Chapter 81: Show Stopper
In mounting horror, Sour Bill gawked openly at the collar- his stomach bottoming out instantly. At King Candy's order, he had carefully watch every young animal place their competition entrance fees by the trash can this morning- and none of the objects they paid with looked or smelled like this collar.
"I- I dunno, sir," the basset hound finally stuttered out, his normally blank face being full with emotion for once as he avoided looking at King Candy in the eye. "I swear that I...everyone paid their fees and-"
All at once, the hound abruptly stopped in mid-sentence, his rising panic evident on his face as he gulped heartily.
"You...you don't think it's from...," he trailed off, terrified of his inquiring being entertained- or, worse yet, proven true.
Well knowing what his assistant was thinking, the king felt his long ears go back in anger. He jerked his head to stare at Sour Bill, startling the poor basset hound- especially when he finally looked in the king's eyes. Gone in the spaniel's eyes was his kind, warm gentleness- and in its place was a tyrannical, desperate...almost savage look.
"Of course it's from her!" King Candy hissed out harshly, his lisp biting somehow more than his words. "Who else would something this filthy come from?!"
Huffing through his nose, the king looked at the camo-print collar and suddenly snarled in frustration. The longer he looked at it, the angrier he got- and the more desperate he became.
"I thought was suspicion we hadn't seen her all day yesterday, let alone this morning," he growled out, his furious eyes narrowing that much more by the second. "I should've known she was up to something!"
Stomping one front paw in strong determination, the king took one last disgusted look at the collar and turned to growl at his assistant.
"Get Duncan and Wynnchel over here now!" He hissed through gritted teeth, desperation seeping from his tone. "We've got to hurry and intercede whatever she's planning on doing before the-"
A loud eruption of clapping on the other side of the stage broke up his words all at once. His ears tingling in horror, the king still behind the platform could only listen in helplessness as he heard the unseen announcer start to calm down the crowd.
"Without further ado, let's welcome our first competitor of the Happy Paws Talent Show to the stage!" The man on stage crowed, his voice as engaging and capturing as a ringleader of a circus. "First up is an adorable calico kitten, named after her sweet tooth for an occasional snack of strawberry laffy taffy. She loves to play, cuddle- and do some of the most amazing backflips you'll see today! Please welcome to the stage, Taffyta!"
As if on cue, a soft clash was heard on the far right side of the stage, followed by an unseen Taffyta hissing at being startled. All at once, the calico shrieked in horror as the sound of rolling wheels suddenly filled the now thick air. From the back of the stage, Kind Candy realized in horor that the unseen object causing the sound was being moved up the stage's entrance ramp- causing a soft gasp of amazement to echo through the crowd of humans.
As the sound of wheels came to a stop somewhere on the stage, Taffyta appeared in eyesight to King Candy and Sour Bill, panting as she raced towards them. Meeting the other two panicked animals still hidden behind the platform, the calico shook with fear.
"She- she came out of nowhere!" Taffyta cried, her wide blue eyes beyond afraid as she cowered before her leader's paws. "She almost ran me over with that stupid skateboard of hers- and now she's up on stage!"
Growling in fury, King Candy pushed past the modified, trembling kitten. He quickly rushed to the right side of the stage, not even noticing as Sour Bill and Taffyta had rush after him as they followed the backside of the platform. Snarling, the king's rage only grew as he heard the startled announcer suddenly chuckle into the mic.
"Well, it looks like we have an eager new competitor!" The man commented lightheartedly, seeming amused at the sight of the mysterious animal on the platform. "And it looks like this unknown kitten may be a strong contender with that skateboard!"
Ignoring the now stinging clapping and cheering of the humans in the audience, the cocker spaniel shook in anger. When he rounded the corner and unnoticedly slipped to stand at the base of the ramp, he saw that there, standing square on the middle of the stage...his stage...
Was the black and white disaster that could bring down his empire. Destroy everything he'd worked so hard to gain...
All with one of her involuntary twitches.
Feeling his wrath grow to an almost unbearable level, the king regrettably saw that the Sugar Russia camera crew were zoning in on the kitten on stage, capturing every second of her presence. In trepidation, the spaniel jerked his head up to look at the huge screen on Sugar Russia's lone water tower- and saw in numbness that the kitten on stage was on the JumboTron for all to see.
Staring at the screen with increasing horror, King Candy watched as the kitten shakily placed one front paw firmly on the banged-up skateboard at her side, her other three paws tensely remaining on the platform. As the camera crew zoomed in closer, their camera picked up that she was starting to breathe heavily, her beautiful huge hazel eyes seeming double their normal size- revealing the fear that was beginning to overtook her.
Peering up towards the JumboTron herself, the kitten felt her heart quicken that much more at the sight of her small figure up on such a big screen. As she forced her eyes to face forward, she saw that a few hundred pairs of eyes were staring at her, the whispering audience clearly waiting in expectation for her to do something spectacular.
"Er...looks like this kitten has a little bit of stage fright," the man on the mic chuckled out nervously as he smiled down at her- which only made the kitten's somersaulting stomach hurt all the more. As he looked back out towards the audience, he gestured towards her tiny figure. "Why don't we all give her a little encouragement?"
As a small round of claps and whistling rippled through the crowd of humans, King Candy only saw red- his eyes fixated solely on the very menace of a kitten on stage. His own chest heaving, he felt his paws grip the ground underneath him- his sharp instincts threatening to come crawling out from somewhere deep inside him.
No one is going to take away what I've built from the ground up, he mentally growled with narrowed eyes. Especially not this little...little twitch!
Moments from snapping and allowing his inner instincts to overtake him, he snarled out loud in frustration. He viciously looked around him until his eyes landed on his assistant, now coming to shakily stand at his side.
"Go get security!" The normally soft-spoken spaniel barked to Sour Bill, making the basset hound nervously nod in response. "And go get them now!!"
As the assistant rushed off as fast as his short legs could carry him, the king glared back the frozen kitten on stage- a hint of almost murder in his eyes...
When a huge, mud-covered creature suddenly came barreling up the left side of the stage.
