A Race Apart
Chapter 10
It All Goes Down
"You likin' the food, dear?" an inkling waitress asked Paprika as she and Splat shared a meal at a rural diner,
"Yes." Paprika nodded,
"You know, I haven't seen many girls like you around here." the waitress said, "Where did you do your hair?"
"At downtown." Splat responded, "They do it professionally."
"Maybe I should visit the city once in my life." the waitress chuckled, "Oh? What do you have there?" she looked at the pillow cover, which was opened to reveal its contents, "Oh! You're a family!" she said in delight.
"These are my first ones." Paprika said with pride, "I hope they grow strong like their father."
"And that would this lucky young man right here." the waitress looked at Splat, "Oh, you must feel so blessed."
"I do." Splat nodded happily, "It gives me something to be happy about in my life."
"I never seen eggs so pretty before." the waitress was dazzled by the glowing purplish-orange colour of the eggs, "How strange."
"You know how it goes." Paprika chuckled awkwardly,
"Well I hope it goes great for you two, oh such a young couple." the waitress grinned, "I feel hap-"
"Martha, come look at this!" the cook said as he turned up the volume to the television in the diner.
"Today was a tragedy for us." the inklings male anchor said, "14 inklings were splatted in an all out attack on the Tiki Motel on the outskirts of Inkopolis, we have video footage of the perpetrator." he said, and a black and white video of the figure appeared,
"No..." Splat mumbled, "Paprika, we have to go fast." he said,
"Alright." Paprika nodded,
"This perpetrator was the same one who attacked and splatted 10 police officers at a shoot out in downtown Inkopolis." the news anchor continued, "Acclaimed Policeinklings like Police Lieutenant Calamaird, Detective Anchov, and Sergeant Macken are on the fiend's track."
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"Come on, Paprika." Splat told her as they walked down an old country road, "My grandparents' house should not be much further."
"I hope we can stay safe in there..." Paprika mumbled as she looked at her eggs,
"They live off the radar." Splat said, "I didn't have any pictures of them at my home, and my parents hardly mentioned them."
"That's reassuring." Paprika smiled softly, but the sound of an engine canceled that feeling.
Surely enough, a lone police car rolled down the road,
"Oh no.." Splat mumbled,
The car stopped, and Officer Calamaird appeared out of it,
"Don't worry!" he yelled, "I'm not here to hurt you!"
"How do we know that!?" Splat responded,
"I just need your help!" Calamaird asked, "It's about the thing who is chasing you!"
The two partners looked at each other.
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"This is it, huh?" Paprika said as they entered the country cottage of Splat's grandparents, "It's nice."
"They should be vacationing right now." Splat commented, "They always go west for a more country experience..."
"Thank goodness, they'll be safe." Paprika told him, then turned to face Calamaird, "What do you need?"
"I need to ask you how we can kill that monster!" Calamaird asked, "That thing took a hail of ink blasts from our ink pistols!"
"I don't know." Splat said, "He took a Luna Blaster to the face, had his head blown off, and still lived!"
"If only we could find out what he is.." Paprika said, "Maybe we could know his weakness..."
"He seems to always follow you two." Calamaird said, "Why is that?"
"I don't know..." Splat mumbled, "But when we first met, he called me master, and then he knew nearly everything about me and my family!"
"So it must be someone close to you." Calamaird nodded, "Someone who knew your life."
"He also said something about making me proud or showing me..." Splat added, "When he mentioned the number of Octarians he took down."
"It must have been someone you talked to about your Octarian slaying fantasies.." Calamaird continued, "Who could this person be?"
"No one." Splat sighed, "I wasn't that close to anyone... nor was I... wait a minute.." he pondered, "Yes, there is one person- No... thing!" he said,
"What is it?" Paprika asked,
"My pet... a crown-of-thorns starfish called Starly!" Splat said, "But that's just my pet! He wouldn't do this!"
"I'm afraid he would." Calamaird mumbled, "This liquid found at the scenes of the crime." he held up a flask, "Poison... from a crown-of-thorns... When the crime scene at your house was found, there was nothing in your aquarium... and one of that monster's attacks is using large spines..."
"But... how?" Splat said, "He was just a pet! How could he become humanoid!?"
"I don't know..." Calamaird said, "But we need to take him down!"
"We can't!" Paprika groaned, "We tried everything!"
"She speaks truth." Calamaird mumbled, "Crown-of-thorns, or seastars in general, can regenerate faster than any inkling could ever hope of achieving... Plus, they don't have a brain, so blowing off his head will not matter... Nor do they bleed..."
"If it bleeds, we can kill it.." Splat said, "But what if it doesn't bleed?"
"The only way you could win is destroying it into pieces so small it cannot regenerate.." Calamaird sighed,
"I may have the solution." Paprika said and pulled out an Inkzooka,
"YOU HAD AN INKZOOKA ALL THIS TIME!?" Splat yelled,
"Yes, it's standard issue to all assault Octolings." Paprika said, "But I thought we could kill it regularly... and I only have two shots.." she informed
"If maybe we could get a direct shot..." Calamaird told her, "We can take him out!"
"He did take a Luna Blaster to the face..." Splat repeated, "And lived..."
"We can only hope." Paprika said and the three continued conversing.
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TRING TRING! The bell over the diner door rung,
"Hello." the same waitress from the before said as the new presence walked in, "How a-" she paused,
"Have you seen two teenagers?" the presence revealed it to be Starly,
"You- You- You're the guy from the news!" the waitress gasped in horror,
"What!?" the cook popped his out the window, "Hey! You!" he said and pulled out his butcher knife, "Get out of here!"
"Have you seen two teenagers?" Starly repeated as apathetically as possible,
"I'll call the cops!" the waitress said as she walked to the wall phone,
CHICK CHICK! The sound of the Splattershot Pro cocking was heard,
"Have you seen two teenagers?" Starly repeated, and customers slowly started to leave, but he took no note of them.
"Please... don't hurt me..." the waitress cried,
"Have you seen two teenagers?" Starly repeated, keeping the cook and the waitress on his sights,
"I... I... there are many who come here..." the cook said, "I- What!?" he said once Starly caught the waitress in a chokehold and held his weapon to her head,
"Dorian! Help!" the waitress cried,
"What are you looking for!?" the cook asked desperately,
"A boy with orange hair." Starly told him, "And a girl with maroon hair as well..."
"There.. There was a family that looked like that.." the waitress muttered, "I served them..."
"A family?" Starly muttered, "What? That's impossible, are you lying to me!?" he put his finger on the trigger,
"No! Please!" the waitress cried, "It's true, they had eggs with them! Please don't splat me!"
"Hmph." Starly grunted and pushed her aside, "I didn't plan to." he stepped back, "And where did they go?"
"Down the Old Strausmann Road." the waitress informed, pointing to the dirt road branching off,
"Thanks." Starly mumbled and walked to the door, but turned around suddenly.
TRAKANTRAKANTRAKAN! He fired his weapon,
"AH!" the waitress screamed and hid behind the counter, the cook hid as well.
"Hahahaha." Starly laughed evilly as all he did was bring senseless destruction to the business, "Thank you for your business." he chuckled and finally walked out.
SM'S TIME:
For Reviewer yasheentheepic: Glad you have stayed with me thus far, hope you stick to the end!
For Reviewer Deepcauldron: Thank you!
For Reviewer DjVoidika: Thank you for being so faithful to my stories.