Ink
"Ryoma!" Kaito yelled, sprinting over to the hole. "Dammit guys! This is why we don't send people down into alien graves!"
There was the sound of a struggle coming from the grave. "Someone help me pull him up!" Kaito demanded. "Gonta, Tenko, come on!"
Together, the trio yanked on the rope, which refused to budge. "I think something has him!" Shuichi yelled.
"Light, I need light!" Kaito yelled. To his surprise, Kiibo rushed over, flooding the hole with light. Kaito realized it was coming from his eyes. "Yeah, that works!"
"I'll protect you Miu! Maki!" Tenko said, jumping in front of Maki and Miu.
A string of curses emanated from the hole. "He's still alive!" Kaito yelled. "Dammit, dammit!"
"Move, move!" Rantaro demanded. "I'm gonna go in."
"ARE YOU CRAZY!"
"The entrance isn't even big enough!"
There was a massive crunch, and the ground around the hole crumbled. Kaito saw Gonta standing over it. He had smashed his fists into the ground, hulk style, widening the hole. "Did Gonta make hole big enough?"
Rantaro wasted no time jumping down into the hole, Maki on his heels. "Kiibo, we still need light, let's go." Kaito said, following suit. "Tenko, watch the others!"
"Allow me to accompany you." Kiyo said calmly, sliding into the hole.
"This is not the time for you to get off in some alien grave!" Miu yelled.
"We don't have time for this! Come on!" Kaito yelled, running. And then he realized what it was he was doing. "Wait, fuck, this is a tunnel! Something dragged him off!"
"Excellent observation." Kiyo said. "Shall we proceed?"
"This is a bad idea." Kiibo said slowly.
"Yeah, but it's the best we got."
They saw the blood a few yards later. It was splashed against the ground, an ominous marker. Kaito felt sick. "Oh god, is that Ryoma's blood?"
"No, it's alien." Kiibo said. "But it's fresh. There's still a mild heat signature."
"Kiyo I thought you said aliens didn't come here!" Kaito yelled.
"The highest species doesn't. I didn't take lower species into consideration."
"Up there!" Kiibo yelled. Kaito's insides froze as he saw someone standing over a figure on the ground. As he got closer he saw that it was Maki and Rantaro. His second in command was crumpled on the ground, chest heaving. To Kaito's horror, he saw Rantaro's helmet on the ground, discarded.
"Fuck fuck fuck!" Kaito yelled. "What happened!"
"It doubled back and jumped us." Maki said, looking sick with worry. "I saw it coming, but I didn't warn Rantaro. Shit, I'm not used to not working alone, shit-"
"Why is his helmet off! That is not safe!" Kiibo yelled frantically.
"It grabbed him, tore the helmet off. I thought it was going to eat him, but it only sprayed him down with some kind of goo-"
There was a harsh retching sound, and Kaito turned to see Rantaro cough up a mouthful of a thick inky substance. "Oh god, it got in my mouth..."
"Hey, hey." Kaito said, kneeling down beside him. "Does it hurt anywhere? Do you feel dizzy?"
"I think the atmosphere's ok." Rantaro said. "I woulda' suffocated by now if it wasn't." He coughed again, expelling more of the substance. "It was like an octopus, like using ink to get away." he pushed himself into a sitting position.
"Nuh-uh, you stay down." Kaito said. "We don't know if you're gonna drop dead or something."
"I'm fine for now, and I think Ryoma's in a little more trouble than me." Rantaro said, getting to his feet. "You and Kiibo came after us? Pretty brave boss."
"Me, him and Kiyo-" Kaito realized the anthropologist was nowhere in sight. "Oh for fuck's sake! I need to get leashes for you all!"
Rantaro started coughing again, and Kaito rubbed his back, feeling like he was having some kind of out of body experience. Was this what he looked like during an episode?
"I'm good, I'm good." Rantaro said, pushing Kaito off him. "C'mon, now we got two people to save."
"Guys, the tunnel gets more narrow." Maki reported. She must have dashed off to check things out ahead. "And I found this." Another helmet.
"God dammit Kiyo!" Kaito exclaimed.
"It was probably the only way he could fit." Maki said. "And if we're going to follow..."
