To say that Yzel was caught off-guard would be an understatement.
Many feelings swallowed him in the moment his companion-turned-Salmonling lunged at him and slammed his body forcefully against a nearby wall, tightly gripping his shoulders. Shock, fear, panic, anything and everything but true readiness for what was happening. Then again, who could've possibly been prepared for something like this?
The inkling struggled and writhed against the Salmon's hold, desperate to break free. What to do afterwards was of no concern to Yzel, escaping that piercing stare was all that mattered at the moment. Making any sounds proved to be useless, for his yell was cut off by the Salmonling's claw shrouding his mouth, and struggling with greater intensity led to him being pressed against the wall further with a tightened grip. The salmonid's commanding growl ceased any and all obscured protesting from Yzel. He recognized that perhaps it was better to comply with whatever her demands were than to fight back against a being who could easily splat him on a whim.
Quieted voices reverbated and bounced off the walls and within earshot of the pair. Murmurs and whispers.
"What were those screams?"
"Did something happen here?"
"That was weird.. maybe we should check it out."
The salmon girl held her breath and stayed still as a statue, holding the inkling even tighter against the wall for as long as the chorus of confusion echoed through the alley. Once all doubt that someone was still listening in on them was gone, the salmon loosened her grip on Yzel's shoulders and set him down.
Being all too eager to escape, Yzel took this new opportunity to kick back the salmon girl off him and draw his slosher, standing at the ready for whatever she threw at him.
She got up in a low posture and gave him a fierce look. The cephalopods were locked in an uneasy standoff that stretched on for some minutes, neither truly willing to enact the first move..
Her posture relaxed, and with a rasped sigh she slowly straightened up and rose to her full height. The girl's pitiful expression was enough to stir up hesitation in the male, causing him to slack his hold on his weapon.
"That's.. still you in there, right Jade?" He asked, confusion laced in his tone. Slowly, regretfully and silently, the salmon girl nodded.
"What the shell…" Putting his weapon away, Yzel stepped closer and circled Jade, looking her new self up and down. While her overall body structure stayed the same at the very least, the rest changed considerably. Her skin had been bleached white all over, save for the patches of gray scales that claimed her clawed, webbed hands and feet. Jade had grown taller and more buff, with Yzel's head reaching to her shoulder when just moments before he was at eye level with her. Unfortunately, that also meant her clothes became too small for her frame, with her remaining torn t-shirt and shorts straining to fit over her enlarged body and the rest being reduced to shreds, discarded uselessly on the pavement.
Most striking of all was her changed face; An unrecognizable, bizarre melding of both inkling and salmonid, with things like a pair of dark green, almost draconic-looking ears, a pointed gray nose and orange fin-hair— characteristics commonly found in Chums— adorning and flowing out of the oval-shaped head of a teenage inkling.
Jade stumbled over to the wall from earlier, her now digitrade legs slightly quivering with every step, though the added tail helped her maintain her balance, and with it's support, she slid down into a sitting position on the ground. "Well… now you know, I guess.." she muttered, hugging her knees.
"I have a lot of questions," was Yzel's slow response as he joined Jade near the wall, standing next to her, "Though I'm not sure if now's the time."
"No, it's okay. I needed to tell someone at some point, anyways. Ask away."
Yzel eyed the girl worriedly, his mouth ever so slightly curling into a frown. Even with her permission, the notion of bombarding his companion with a dozen questions about her condition didn't sit well with him. He couldn't imagine what turmoil Jade must be going through, the mix of confusion, fear and anger that is cast over her being, and to thrust upon her his curiosity and attention on top of it all?
As much as he wanted to know just what the heck was going on, the sensible piece of his mind reasoned that she needed some space. Although..
"So.. what was all that like the first time?" Yzel queried. Jade eyed him in return before turning to the nearby darkness of the alley.
"Um… I don't really remember..? It.. nevermind," Her brief ramble was followed by a sigh and a shake of her head. With eyes shut tight, Jade focused her thoughts and began to recount her experiences with her new condition.
