AHHHH! Sorry for updating late＞︿＜<(＿ ＿)>! I'm so sorry! Anyways, stay safe and healthy! And enjoy reading!
“ Hahh, yesterday was something, huh?” Ruby said as she entered their usual meeting point once again, yawning.
Mary, who was swaying , closed her eyes, nearly bumping into a rock wall. “ Mhmmm….., AHHH, OMG!!”
When she felt a familiar coldness on her hand, she jolted awake and turned to discover Anne blocking her forehead from the rock wall, looking equally as bad as her, The panda bags sagged below her eyes, her hair shriveled and her eyes looking empty. Basically, she looked like a goth who didn't have her beauty sleep.
“ You too, huh?” Ice too looked like he could’ve fallen down on the rock floor and dozed off in a second as he followed behind Ruby.
“ Ya, obviously. And guys, don’t bother me much if you’re not dying. Please. This is better for you and me.” Anne grumbled as she messed up her already poorly done light blond braid.
“ Well, we all look like a mess. So, anyways, we’re here to find a new hideout, right?” Ice asked as he flopped on the floor, nearly tripping over a pebble.
“ Ya, and please be careful big bro.”, Ruby nodded at Ice then turned towards Anne. “ Anyways, how did we get away from those trained petrol guards? I’m sure you knew that they were dog superior beings, big sis.”
“ Uh, I just sprinkled some of my drugs on you guys that allowed you guys and me to blend into Acotinum forest’s smell.” Anne replied, yawning.
“ T-t-thak you, m-ma’am.” Mary, who was fiddling with her fingers in the corner thanked Anne, her face flushed as she bowed.
“ Hey.”, Anne called for Mary in a sharp tone, making Mary raise her head to see Annestarring daggers at her. “ Did I tell you to tell me ma’am? Don't do that. I hate it. Call me Anne or whatever, just don’t use formal language.” ANne commanded as she continued to pin down the trembling chipmunk with her infamous death glare.
“ Well, that’s enough of that. Let’s get on, shall we?” Ruby clapped her hands as she started to speak in a serious tone, unlike her usual cheerful self.
When Ice heard her, he immediately jolted up, looking fresh from his short 10 minute nap. He stared at Ruby seriously too, also behaving very differently from his usual self.
Anne looked at them weirdly, her eyebrows scrunched up, as if she experienced something otherworldly but disgusting.
“ Anyone found any possible contenders that we can use as our emergency hideout?” Ruby asked as she walked around the cave.
“ Well, nope.” Anne put up her hands, showing blatantly that she didn’t find anything.
“ M-me too.” Mary stuttered, bowing continuously while apologizing for not finding anything.
“ Well, that’s fine too, we were expecting to see empty hands.” Ice sighed as he walked around the cave.
Ruby threaded on the rock floor as silence circled around the four again. And then suddenly, “ AHHHHH!!!” Ruby yelled.
“ What’s going on?” Ice whispered to Anne as they cautiously approached the spot which Ruby’s shout originated from.
“ Hello~ Is someone there?~” Ice called for Ruby as his voice resounded off the walls as they were in the deeper part of the cave.
“I’m here~” A faint familiar voice called back , the voice barely audible.
“ W-who w-was t-that?” Mary asked , her forehead scrunching up as she backed away from the area where the voice was heard.
“ Hey, I feel so hurt! Why do you not recognize the voice of your savior?”The voice replied as Mary jumped up again from the fright.
“ R-ruby? I-is that y-you?” Mary asked again, her tensed face relaxing.
“ Mhmm, now, can someone come down here ? I think I have found our potential new hideout! Oh, and you don’t need to get a rope, there is a nice steep slide here!” Ruby instructed the three. “ Oh and, if you don’t know where I am, I’m here!” Ruby’s unmistakable flaming red hair appeared in a small gap on an area of the floor near them, barely visible because of a bigger slab of rock underneath the gap.