"Let me go alone. You all don't gotta risk yourselves." Rantaro said, getting to his feet slowly.
"Hell no. We go together." Kaito said. Before he could give it any more thought, he yanked his helmet off. "We're in this together."
Maki promptly took off her helmet, dropping it to the ground next to Rantaro's. "Ready when you are."
"Ok. Kiibo, keep it up with the light." Kaito said. "Rantaro, you good?"
"Always." Rantaro said.
"Alright, here we go."
The tunnel started sloping downward, something that concerned Kaito greatly. He didn't feel good going deeper into the ground.
"More blood." Kiibo reported. "Alien again. Even more fresh. We're catching up."
Kaito readied his stun-gun. "Everyone get ready."
The ground flattened out at a large round opening. It looked like some kind of lair, something Kaito found to be extremely ironic.
"Guess we're going in." Rantaro said.
"On my mark." Kaito said grimly. "Three...two...one!" He quickly fired off three shots into the cavern. To his delight, he heard a thump of a body. He rushed forward, only to be whacked in the stomach. "OOF!"
"Oh thank god. It's you guys." Ryoma lowered the racquet shaped rock he was holding. "Welcome."
"Ryoma!" Kaito exclaimed, pulling him into a hug. "You're alive!"
"Not if you keep hugging me."
"Sorry." Kaito said, pulling away. "What happened? How did you escape? Where's the creature?!"
"Right there." Ryoma said, pointing to the long thin figure. It seemed to be levitating. Kaito readied his gun. Ryoma didn't seem worried in the slightest. "Relax, it's already dead."
That left Kaito confused. "Wait, huh? Did I hit it?"
"No, you hit him." Ryoma said, jerking his thumb in the direction of a collapsed figure. Kiyo.
"Shit!" Kaito ran over to him. "My bad man, you good?" Thankfully the weapon had still been set to stun.
Kiyo groaned, rolling over. "I'm absolutely perfect, thank you for asking."
"How did you kill it?" Maki asked in awe.
"He killed it. I just distracted it." Ryoma said, nodding at Kiyo.
Kaito slowly made his way over to the creature. He realized it wasn't floating. It was suspended by several ropes. He leaned closer to see they weren't ropes. They were wires taken from a field kit.
"Damn, look at that thing." Rantaro said softly.
The creature was more reptilian than the main insect-like aliens they'd seen. It had a slender, jagged body with a thick rope-like tail. It's claws were as long as Kaito's arm, and if he had to guess, the thing maxed out at a total of seven feet long.
It's head was the most terrifying. It had a total of three mouth parts that jutted out. They reminded Kaito of lamprey eels. Each was ringed with sharp teeth. The side two appendages were leaking a combination of blood and the black liquid.
"There aren't any previous records of it." Kiibo said. "What do you think it is?"
"A predatory creature. Like a wolf back on earth, but way smarter and stronger." Ryoma said. "This thing is definitely more of an animal. I think it was scavenging for food or something. I was just too appetizing to pass up."
A wire was looped around the creature's long neck, tied over a rock formation that was used as a pulley system, most likely to hoist the creature up. "What the hell? You guys hung it?"
"I was hoping to capture it maybe." Kiyo said, standing up shakily. "However it seemed intent on devouring Ryoma. So I broke it's neck." he said it casually.
"You strangled it too?" Maki said, looking at marks on the creature's neck. "Where did you learn to do that?"
Kaito looked over at Kiyo nervously. "What are you, some kind of serial killer?"
"Of course not." Kiyo said. "I was able to sneak up on it. I assume it thought it had ended the two of you. I was able to trap it, then kill it while Ryoma distracted it."
"Either way, good work guys." Rantaro said. "Ew, I don't think I can ever look at ink the same way again."
"Yeah, it tried to force feed me some." Ryoma said, shuddering. "You don't think it's toxic, do you?"
Shit, Kaito hadn't thought of that. "Shit who's touched it?"
"Me obviously." Rantaro said, clearly maintaining a calm composure.
"Me too." Maki said. "I landed in some when I was trying to dodge it."
Kiyo merely raised his hands towards Kaito, which were smeared in the same inky black.