The tale started out simple enough, merely retelling the sensations and subsequent outburst that ocurred after she was bitten, but it soon took a darker turn once she reached the point where she went to sleep.
"..I had a nightmare. I was drowning in a sea and couldn't move my body. Then a bunch of chums surrounded me and began to…" hot liquid began to pile up in the corner of her eyelids, and Jade reflexively sniffled. Still, she fought back the tears and pressed on. "I was eaten. Over and over, they bit and munched on every limb of my body and they just wouldn't stop. I-I couldn't scream or break free, and I felt myself slipping the more they took from my body. They never stopped, I n-no longer felt anything once they got to my head and… at least i-it was just a nightmare," She paused with a shaky breath, opening her eyes once more, "The next day, though…"
"You woke up looking like that?" Yzel continued, an increased curiosity present in his voice. Jade nodded before returning her attention to the pavement.
"I don't get something. Your body's changed, sure, but you're still acting like yourself. What drove ya to go trash a bunch of places the last two nights?" Yzel asked again, as he turned to the girl and scooted to sit in front of her.
"I didn't— I wasn't aware I even did anything until I heard some gossip about a monster attack. Of course, seeing the damage for myself made me realize that I was that monster.."
"Hardcore sleepwalking.." Yzel muttered flatly. It took him more than a few seconds to notice something shiny and wet on the girl's eyes; more tears.
"I-I am so scared, Yzel," Jade whimpered while hugging herself, "What am I gonna do? I could barely control myself, So many were hurt during my blackouts- I'll only be a danger to others if this k-k-keeps ha-happening.."
Soon, she began shaking uncontrollably, letting out a few sobs. Hard as she tried, Jade couldn't find the right answers in her grief. She desperately wanted to escape this foul misshapen body she's gained, to brush this whole experience off as nothing more than a harmless nightmare, but it was impossible to deny the reality of what has happened. Why was this happening to her? How could she even go back to leading anything close to a normal life now that she was a freak? Was there even something— anything— that could possibly help her?
"Hey."
The salmon girl tensed up when a warm arm wrapped around her, and glanced sideways to see the inkling male staring directly into her with a stern but nonetheless soft manner.
"Listen: I get that it must be hard to cope with all this, and you're probably feeling like you're about to explode. That's all okay, you know? Scream, weep, kick, lie down- you can do all of those if you want, it helps clear the mind. I'm all ears if you wanna say more.. but before you start I want you to know this: It's not over yet."
"Why would you say that..?"
"I mean, sure, the fact that you can turn into a salmonling might cause a lot of problems, but that isn't enough of a reason to feel down. It.. might take some time, but I'm sure you'll find a way to make this work in your favor, possibly fix it. Who knows, maybe this doesn't turn out to be so bad after all?" Yzel monologued, finishing with an encouraging smirk and a thumbs up.
Jade gazed at him with uncertainty, but nevertheless returned a quivering, toothy smile to the young man, displaying her changed and mismatched maw that was filled with sharp teeth and two big fangs on the upper row, and squared snaggletooths on the bottom row.
Yzel could only stammer and stare dumbfoundedly at the repugnant sight of Jade's changed mouth. Still, he was able to recompose himself and smiled back at the salmonling, "W-what I'm trying to say is don't let this get to ya. You'll get the hang of it sooner or later."
"Ok…" the girl nodded softly, dropping her smile and turning away from Yzel without another word, and with closed eyes she reclined on the block wall and layed there. In the silence that followed, Yzel began to hear a small, soft hiccup. Then another, and another, and a few more after, accompanied by sets of sniffles.
It took only a moment for him to realize it was the sound of sobbing.
Softly and as if restraining herself, Jade poured out all her anguish. Tear after tear, sob after sob, she cried and wailed as much as she could, venting the storm of frustration and emotions out to the world. The supportive hand on her shoulder made her freeze for a moment, but an encouraging nod from Yzel allowed her to vent some more, until her sobs began to subside over the course of several minutes. Soon, silence returned once more.
