The Heroes of Aeseganora: Part 1 - The Oca-Tree

Escaping The Slaves - Part II

"Hello, my fellow campers!" Brone cheerfully entered the Octonauts' chamber with a start, bringing the crew members around after looking half-dead for quite a while. "It is with great pleasure that I announce your freedom!"

At that moment, Ollum was dragged in front of him, and the Octonauts' mouths dropped open in relief and shock.

"There you all are!" he said. "Have they been treating you all well? Decent food, decent washing and cleaning facilities, and so on? I can't see anyone knowing how to make an acceptable mug of hot chocolate around here."

Are you off your head? They all thought, unable to tell if he was joking or not. It's an absolute nuthouse in here - Kwazii nearly died!

"Just ignore him - he's just a disrespectful little toerag who cannot keep his attitude in check," Brone said, shoving in front of him and walking towards a button on one of the walls and pressing it, releasing the crew. "Still, he's apparently got that ship of yours now, so you're free to go!"

As they all headed outside, stumbling on their feet because they'd almost forgotten how to walk, their mouths dropped open in shock when they saw the Octopod, and their relief changed into betrayal.

You brought them our ship! They thought in outrage. You actually brought them... what are you thinking?

"Your Majesty..." Tweak forced out through gritted teeth.

"I know what you're all thinking," he said, wishing his voice wasn't so frightened and quivery. "But I promise you that it's not what you think."

He headed towards the ship and placed a hand on one of its legs, which seemed to be inflatable, like some sort of balloon.

That was when they realised that the Octopod that Ollum brought the Slaves wasn't actually the Octopod at all - it was only a realistic inflatable bouncy castle!

But how would the Slaves react to finding that out? Would they lock them up in the prison cells and chambers again until the real one was brought to them? If so, there wouldn't be any guarantee that all of them would survive a second round in there - certainly not in that borderline deathly Black Room, which would definitely make the likes of Barnacles very, very frightened.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. The real Octopod must surely still be the rainbow mist, right?

Right?

****************

While Ollum was helping the Octonauts to escape, Tunip and the Vegimals were having their own fun after they had snuck out of Ollum's hood to explore the Order of the Slaves building.

However, their excited chirps and movements seemed to have attracted unwelcome attention, and they froze at the sound of a suspicious voice.

"What in Aeseganora is all that running and giggling out there?"

The voice came from an office that was situated next to Brone's, and they recognised it as Innes, the one who assisted Brone with the kidnap.

"Bluebell, is that you?" Innes yelled out impatiently. "If it is, I suggest that you stop messing about and get your hooves in here."

The Vegimals' minds raced: if they were to try to leave the building to catch up with the Octonauts, Innes was sure to realise that there were intruders in the building and call the guards. The Octonauts would almost certainly be captured again.

There was only one thing for it - that was to bluff and buy them some time.

And with that, the Vegimals walked to the door and carefully snuck through.