"Ok." Kaito said. "Ok, you all feeling ok?"
"I don't think it's toxic." Kiibo said. He stuck a finger in a small pile of discarded goo. "I'm analyzing it now."
"Let's start moving up. There might be more of them." Kaito said.
"Should we bring the cadaver?" Kiyo asked.
"If you want to drag it up, be my guest." Kaito said, feeling slightly disturbed.
"Actually, it might be a good idea to do that." Kiibo said. "It's an unknown species, and studying it may help us if we encounter any others of its kind."
And that was how Kaito ended up carrying a dead alien through an underground graveyard.
"Oh thank god, you're ok!" Tenko exclaimed, offering a hand to Maki.
"Don't touch." Maki said, yanking her head back. "We might be covered in toxin."
"Gonta so sorry!" Gonta exclaimed. "Gonta did not think Ryoma would be taken by alien!"
"It's all good. It was an adventure." Ryoma shrugged. "So Kiibo, we dying or what?"
"No. Not toxic." Kiibo said. "It looks familiar, I've seen something like it before, but I can't think of what. That memory must be locked..."
Maki allowed Tenko to pull her up after this, who walked over to Miu without helping any of the males. Gonta took over, lifting everyone out of the hole one by one, setting them gently on the ground.
"Hold on, where the hell are your helmets!?" Miu yelled.
"I think it's ok. We're breathing it just fine." Kaito said. He felt exhausted.
"Ew, it's even uglier in the light." Ryoma commented as Gonta lifted the body of the creature out of the hole.
"Oooh, what the hell is that!" Kokichi's voice could be heard.
"EW!" yelled Tenko.
"It seems to be an alien body! How fun!"
"Yeah, Ryoma and Kiyo killed it." Kaito said.
"All I did was bash it with some rocks." Ryoma shrugged.
"Oh, a little blinky thing!" Angie said. "How even more fun!"
"That's a comm line." Kirumi said patiently. She pressed the button. Kaito couldn't hear what was being said on the other line.
"They want you to return to the ship now." Kirumi said, her voice hardening. "They said it is urgent."
"What? Why? We just got here-"
"Please Kaito, just do it."
"Woahhhh." Kokichi said. He was taking in the dead alien in all of it's glory. "That's one hell of a souvenir!"
Both Himiko and Blinky were huddled in a corner, looking terrified. "I don't like that. It seems like a pain. A deadly one."
There was a squelching sound, and a yelp. Kokichi stumbled back, ink coating his face. "OH MY GOD! THAT'S DISGUSTING!"
"What did you do?!" Kaito yelled.
"I poked it with a scalpel" Kokichi spluttered, stumbling into a wall. Kaito grabbed him before he could topple over.
"Jesus." He sighed. "Hey!" he yelled, as Kokichi wiped his eyes with Kaito's sleeves.
"Kaito, if you do not mind, the superiors would like a word with you." Kirumi said, clasping her hands.
Kaito nodded. "I'll be right there." he turned to Kokichi. "Don't touch anything. Don't do anything, you know, just stand here and don't move. Got it?"
"Got it." Kokichi sighed, rolling his eyes. "I'll just dissect that bad boy with my mind powers then."
"Kirumi, supervise him please." Kaito said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Kokichi grinned. "I take it that's a no on the mind powers."
"Hello?" Kaito asked. He was back in the same hallway as before. "Anyone there?"
"Hello Mr. Momota." The woman's toneless voice said.
"Hey. Why'd you call us back?! I thought the world was at stake!"
"There was an unexpected development." the woman said slowly. Well this couldn't possibly be good.
"What is it?" Kaito asked, steeling himself.
"The sample analysis sent back by Kiibo was...concerning." the woman said. "It would be best if you all remained here under observation."
"Observation?! Observation for what?!" Kaito demanded. Of course, that was the moment when the comms system clicked off. Perfect. Kaito punched the wall, regretting it as it neither eased his anger, or occurred painlessly. Blowing on his knuckles, Kaito walked out of the hallway, looking for something to do.
"Hey Maki Roll." he said, seeing the girl in question lounging in the sitting area.
"...What did you just call me?"
"Uhhh...nothing?" Kaito asked. "You mind if I sit here?"