The sound of smashed glass brought the pair's contemplative respite to a swift end, assaulting their ears and deeply startling them. Yzel sprang up from his spot, as did Jade, and took cautious steps towards the street outside. A sweep of the area showed nothing out of the ordinary, though he did notice shards of glass lying around. Those weren't there before, were they?
Whatever the case, thankfully not many passerby were around, and even then none of them bothered to peek a sigh of relief, Yzel entered the alley again. The darkened walls noticeably brightened when he passed by them, only to return to the night's darkness after a certain distance. Was he glowing, somehow? If he did, surely he would've felt a reaction by now.
Nevertheless he returned to Jade's side, the girl still remaining in her spot after standing up. "Did you find any-..." Jade stopped when she saw the dancing, fluttering orbs of light over Yzel's head, a feeling of numbness suddenly washing over her.
"All clear out there," He informed Jade, who still remained in her spot after standing up and began to twitch irregularly. "Uh.. you okay?"
"Glow.. flies.."
"Wha?" Yzel looked up, and sure enough there was a pack of glowflies fluttering above his head. What was the problem? they were very distracting to him, yes, but he didn't yet understand how glowflies could be a bad thing to a salmon-
Oh.
Oh.
"Glowflies!" With eyes shut tight, the salmonling feebly shook her head in protest, her body trembling uncontrollably as she desperately tried to hold back the growing wave of urges taking over. Yzel rushed in to help, but was pushed away immediately after only the slightest touch.
"Grruh- Get.. away-!" Jade grunted, thrashing around and bashing against a nearby wall. Yzel helplessly backed away all the while, though his legs betrayed him when Jade's struggling suddenly calmed down and she simply stood in place. Her rasped breaths for air deepened to a prolonged growl as her body shook, and Yzel could only hold his breath with dread-filled anticipation, until the moment of truth came: The salmonling threw her head back and let out a primal, rage-filled screech, and immediately lunged at her new prey.
The salmonling's first slash was dodged in the nick of time, but the punch that quickly followed was strong enough to send Yzel flying out to the middle of the street, landing with a hard thud against the cement ground. He recovered and leaped up just before a rapidly approaching car could run him over. He drew out his slosher as the salmon wildly charged towards him, and swung the bucket to deck her in the cheek just before she could attack.
"C'mon, Jade! You really need to calm down!" Yzel yelled with a hint of annoyance. The striken salmonling snapped towards him, and for a moment Yzel could see more closely the pair of glowing pupil-less red orbs Jade held at the moment, most certainly due to her current state. The male sloshed a wave of ink at the berserk Jade, who in turn hissed in pain and recoiled upon contact. Yzel's success was brief however, for the salmonling retaliated by slashing and subsequently slamming him onto the ground. It seemed as if he was about to be finished off, however just as she brought down a claw on him, Jade froze upon witnessing the glowflies on Yzel's head moving.
She let go of Yzel once the glowflies left him alone and chased after them, pouncing on and reaching out to grab the bugs, and even leaping at a nearby building wall and swimming after them in her salmon form, leaving a trail of green ink the higher she rose. The flies, and Jade with them, reached the top of the building and ran off somewhere else.
"Oh cod," Yzel fearfully muttered, passing glances between the trail left behind by the salmonling and the rest of the street that held a few stunned and scared cephalopods.
"Nononono, this can't be happening!" He exclaimed before breaking into a sprint after the fleeing Salmonling.
A chase ensued over the course of the night. The berserker salmonling leaped from rooftop to rooftop while Yzel ran as fast as he could on the streets below. On the next rooftop she landed on, the salmonling began to stumble and clutch her head all of a sudden. The bout of internal conflict ended as quickly as it came, however, for she quickly returned to her feral state and skulked closer to the edge of the rooftop. With a growl she peered down to the street, where the glowflies fluttered towards a young inkling, as if beckoning her over to her next prey.
