Chapter Five

Confession and Back to Jail

Vin ran, running through the dark and rainy streets of Inkopolis, her eyes wide and full of tears as her heart pounded. Ghosts from beyond the grave, she never believed in ghosts that much, except for the spirits of Inklings who either respawned or never respawned.

And yet, she believed in the afterlife, but never did she think that someone from the afterlife would come to torment her, inflict pain on her and make the cyan-blue squid girl fear for her own continued existence.

Ink dripped from her face onto the ground, her nose stinging from the pain, stinging from when the beanie-wearing specter had punched her across the face. The rain poured down, drenching her face and wetting her outfit, even as she still stood to run, the heel of her boots splashing water in the puddle-filled streets as she went.

Around Vin, Inklings watched her run, some seeing the fear in her face. She bumped into an orange Inkling girl, one who wore a beanie on her head. Vin yelped and ran, reminded of the girl whose ghost had tormented her earlier.

'Leave me alone...' She thought, whenever she saw an orange female Inkling, 'Just leave me alone.'

Her eyes darted around, fearing the chance that something was after her, another ghost. In the dark of night, even in the rain, ghosts roamed.

Having seen a ghost for the first time in her life, having just been beaten to an inch of her life by a vengeful spirit, the once-confident and highly-determined Vin Valentine was reduced to a frightened, helpless Inkling, uncertain of her future.

She rushed to Inkopolis Plaza, seeing Callie and Marie exit their studio, having very likely just finished another broadcast and had been discussing the events at the tournament followed by tomorrow's weather and the latest Turf War stages.

"HEY!" Vin cried, her voice attracting the attention of everyone in the plaza, including a couple police officers on patrol duty.

"Look who it is." Marie said, "Vin Valentine, cold as Winter, the Leader of Killer Ink."

The cyan-blue squid ran past the various Inklings and Octolings in the plaza, pushing past a few cops, until she finally reached the Squid Sisters and stopped at a mere arms' length from the two Inkling cousins, gasping, sweating, crying and bleeding ink.

Vin looked Callie and Marie in the eye, shaking immensely, gasping for breath and ready to have it all be done with for good. "I'm... I'm sorry..." She said, "I'm sorry... for all of it."

"And what do we mean by this?" Callie asked with an eager smile.

"I KILLED HER! I KILLED MEGGY SPLETZER, EVEN IF IT WAS BY ACCIDENT, I KILLED HER AND I HATED HER SO MUCH, I WANTED HER OUT OF MY WAY TO VICTORY! WE FOUGHT HARD TO GET TO WHERE WE WERE GOING AND WE NEVER THOUGHT HIGHLY OF ANYBODY ELSE SUCH, ESPECIALLY THE LIKES OF... HUMANS!

"YES, I KNOCKED HER OFF THAT PLATFORM! WE ALL PLAYED UNFAIRLY TO GET TO WHAT WE WANTED, THE GLORY OF BEING A SPLATFEST CHAMPION! WELL, LOOK WHERE THAT LED TO AND, NOW, IF ANYBODY DESERVES THAT TROPHY, IT'S THOSE MUSTACHED GUYS AND THAT... THAT BLUE-HAIRED CYBORG GIRL!

"A-A-AND US, YOU CAN PUT ME AWAY, MY FRIENDS CAN SERVE THE COMMUNITY IN ANYWAY YOU MAKE THEM! TH-TH-THE KILLER INKS ARE DONE, WE CROSSED THE LINE AND HER GHOST C-C-CAME BACK FROM THE AFTERLIFE TO PUNCH ME! LOCK ME UP AND LET MY FORMER CREW PAY ANY DEBTS TO SOCIETY!"

Vin dropped to her knees, wailing in the rain as various Inklings murmured, some even jeered and sneered at her. Rays, Mosque and Gahsk, who'd followed her to the Plaza, stood in shock as some citizens shot them looks of disdain.

By this point, nobody seemed to think so highly of them anymore.

"I guess that's it." Callie said apprehensively, "The end of the once-great Team Killer Ink. Thank for your confession, Ms. Valentine..." She turned to the cops, "Officers, you know what to do."

A pair of blue cops came forward and handcuffed Vin, just as one of the agents had previously done so in the Walleye Warehouse after the... misfortunate accident that had taken place amidst the Turf War event.

The cops led Vin away, leading her back to prison, while a few other officers turned to the former Killer Inks and looked them in the eye as lightning flashed in the dark and rainy night.

Marie and Callie watched as Vin Valentine, the once undisputed Splatfest champion and now former leader of Team Killer Ink, vanished into the darkness and the rain, then they looked at each other, knowing what had to be done.

The Splatfest was over and the Killer Inks' days were finished, but there was one more detail to take care of...