"You're the captain."
"Great! Thanks." Kaito said. He leaned closer and lowered his voice. "So apparently we're under observation."
"For what?" Maki asked, eyes glittering with concern.
"They wouldn't say, but it's over the sample Kiibo sent back, I guess. They probably automatically got the reading or something."
"So the stuff we got on us. Great." Maki said, crossing her arms.
"Yeah." Kaito said. "Jesus, do you think it really is poisonous?"
"I don't know." Maki said. "I guess all we can really do is wait and see."
"Dammit." Kaito sighed, slumping in his seat. To his surprise, Maki patted his shoulder.
"I know. I don't want to sit around either, but what else can we do?"
"I don't know!" Kaito sighed. "You're right, you're right." He remembered Maki was still on the suspect list for the traitor. That seemed so long ago. It felt like such a small issue compared to the present.
"Is there anything I can do? For you?" Maki asked. Kaito realized that she was refusing to make eye contact, and there was a slight coloring in her cheeks. Was she...blushing? Kaito wasn't sure, but either way, it was pretty cute.
"Did you shower off? I guess we might as well get as clean as we can." Kaito said. "I don't know honestly. I guess I'm just gonna go check on everyone." He sighed again. "Why did they let us take the alien corpse back if it's dangerous?"
"I don't know." Maki said. She suddenly sat up, looking at Kaito. Kaito felt heat rising into his own cheeks. Were they having a moment.
"You ok?" He asked slowly.
"Kokichi. He's dissecting it right now."
Kaito felt another spark of annoyance at Kokichi. He wasn't even here, and he was messing with Kaito. "Crap, you're right."
"I'll stop him." Maki said, getting to her feet. "...If you want."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Kaito said. "Go easy on him. But not too easy." He could have sworn that Maki gave him a small smile before she left. That was the craziest thing to happen all day.
"There you are." Kaito said, grabbing Rantaro by the arm and dragging him into an empty hallway.
"Everything good?" Rantaro asked, seemingly un-phased by Kaito pulling him aside.
"How's Ryoma doing? How's everyone doing?"
"As far as I've seen, pretty good. Ryoma's acting like he got back from a trip to the grocery store."
"Yeah, I guess if anyone's going to be fine with that, it would be him." Kaito said shrugging.
Rantaro laughed. "Yeah guess so."
"I think they're spying on us through Kiibo." Kaito said suddenly, before he could stop himself. It was a theory he had been thinking about for a while now, but he had yet to say it until now.
"Yeah?" Rantaro asked. "I think that's a possibility."
"What? Really?" Kaito asked. "I thought I was being paranoid."
"My friend, we're in space fighting aliens. You've earned the right to be paranoid." Rantaro said.
"Yeah." Kaito sighed, crossing his arms. "The worst part is Kiibo's so pure. Like why can't humans be that nice?"
"I feel like there's a metaphor about humanity in there somewhere." Rantaro teased.
"Yeah, you'll have to get Kiyo for that." Kaito said, grinning. "Speaking of, should we be concerned he went all hangman on an alien?"
"I stand by what I said earlier." Rantaro said. "I trust him. I wouldn't call him normal, but I think he's a good guy. He didn't have to go down there with us. And he didn't have to go after Ryoma. He could have gone off and had a grand old time exploring the grave system, but he went straight for Ryoma, no questions asked."
"True." Kaito said. "I hate this, having to question every one."
Rantaro nodded. "Does it make me, I don't know...racist if I suspect Kiibo and trust him less because he's a robot?"
"That...is actually a complicated question." Kaito said, eyes widening.
"Hey hold on now, let me explain." Rantaro said, holding his hands out. "I'm saying that because he could be, I dunno, tapped into or something? Jesus, I feel like a scumbag."
"You're not." Kaito said. "I almost feel bad for him, you know?"
"Whatcha mean?"
"Like what if he doesn't know he's being puppeted." Kaito said.
"Well we haven't confirmed he's a puppet." Rantaro reminded. "And Jesus, now you're making me look bad."
"Huh?!"
"Already worrying about how you're gonna help a potential spy. You're a special individual Kaito." Rantaro said, nodding.