The savage cephalopod was all too happy to oblige. She leapt off and turned around in midair, digging her claws to the side of the building to slow down her fall, and then began her slow descent. Upon touching the floor, she sank into her own ink and sneakily swam closer and closer to the clueless fool. Just a cross away from him, she could already taste it; his soft squishy flesh being crumpled and torn to pieces by her teeth, as the rest of his body exploded into a worthless stain on the ground.
So with a small start, she leapt from her hiding spot and pounced at him.
Of course, she didn't count on the pesky inkling from earlier intercepting her and dashing closer in front of the surprised inkling just as she was about to and decisively, Yzel retaliated with a kick. His foot collided with her face, and the girl was sent crashing into a nearby stor
"Guess I kicked her a bit too hard.." Yzel lamented. A dozen passerby either fled or backed away from the downed Salmonling, with a few even having their phones out to take pics (though there was also one in the process of hastily calling the authorities). The salmonling woozily stood up once again, setting her glare on the pair of inklings facing her.
"W-woah.." The skittish nearly-victim blubbered, "I-is that..?"
"Yep," Yzel nodded without a glance.
"The one who-?"
"That's right."
The girl bared her teeth and rushed toward the pair without a second to waste. With a yelp, the two inklings jumped out of the way of the salmonling's attack. The purple haired inkling dodged the salmonling's inmediate flurry of slashes to the best of his ability, though he received a scratch on his chest, causing him a lot of pain. Just as the salmonid prepared to slash again, a swathe of lime green ink struck her from the back, eliciting a cry of pain and allowing the purple inkling to escape her grasp.
"How the heck do we stop that monster?!" he exclaimed as he hastily pulled out a splattershot if his own.
"C'mon, haven't you ever been in a Grizzco shift?" Yzel replied. The inkling shook his head negatively, and Yzel merely facepalmed with a groan in response. "Those glowflies on your head are what's causing her to act like that and I imagine is making her stronger than usual. They're.. also the reason she's going after you!"
"Then what do we do?! I can't shake these things off no ma- AAAGH!" Suddenly, the inkling was pounced on by the berserk salmonling, and with a powerful bite that tore through his neck, the screaming inkling was splatted. The beast hissed lowly as she turned around to face Yzel. He cautiously took a step back when she began to strut toward him, though still stood firm against her. With a growl, she leaped at Yzel, and he moved to swing his slosher in turn. Jade caught the bucket in her hands, and the two cephalopods were locked in a struggle for the weapon, until the girl finally pried the bucket off of Yzel's hands and ripped it in half.
"Oh no," Yzel meekly said before he was unceremoniously swatted away by a back-hand from the salmonling. Her gaze followed the glowflies' trail until it landed on her next target- a frightened and trembling jellyfish- and began to run on all fours towards them. She was stopped once again when Yzel slid in and stuck his foot out, tripping her up to later get up and hold the salmonling down with a bit of effort.
"I get those bugs are very loud in your head, but I'd really like it if you made more of an effort in shutting them out-!" Yzel's plea was cut off by Jade throwing his body off her, letting out a triumphant roar in the process. And to make sure he stood down, she slammed her foot down on both of his legs, eliciting a scream of pain from Yzel. The salmonling snapped her attention to the rest of the street. Unfortunately for her, a scan of the area showed her prey had escaped while she wasn't looking, and a disdainful growl escaped her throat. This one merely had luck on her side, the next prey she finds will not escape her so easily, her rampant and corrupted thoughts reassured.
The glowflies fluttered away somewhere else and Jade in turn began to swim and leap after them, their silent calling beaming brightly and resounding in her mind. And all the while, Yzel sluggishly sat up with a groan.
"Why my legs.. they just healed..." He slurred, renewing his run after her, clutching his head in pain and just faintly hearing the sounds of police sirens in the distance. The night was getting longer and longer, and he desperately hoped this chaos would end soon.
