Chapter Four

A Haunting Vengeance from Beyond the Grave

She watched them from a distance, watching them party as the disco lights illuminated the room, flickering through the widow and shining off a few buildings. And yet, they didn't even have the trophy.

When she met them at the start of the tournament, from the moment they insulted her for being human and she wanted to strangle that blue-tentacled sack of carp, Meggy never thought she would ever see this happening before her eyes.

It could have been her and the others, if only she had lived long enough to splat her in the face and hadn't been knocked off the platform...

Her no-longer beating heart welled with sorrow, brimming with a melancholy tone, as she observed Team Killer Ink, partying their assumed victory. Her sorrow wasn't the only emotion that Meggy felt for long, she felt herself clenching her fists, her soul blazing with rage and her eyes narrowing.

"My child...?" Embra said, placing a gentle hand on Meggy's shoulder and floating by her side, "Don't forget, you have passed, there isn't much we can do."

"Just who do they think they are?" Meggy said with a shaking voice, "Discriminating against me and my friends, kicking me off a platform and making me break my neck, then partying the night away as if they think they can get away for the dirty shit they did. They should be facing karma and there's nothing that can ruin this..."

"We can torment them... if you want to..."

Meggy looked to Embra, "You actually...?"

"Yes, young Meggy. You are a ghost; you are part of the supernatural and it is known that people can fear the souls of the dead. I will not stop you from tormenting those who wronged you, we can together. How would you feel?"

Meggy smirked evilly, her eyes flashing red, and the night sky darkened. "Oh... I like that very much." She said, letting off a cackle.

In life, she'd often showed creepy bloodthirsty expressions, a murderous look in her eyes, whenever someone provoked her. Now, as a ghostly entity, Meggy could unleash hell on those who represented injustice.

Embra waved her arms and dark clouds rolled across the sky, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, covering Inkopolis in darkness. Meggy floated towards her Splatfest rival team's apartment, smiling with glee, ready to inflict terror on them.

She could see it coming closer, the party lights deactivating and the celebratory laughter winding down and becoming replaced with shocked murmurs of confusion.

'This is where the fun begins.' Meggy thought.

"Wh-What's going on boss?" She heard the Mask Boy say.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Mask Girl said.

"C'mon, it's just a thunderstorm." Leader quipped, "How is that gonna ruin the party, don't tell me you believe in ghosts."

CRACK! Lightning flashed and Meggy pressed her face against the window, the Killer Ink Thug and the Commando noticed, letting off a yelp just as Meggy turned invisible and Embra joined her. A second longer, they would be striking soon.

"Oh, what happened?" Leader demanded.

"GHOSTS!" Commando and Thug yelled.

"YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!" The blue Inkling screamed, "YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU SAW A GHOST THROUGH THE DAMN WINDOW! WE BARELY JUST STARTED THIS PARTY AND YOU'VE ALREADY HAD SO MUCH TO DRINK; HOW MUCH DID YOU DRINK!"

Due to her intangibility with the world around her, Meggy floated through the window just as lightning flashed again, her shadow appearing on the wall next to the Mask Girl with Embra following, her shadow appearing as well.

Mask Girl jumped in alarm and drew her Charger, shaking in her shoes while raising her mask, completely surprised by what was happening.

"Oh, put away the charger!" The Leader demanded, "There's no such thing as..."

"GHOST!" Thug cried.

Embra had appeared in front of the Inkling, making herself visible to the Killer Inks, the Mask Boy ducked behind a shelf, screaming in horror. Embra turned to Meggy and waved her arm, letting herself become invisible and letting the former Inkling take form as she faced the Killer Ink Commando, the one who called her a freak.

Mask Boy/Commando whimpered, Meggy snarled in a menacing manner, which she rarely was capable of in life, and raised her arm, bringing it down to slap the Inkling across the face.

"That wasn't very nice." He said.

WHAM! Meggy grabbed the squid and threw him into the wall, causing a painting to collapse to the floor. The Mask Boy yelped and bolted out of the room, just as the Mask Girl shrieked and ran away too.

Then Meggy turned, becoming invisible along with Embra once more, and floated around, eying the Leader, who'd dropped a bottle of champagne in shock.

Lightning flashed, Leader looked around the room, hearing thunder and the sounds of her crew whimpering in shock. Meggy let off a ghostly howl, sending a chill through the Inkling's body and her ink ran cold. Then...

She appeared, taking full form in front of the Leader, becoming completely visible as a ghost could be for her rival to comprehend.

Meggy snarled savagely, her teeth like fangs and her eyes glowing a horrendous shade of yellow, her fingers like claws. The Leader screamed, almost slipping on a Splattershot and a bottle of alcohol, her eyes wide with terror.

"It is I..." Meggy snarled, "Meggy Spletzer, back to haunt you..."

"NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" The Leader screamed.

"Remember me, remember what you did. You knocked me off that platform, I broke my neck because of you, you killed me. Accident or intentional, you hated me and wanted me eliminated from the competition, playing dirty can get you nowhere AND NOW YOU WILL PAY WITH EVERYTHING!"

WHAM! Before she saw it coming, The Leader felt something hard strike her in the face, right across the jaw. She stumbled over, looking up to see the ghost had hit her with a fist.

Impossible, ghosts could beat people up?!

"And that... is for every insult, for every dirty trick..." The ghost snarled, "YOU WILL REGRET EVERYTHING, YOU WASTE OF INK! DISCRIMINATING AGAINST MY FRIENDS, KNOCKING ME OVER WITH EVERY CHANCE YOU GOT AND DRIVING ME SIX-FEET UNDER?! NOW YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKING DESERVE!"

Up came the fist again and Meggy punched the Leader in the nose, breaking it hard and causing a stream of ink to burst out of the Inkling's nostrils as she screamed in pain. Meggy grabbed her, picked her up and then slammed her into the ground headfirst, just as a wrestler was knocking his opponent out.

Leader got back up, rubbing her head in agony, then Meggy slashed at her, grazing her jacket and her skin. The ghost came at her, punching her from every direction until The Leader was guaranteed to have some bruises for a while, let alone quite the inky face, until...

"STOP! STOP!" She screamed, dropping to her knees, "I'M SORRY! I'LL REPENT, I'LL REPENT!"

Meggy stopped.

"YES, I DIDN'T LIKE YOU!" The Leader wailed, "YES, I PUSHED YOU OFF THE PLATFORM AND YES, WE INKLINGS DON'T THINK VERY HIGHLY OF HUMANS, EVEN IF ONE LIKE YOU WAS BORN AN INKLING! ALL WE WANTED WAS TO WIN THE TOURNAMENT AND I PLAYED DIRTY!

"WE PLAYED DIRTY, BECAUSE WE'RE THE TOUGHEST OF THE TOUGH AND WE'LL DO ANYTHING TO MAKE SURE WE REMAIN AT THE TOP AS THE NUMBER ONE TEAM! I'M SORRY FOR WHAT I DID, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S TOO LATE, WE'LL NEVER BE THE BEST AND YOU... YOU WERE A WORTHY OPPONENT! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"

More lightning flashed outside and rain began to pour, just as it had been raining at the funeral. Meggy looked at Umbra, who materialized next to her. The Leader yelped, shot to her feet, and ran out of the room, screaming and wailing while her team watched with shock.

Umbra and Meggy nodded to each other, then, they vanished into the shadows and left the apartment...