"Well I wanna believe in everyone." Kaito said. "We gotta rely on each other. It's the only thing I can put any hope into." He crossed his arms and leaned back, waiting for a response from Rantaro. He didn't get one.
"Did I stun you with my goodness?" Kaito asked jokingly. When he turned to Rantaro, he saw the adventurer had turned away from him. Kaito felt a spike of worry. "Hey, you ok?"
Rantaro suddenly snapped forward, sneezing into his elbow. "Sorry." he said, turning back. "What was that about goodness?"
"Damn, bless you." Kaito said. "I'm getting jumpy."
"Aww, were you worried about me." Rantaro said, poking Kaito on the shoulder. "I'm flattered."
"Yeah, yeah." Kaito said, shaking his head. "Come on, let's do something useful already."
"Ready when you are, chief."
"Holy-" Kaito stared at what used to be the alien corpse. Kirumi and Kokichi had completely dismembered it, removing organs, professionally opening the cavity.
"Hey!" Kokichi said brightly. He presented Kaito with a large slimey something. "Be my valentine?"
"Ew!" Kaito said, jumping back. "What is that?"
"Its heart. One of four." Kokichi said, grinning. "Pretty nasty huh?"
"Understatement." Kaito said. "I didn't know you could dissect stuff."
"I paid attention in bio class." Kokichi shrugged. "Besides, I just did what Kirumi told me to do." Kokichi tossed the heart back on the table where it landed with a soft splat. "So, to what do I owe this pleasure? You need something? Or did you just miss me?"
Kaito rolled his eyes. "Could you and Kirumi start looking at the goo stuff? Figure out what it's made of? What's in it?"
"Yeah, Kirumi just brought some to Gonta. He said he'd take a look at it. I guess he's used to looking at bug venom. How much different can alien lizard venom be?"
"Yeah. They're almost exactly the same." Kaito said drily.
"But hey. I really missed you. I'm glad you're back in one piece." Kokichi said, suddenly serious. To Kaito's surprise, he leaned into Kaito, hugging him tightly.
"Woah! I'm glad to see you too." Kaito said, patting Kokichi awkwardly on the back before hugging back.
"Well, I gotta go. Places to go, things to see." Kokichi said, hopping back. "See ya Space boy. Don't touch my lizard organs. I just organized them."
"That was surprisingly sweet." Kaito said, watching in awe as Kokichi left.
"Hey, you might wanna look at your shirt." Rantaro said, sounding amused. Kaito looked down to see a smiley face drawn in what looked to be alien guts.
"EW!" Kaito yelled. "THAT LITTLE SHIT!"
"Maybe he really was just happy to see you." Rantaro laughed.
"Gross!" Kaito said, wiping at his shirt. "Oh god, ew."
"Hey, I got that crap in my mouth. You're fine." Rantaro said, rolling his eyes. "Go change if you're that freaked out."
"Ha ha." Kaito said sarcastically. "I'm not freaked out, just grossed out. He eyed the alien organs. "Think I could sneak one of those into his bed?"
Rantaro snorted. "Playing by his rules now, are we?"
"You said we. Grab that brain looking thing." Kaito said. "I'm dragging you down with me!"
"What the heck are you guys doing?" Maki asked. She was standing in the door now.
"Oh, hey." Kaito said. "Nothing suspicious."
Maki sighed. "You have anything else for me to do? I never got the chance to beat up Kokichi. Kirumi had this place under control."
Kaito sighed. "And he deserves it so much."
"Take it easy you two." Rantaro laughed. "There's enough deadly things up here already."
"That is a sadly true statement." Kaito sighed. "Who wants to walk around and attempt to be productive with me while we wait for something to happen?"
Maki and Rantaro proved to be solid company. Kaito felt a lot of his anxiety settle as he focused on talking to them. Additionally, everyone else seemed to be perfectly fine.
"Are you sure you didn't call me Maki roll earlier?" Maki demanded.
"I think you're remembering wrong." Kaito said quickly. "I would never give someone a purposely adorable nickname. That doesn't sound like me at all."
Maki rolled her eyes. "Sure. That's believable."