Throughout streets and rooftops, the salmonling's rampage continued. Wherever the glowflies went, she followed, and whoever they hovered over, she swiftly eliminated them. Any resistance was quickly dealt with, and with no weapon or item that could truly defeat her, she was free to hunt and tear apart as she pleased.
Soon, she found herself near the entrance of one of inkopolis' many shopping malls, hiding in the shadows and quietly surveying the area. Madly rushing in without clear sight of her next prey would put her at a disadvantage, and the commotion and resistance that could follow might lead to them getting away. She just had to bide her time, and when the next victim came out, alone and vulnerable in the dark of night, she would strike. The buzzing lights would guide her to her prey, as they always did.
And there they were: a group of three, a couple and their child, who the glowflies have "chosen" and were hovering over. Walking and laughing together without any worry, oblivious to the lurking danger. That boy.. he seemed familiar, but the clear answer as to why eluded the salmonling's clouded, locked mind. And there was something about the inkling woman's scent...
The salmonling shook her head with a slight grunt. She couldn't distract herself with such things. Her prey was getting closer, after all.
The family didn't notice the blurred shadow skulking behind them while moving along the sidewalk, and were wholly unprepared for when the salmonling lunged at them. Immediately the parents moved to shield their son, with the father standing between the salmonling and the other two inklings, blocking a swing of the monster's claws. Nevertheless, a slash across his belly and a scratch of his face was enough to dispatch him. She turned to the woman and young teen, their faces full of terror, and quickly pounced after them. Hand in hand, they both attempted to run away, yet the salmonling quickly dashed in front of them and cut them off from any escape. With a yell, she slashed at them, and the inklings cried out in pain.
The dark-skinned inkboy fell away from the woman's grasp as a consequence, and he began to frantically crawl away from the monster. The salmonling lunged to harm him again, but reeled back when she was hit by a salvo of purple ink.
"FREEZE!" A stern, accented voice shouted, and the Salmonling glanced to see a squad of police sea creatures lined up in formation and aiming their weapons at her. "Don't make a single move!"
She snarled at them, and with great force she grabbed a nearby lamp post and pulled it out of the ground before violently throwing it at the police. Some took the full brunt of the attack, while the remaining others dived out of the way and fired on the salmonling. A battle soon ensued, and all the while the inkboy shakily got up to his feet and ran to his mother's side.
"Mom!" He called out, embracing her tightly. She was kneeling next to her unconscious husband, and returned the hug in a protective manner. She softly hushed the whimpering 14 year old and comforted him, keeping her purple eyes trained on the rampaging salmonling.
"It will be okay, Khal.. Don't worry," She reassured. The salmonling had just finished a brief scuffle with a starfish cop when she noticed Khal back with his mother and the glowflies still fluttering over him, and pushed them away before breaking into a quadruped run towards the pair. The inklings embraced each other harder and braced for an attack, and despite the efforts of some remaining policemen in holding the beast down, she charged unimpeded at mother and son.
With a fearful yell, Khal broke free from his mother's hug to dodge a slash and sprinted off in another attempt at escaping, but he wasn't able to get far before the salmonling bashed his back and grabbed the collar of his hoodie, slamming his small body against the mall's wall. He cried out in pain, and began to scream for help and uselessly squirm in the beast's hold. She glared at him and raised a claw to finish him off, but relented when his tearful, puffy purple eyes met her glowing, hateful red ones.
Something suddenly snapped in the salmonling's mind. It was as if a thick veil was lifted from her face, revealing a light that cut through a haze of feral delusions. A memory resurfaced to the fore, drowning out the glowflies' call for a moment. Only in that moment however, did the salmonlig truly realize who she was, what she had done and what she was about to bring onto her companion— her friend— if she allowed herself to yield to her primal urges. She could not, would not let them win, she had to break free.
But once again, Jade felt her thoughts slipping and being put to sleep by bestial instinct, commanding her to let go and finish Khal off. That boy was a weakling, anyway, and the weak must be snuffed out by the strong like her.