“ Woah, I nearly missed that! How immaculate, I'll put this down immediately!” Mary exclaimed in surprise as she took a large piece of yellowed and tattered piece of paper and a pen. Rolling it down on a rock floor, she drew something on the paper, rolled it back out and placed it back in her pouch.
“ What’s that, Mary? May I see that?” Ice asked as he bent down to take a look and after a while, he gasped in surprise.
“ You know how to draw maps? It’s decided then! You’ll help us to draw out the necessary layouts of places that we might need in the future!” Ice garbled on as he looked at Mary with eyes filled with excitement.
“Slow down there. We still gotta go down, you know? Your sister might start to whine about being lonely and I don’t want that. Come on, let’s go!” Anne brought Ice out of his daze and soon, they arrived at the spot where Ruby instructed them to go.
“ Well, we just have to slide down,--” Ice's speech was cut short by the sudden ‘disappearance’ of the floor as he stepped forward.
Upon closer inspection, the hole was just big enough to fit an average adult at a time. “ So there was where it was.” Anne stepped forward and vanished like Ice did.
Mary who was still in her own world exclaimed , her face delighted as she had found a new discovery. But then, she learned that Anne and Ice had disappeared, leaving no trace behind.
“ Ehhhh? Where have they gone?” Mary questioned herself , scared that they had left her behind for the zoas to eat. But then, she remembered Ruby’s instructions and started to look for the gap on the stone floor.
Out of the blue, a cold voice rang out, demanding that Mary come down that instant. And when Mary finally had the courage to listen to that voice, she was met with 3 pairs of eyes staring daggers at her after experiencing a hellish ride.
“ Well, finally! Oh my gosh, why did you take so long?” Ice snarled, impatient after waiting for a whole 15 minutes.
“S-s-sorry hahh I’m hah so late!” Mary apologized, panating, her legs shaking from all the running she did when she was finding the entrance to this cave.
The cave they were in right now had a large slab of stone underneath the entrance that acted like a cushion( not exactly) and a camouflage that hid the entrance quite well and ensured that the newly elected hideout could not be found unless under closer inspection. And the hideout even had a few holes big enough to let the people inside survey the entire area for information about what was going on outside.
“ Well, this is a nice place, ain’t it? It's nice and cozy too!” Ruby disrupted the stuffy and uncomfortable atmosphere with her cheerful smile once again, saving Mary the chipmunk from Ice the baby wolf. Mary looked at Ruby with shining eyes, creating an image of a playful prince saving a timid damsel in distress.
When Anne and Ice’s eyes were poisoned by this image, they grimaced, looking away from the clingy scene immediately.
“Well, anyways, you know how to draw maps, right? Can you draw this cave on your map?” Ice asked, deliberately changing the topic to avoid another uncomfortable situation.
“ You know how to draw maps, Mary?“ Ruby asked, her face painted in surprise after having her fill of sending death glares to Ice.
“ Mhmm! I find it really fun! Look, I made my own symbols too!” Mary brought out her rolled up map once again, her eyes shining with excitement as she told the other three about her hobby. Mary showed them the notebook and compass that she got from someone in the Akaila branch.
“ Look! I got this from Joel. He said he made it himself!” Mary presented her compass and showed it off in front of the three with a smug look on her face seemingly saying “ Look! Joel is so great, am I right?”
Then, Mary started to explain all of her symbols and her map that she had laid in front of them. ( Btw, I use the same map symbols, I didn’t change them at all)
Then, “ HEY, ARE YOU SURE THAT IT IS HERE?”
“ Hey ,who’s that?” Ice questioned Anne, whispering.
Anne just answered back by showing 2 with her hands and then putting her finger on her lips, signalling to them that they had to stay quiet.
But then, another 2 voices entered the acne. One was a familiar one, and the other- not much so.
“ Sir Anxius, please calm down. We are here to check whether there are any pests here, not to wake up the other sleeping lab subjects and superior beings.” A soothing, slippery voice entered the room, and Anne’s expression immediately turned stiff.
After a while, she put up her hand again. But this time her hand showed 3.