"It is! I-Woah!" Kaito stumbled as Rantaro knocked into him. Kaito realized he was recovering from another sneezing fit. This was the third time since they'd left the alien body."
"Sorry." Rantaro said breathlessly.
"You're good." Kaito said slowly. "You ok?"
"Yeah, fine. Why?" Rantaro asked. Kaito looked over at Maki, who shrugged. "Wait, are you guys both worried about me?"
"Yeah!" Kaito said. Maki nodded in agreement.
"Well don't. I'm perfectly fine ok." Rantaro said sternly, crossing his arms. "Don't worry about me."
"Like I could stop if I tried." Kaito said, crossing his own arms. "I'm the captain. It's my job to worry about everything." Crap. That didn't sound very inspirational.
"Well you can take one of those things off the list. I'm-ah...ACHOO!" Rantaro doubled over again. Kaito found himself unconsciously reaching out to steady him. "Ok, yeah, that was bad timing." Rantaro sighed. "But really, I'm fine."
"Is there a way to test that theory?" Kaito asked, smiling weakly. He was undeniably worried now.
"Guys, relax. I'm probably just allergic to space or something." Rantaro said.
"Hello friends. What are we doing here?" Kokichi said, walking up behind them. He eyed Kaito holding onto Rantaro and grinned. "Oops, am I interrupting something?"
"No!" Kaito yelled, letting go of Rantaro and swatting at Kokichi. "What are you doing here anyways?"
"Woah, hey! Yikes!" Kokichi said, dodging Kaito and hiding behind Maki. "Jeez you guys, control your boyfriend!"
That earned him a death glare from Maki. Kokichi rightfully shuddered.
"Brr, ok, that's cold. Juuuust wanted to let you know that Gonta finished looking all the samples over. I'll let you guys get back to it though. I'll tell the others you're...busy."
"Do that and die!" Kaito yelled, making another grab for Kokichi. The shorter boy laughed and dodged again.
"Ooh, you're doing such a good job convincing me that nothing spicy is going on here!" Kokichi said. "Why don't you smile a little more." he nodded at Kaito's shirt.
That was it. Kaito ran at him. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
"Woah!" Kokichi took off running with Kaito hot on his heels.
Maki turned to Rantaro. "I guess we should go check out what Gonta found, then?"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Kokichi yelled, as Kaito lunged for him again. "Chill the fuck out! What did I do?!"
"Everything!" Kaito yelled.
"I didn't send you up here! I didn't create aliens. I didn't-ack!"
Kaito had finally succeeded in tackling Kokichi, and was now shaking him by the shoulders. "Alright you little bastard!"
"Kaito! Easy!" Kaito turned to see Rantaro walking up behind him.
"Yeah! For real!" Kokichi protested. Kaito let go, wondering what the hell had come over him.
"Well this was fun." Kokichi said, brushing himself off. "But I gotta finish something up. Something special. And Space boy, if you can chill the fuck out, you can come by and play a game with me later. But only if you're chill."
Kaito didn't say anything. He felt ashamed honestly. Was the stress unhinging him?"
"Hey." Rantaro said. "You wanna take a break? Try to unwind?"
"I can't." Kaito sighed. "I can't relax, I can't do anything."
"Sure you can." Rantaro said soothingly. "Trust me, you're doing fine."
"I just want to handle this right." Kaito said. "Things just keep getting crazier and crazier."
"Understatement, but you're right. The best thing you can do is look out for yourself, ok?" Rantaro said.
"Yeah, you're right. Again. I hate how right you are." Kaito said.
"I'll try not to be offended. Now come on, you can't tell me you don't wanna see what Gonta figured out."
"You're right again." Kaito said. "Yeah, let's go. I'll deal with Kokichi later. When I'm chill."
"Atta boy." Rantaro said. "See, you're handeling this fi-...ACHOO!"
"Bless you again. Space allergies are brutal huh." Kaito said jokingly.
"Uhh, hey Kaito?"
"Mm?"
"I don't wanna stress you out more, but, uh..."
"What's wrong?" Kaito said, turning to face Rantaro. His eyes widened. The same inky black substance was now leaking form his friend's nose.
"I don't think this is normal." Rantaro said slowly.
As far as Kaito was concerned, it wasn't.