"No…"
It was so easy. He was already in her grip, she just had to slash his neck and splat him right then and there. Another to fall to her might, and as a bonus she'd get more food!
"No!"
There was no need to hold back. She splatted a few inklings already, what was wrong with eliminating one more? He's no more important than a bug to be crushed under her foot. To deny it was pointless, she didn't need the company of a child who only serves to bring her down. She had to get rid of him and any inhibitions.
"NO!"
Suddenly, a splitting headache assaulted the salmonling, causing her to cry out in pain and unwittingly let go of Khal. Gripping her head and letting out a long scream, she thrashed around and clawed at her head in a struggle to regain control. The others were bewildered at this, too shocked or outright fearful to make any move, and the terrified Khal didn't dare to do anything sudden.
How convenient it was then that Yzel managed to arrive at the scene in time, though heavily fatigued and bruised. He was shocked to see that things had already gone down after a quick scan of the area, and that only increased when he realized who the current victim was and that Jade was actually resisting her 'glowfly instinct', as he would dub it. Now was his chance to put an end to this!
Looking over the wide sidewalk once again, Yzel decided to limp over to the nearest trash can. He dug for anything of possible use, and picked an unused, deflated balloon and a bug spray can that surprisingly still had some contents inside. Thinking fast, he shook the canister as hard and fast as he could, then opened it's cap before pouring the liquid inside the balloon and then tying it up.
"Run.. run, dammit!" The inkling croaked, pushing himself to run as fast as he could.
All the while, Jade continued to struggle against her impulses, shaking her head wildly and continually bashing against the nearby wall. Khal crawled away cautiously as a police officer came running to pick him up. However, another foolishly charged at Jade and swung his baton hard to bash her in the head. He was slashed across the cheek in return, and Jade's struggling began to subside. Her green eyes could only look pleadingly at Khal before they faded to a glowing red once more, and Jade slipped away once again. With a roar of triumph, the salmonling lunged at Khal and the police starfish, and at the same time- with a great yell and all the strength he could muster- Yzel threw the balloon away towards the salmonling.
One second, two seconds, three seconds passed as the balloon flew through the air, until it impacted against the salmonling's head and burst, releasing a splash of liquid that began to spread through the air and killed the glowflies in the vicinity. The salmonling was left dazed by both the impact of the balloon and the slow elimination of the bug, and struggled to remain standing. She put a hand to her head and sluggishly ran away from the area, into the darkness of night.
"And ya better not go after anyone else tonight!" Yzel shouted to the fleeing mutant. He limped over to the gathered cephalopods, watching as a few of the police brought Khal together with his mother, both tearfully embracing each other. 2 other cephalopods moved to assess the damage, and Yzel even spotted an ambulance parked nearby, with a few nurses moving to pick up the incapacitated inkling father. All was well.. for now…
"Young man," The woman called to Yzel, gazing at him with relief, "Thank you.. I never imagined someone like you would step in to stop that.. monster."
"Well, I'm not gonna let some weird salmon girl hurt my little buddy," He replied with a shrug.
"Yzel..?" Khal slurred, glancing back at the mentioned inkling from his position.
"Told ya we'd meet again, didn't I?" Yzel knelt down and gave the smaller boy a pat on the shoulder, something that brought a small smile onto Khal. "Though, sorry for cutting this short."
"Huh? W-where are you going?"
"Uh-"
"Hey.. haven't I seen ya somewhere before?" The accented policeman, a light blue bipedal seahorse, drawled as he inspected Yzel closely. The young man stared back at him with a terrified look, and was mentally berating himself. Why did he have to cross paths with this guy of all cephalopods?
"Y-you're, uh, thinking of someone else. See ya!" Yzel nervously clarified to the cop. Hastily and with certain roughness, Yzel jogged a few paces before superjumping away.
"Hey, I'm not done with ya yet!"
