was there for hours, but only 30 minutes has passed. And clearly, I was walking in circle.

I was getting upset to always end up in front of the same wall.
"The Deepsea Metro is messing with me so I can't find her? Fine then. In that case, I'm gonna let her find me" I thought.

I sat in the middle of a huge room, and I waited. The room was cold, with barely enough light to see the walls, so clearly not enough to see the ceiling. In an echo, I could hear water fall drop after drop on the ground.

After a couple of minutes, I started to hear foot walking, a lot of them. They were close, all around me, in the darkness, where the light wasn't able to reach. And their familial evil girly laugh gave me chills in my back.
"They didn't take their time" I thought, as I stood up.

??? : Well , well ~ Who do we have there? A lost cute girl ~ ?
Me : I'm surprised that you didn't recognize me, Tessa.
Tessa : .... wait is that really you ?! Princess!?
Me : Get out of the darkness and you will see.

I could hear the others whispering around me, while a tall shape was coming out in the light close to me. The shape was a sanitized Octoling girl. Her skin was mint green, and her tentacles black like the night, with seaweeds stuck in them. She was wearing the usual Octoling armor and holding the Octoshot in her hands. I couldn't see her eyes, since they were cover with black glasses.

Tessa (confuse) :  I must be dreaming ...
Me : No Tessa, it's really me.
Tessa (coming back to reality) : What are you doing here ? Did you get bored of your little Inklings friends?
Me (hearing the others laughing) : Close enough. I came back to accept your offer.
Tessa (growling) : My ... offer? MY OFFER?

She attacked me with the Octoshot, but I was expecting her reaction so I easily dodged with my Splat Dualies.

Tessa (still attacking me) : YOU TURNED YOUR BACK ON US ! WE WERE IN PAIN, CRYING FOR YOUR HELP, BUT YOU LEFT ANYWAY! YOU HURT US ! YOU HURT ME !
Me : The only way for me to help you was to get you all to the surface with me!

Tessa was a strong opponent, but predictable. With all my senses working, I could easily beat her. Soon, she was lying on her back on the ground, my foot on her chest and one of my Splat Dualies targeting her face. I've always fought in the dark when I was in the Octoling Army, and it looked like my body could remember that.

Me (looking straight at her glasses) : I know that I should have come back sooner to help you all. This is kinda why I came ; by accepting your offer, I'll become one of us again, like before.
Tessa (surprised) : Oh THAT offer! Wait you ... YOU WANT TO BE SANITIZED AGAIN ?! ON PURPOSE?!
Me (letting her go) : Yes. I want to be stronger like I was before.
Tessa (standing up) : I can't believe that my Princess is coming back to me...
Me : I have a name and it's Daylily.
Tessa : Oh ? That's cute.

Suddenly, I felt a huge pain in the back of my head, and I fell on the ground. The laugh of the other Octolings were louder than before. I realized too late that one of them had hit me really hard in the back of my head. I slowly began to fell in the darkness but the last thing I saw was Tessa's face looking at me saying :

Tessa : I still prefer Princess. Or should I say Test Subject Num...b...e...r...

...

Mark P.O.V

The day after I met the other members of the X7 at the Square, I decided to go out again, but this time on my own. It really helped me to talk to them. My thoughts were now more ordered and I could focus on what to do. Which was... not much. But still needed to be on my own, in a place I like. So I decided to go to the beach.

It was during the evening. 5 days have passed since Daylily disappeared. The sunset was coloring the sky with beautiful colors, mostly orange, pink and purple. The sea wind was a bit strong, but not uncomfortable. I still had to put a hand on my Camo Mesh once in a while, so it won't fly away.

I surprised myself to think about Daylily being with me at that moment , walking at my side and holding hands. I felt my face getting warmer as I realized that I really want to go out on a date with her. But before that , we have to find her, no matter what.

??? : Um sir?

I turned around to see an Octoling boy standing a few steps behind me. He had the unique tentacle hairstyle, in magenta color. A bit smaller than me, I could hear in the few words he said that he had a strong accent. I guessed he was not quite used to the Inkling language yet.

Me : Yes? Can I help you boy?
??? : Yes. But you come first with me please. Talk in private.
Me (really confuse and suspicious) : Okay??
??? : It is I know sudden. But please trust. The time is counted.

His sentence structure was quite weird too. But he looked sincere and a bit desesperate so I decided to follow him. We left the beach to go back to the Square and we ended up in front of a dark alley closed with a fence.

??? : Do you know that place?
Me : Not really, but isn't that the place where you all Octolings came from ?
??? : Yes. But this is place that Daylily come.
Me (jumping) : Wait a second , you know where Daylily is ??? How do you know that dude please tell me !!
??? : I know because I saw.
Me (getting a bit mad) : You saw ? When ?
??? : Last night. I passed day looking for you.
Me (confuse again) : You looked for me all day? Wait how do you know me?
??? : Daylily talked about you.
Me : How do you know ea-
??? (cutting me) : Let me finish.

He looked at me straight in the eyes with his own blue one and said:

??? : My name is Dominic. Don't tell , but I'm Agent 8... and Daylily's twin brother.

END OF PART 5