Escape (
Synopsis[]
Pouf slowly escaping from Smoky Jail
The throne room was kept safe from Youpi's explosion by Morel's Smoky Jail, just barely staying balanced and intact off to the side. Youpi stands in the rubble's midst and begins his plan to feign rage in order to lure Knuckle toward him. Within the throne room, Morel feels the commotion outside, but stays resolved to maintain Smoky Jail. Still inside his cocoon, Pouf begins releasing an innumerable amount of microscopic bugs, slowly trickling out through the smoke at a rate imperceptible to Morel. From these bugs, the outline of a figure forms outside of the throne room.
A layout of the warehouses in the basement north of the palace is given, with a focus on the one in which Bizeff set aside to keep his women. Ikalgo makes his way there by truck, and using Flutter's "Satellite Dragonflies," he sees that the door to the warehouse is already open, surmising that Palm escaped from Bizeff and he quickly went after her, most likely forgetting to lock it. Another dragonfly catches sight of Bloster at the basement beneath the palace, and Ikalgo knows he may have made a mistake during their conversation earlier and that he'll have to talk his way out of things when he returns there, still expecting to be attacked. Upon reaching the girls' quarters, he yells out that he was sent by Bizeff and asks for Palm using her alias. The other girls refuse to talk with him, guessing that this is a test by Bizeff to see if they are loyal or not. Using Gyo to search the rooms, Ikalgo spots writing on the wall which says that Palm went to the palace and that if they don't receive word from her before the attack, they should assume she's dead.
Bloster destroying Flutter's corpse
Ikalgo feels despair at the news, but he remembers Morel's orders to use the "Satellite Dragonflies" and telepathy to work with the other Ants, pretending to be updating his superior but actually informing Meleoron. And if he created a mix of truth and lies, it would confuse the enemy and benefit the mission. Still not giving up on rescuing Palm, Ikalgo resolves to eliminate Bloster no matter the cost, driving back to the other end of the basement to meet him. Bloster asks him if he finished the job for Hagya, but brings up the fact that he gets mad when they use that name now. As Ikalgo hesitates, Bloster fires a barrage of shots from his claws into the truck, tearing apart Flutter's corpse.
Thinking he's taken out the impostor, he finds the back of the truck empty and plans to ask Hagya about it later. Ikalgo hides on the truck's underside and worries how he should proceed once he goes back upstairs. Bloster enters the elevator, unsure exactly how it works, and Ikalgo realizes he may have come down without knowing about the different codes, and that he has two choices in what he describes as a perfect opportunity.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Menthuthuyoupi
- Knuckle Bine (Mentioned)
- Morel Mackernasey
- Shaiapouf
- Bizeff (Mentioned)
- Marcos (Mentioned)
- Ikalgo
- Flutter (Corpse)
- Palm Siberia (Mentioned)
- Bloster
- Leol (Mentioned as Hagya)
- Meleoron (Mentioned)
Trivia[]
- The chapter's title was reused for Chapter 383.
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