"Just let him go, Roney. He ain't worth it at the moment," A fellow cop counseled while pulling out some yellow tape from his pockets. Roney merely sighed in response, walking to another spot to examine something. And all the while cops got to work all around her, the inkling woman continued to ponder over what had just transpired, staring intently at the spot the salmonling last stood in. One thought prevailed in her mind: How could it- she- be possible?
The echoes of distant crowds and police sirens could be faintly heard as Jade dragged her feet across the pavement of a darkened alley, panting heavily and using a wall for support. She was on her own again, and though the inherent two-way danger has passed, a great fear was still present within her. She had just fought a couple of cops, after all, what if they called in more? What if someone else bumped into her tonight?
She didn't dare to think of the consequences. So much damage had already been caused, all the harm she brought to others.. it was becoming too much to bear. Jade quivered in her step and began to weep silently. Guilt soon overwhelmed her, and she broke down into uncontrollable sobs and fell to her knees.
She was so absorbed in her guilt that she didn't hear the sounds of footsteps approaching. And when she actually did, Jade was dismayed to see the shadowy figure of an inkling standing at the end of the alleyway.
"Well, would you look at that. Not even a day has passed and here I am, bumping into you again," The familiar aloof, critical voice of Salem seethed, "Did you have fun out there?"
Jade was struck speechless,freezing in place and looking down in shame. The obscured Salem merely shook his head and sighed in response. "I don't know why I'm bothering with you. Better to just throw you out to the authorities and be done with it."
However, before Salem could do anything, Yzel suddenly landed from his superjump, albeit in a very rough way. "Ugh.. did ya really have to mash my legs into squid paste? They just healed.." He groaned, shakily standing up and walking over to Jade's side. The salmon girl stared at him in disbelief, while Salem merely scoffed in response.
"Who asked you?"
"Heya, man," Yzel greeted with a lazy drawl, "Glad to see you too, but can you please just.. stop for a moment? It's been a really long day for the two of us, and I imagine you as well. I really don't want to deal with anymore crap.. but if you wanna cause more trouble, by all means. You're a decent guy, but I really don't wanna pound you to the ground if you try to pull anything."
"You've got to be joking. There's no excuse for you to defend a salmonid like her, especially after all she's done," Salem accused.
"Haven't you noticed that maaaybe she wasn't entirely in her right mind, and that maaybe she was… just acting in self-defense?" Yzel attempted to argue, though his words formed a very flimsy comeback. "You tell him, Jade."
"Conscious or not, she still has to-" Salem stopped at the mention of Jade's name, and looked between Yzel and Jade with bafflement. "What are you talking about? Jade isn't here, you idiot."
"You don't understand, Salem. I swear, It's me.. Jade. I-I turned into this…" The salmonling whimpered fearfully, looking up to meet Salem's orange eyes.
The blue inkboy's eyes widened, and he took a step back in disbelief. "You- you're lying!"
"Do you really think either of us would lie about something like this?" Yzel remarked.
"Please, Salem… I don't want to cause any more harm, I won't do anything else. Help me…"
Salem averted his gaze away from his previous companions and began to mull over the situation. Tense seconds passed by without a single word or move by anyone, until Salem turned towards Yzel and Jade with a hardened gaze.
"Follow me. I'll let you off.. for now…" He ordered, turning around and beginning to walk away. Jade and Yzel were relieved, to say the least, letting out grateful sighs before Yzel helped the salmonling get up, despite his quivering legs. Supporting and helping each other walk, they followed Salem across the backstreets and alleys, protected and hidden by the cover of night. Jade was glad no more harm would come to anyone else tonight, but the shadow of terror loomed over her once more…
And unbeknownst to the three of them, a 4-rotor helicopter drone was hovering high in the air, aiming and zooming in with it's camera at the trio, recording their walk towards safety.
Author's notes
It's been some time, reader. Apologies for the later than usual update, but hopefully this chapter is a satisfactory one. Once again, if there is anything that could be improved, a review would be appreciated. This story might experience some slowdown since, well, some of it isn't exactly fledged out yet, but I will try to post another chapter without too long of a wait. Though, no promises. Until next time..