"This, Miss Silla, is a mammoth fish, native of the Rata Sea." The two stared at the small aquarium, placed on a small decaying wooden table. Swimming inside the small tank was a little brown fish, with two small horns poking out from underneath it's eyes...it looked sort of, adorable, in a derpy way.
Malincha stared at the fish, and then reached into her handbag for a pack of cigarettes, pulling one out and wedging it in between her lips. "Is that supposed to impress me? It looks like you put a goldfish on steroids, or testosterone."
"...Hey, you know, smoking isn't allow-" Andone trailed off after taking in the dirty look Malincha gave him as she reached into her bag once again for a lighter and lit the end of the cigarette. "...Whatever, feel free to vandalize the store walls while you're at it, go crazy." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"So, the fish. Give me some reasons as to why I shouldn't eat it, and we'll see." She lowered the cigarette from her lips and blew smoke into the air. Andone started to twitch strangely.
"W-well, starting off, it's incredibly intelligent. It can decipher and travel through underwater mazes in mere minutes!"
"I don't plan on putting my fish into mazes, I plan on putting them into cooking pots." She put the cigarette to her lips once again and gazed, unimpressed at Andone, who seemed to be getting increasingly nervous. Andone put a hand to his chin, thinking for a moment...before snapping his fingers.
"I've GOT IT! How about I show you how they eat? It's so adorable, it'll make you realize how cool fish are instantly." Despite looking like a homeless beggar, Andone's smile had a certain charm to it which could light up even the darkest of rooms. "So?"
"Whatever, go crazy. Fatten it up all you like, it's a little too small for me to cook, so that would be a good idea...wait, speaking of which, aren't Rata Fish supposed to be gigantic monsters?" She asked, letting out another puff of smoke, clouding up the glass of the aquarium.
"Yes! It's quite interesting actually. You see, they can live in both fresh and salt water, but when removed from salt water they become all cute and cuddly. So that's another reason why you shouldn't cook it." He grinned, fanning away the smoke as he spoke. "You see, if you tried to season it with salt, it would instantly resurrect itself and eat you on the spot."
"...." Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, and she started to cough, choking on the smoke, and fanning it away rapidly. Andone watched her for a moment and then started to shuffle away.
"Yeahhh, I'm gonna get that fish food!"
As Andone headed towards his desk, he opened up one of his drawers and pulled out a small can of fish food, specifically for fish from the Rata Sea. He glanced at it, and then shook it up for a few seconds before walking off....and then he glanced down at the fish food in his hand. He held it to his ear and shook it again, and then he opened up the can.
"I knew it sounded weird. What the fuck, is this some sort of joke?" He stared into the can, which was not full of fish flakes, but instead loaded with salt. Who did this? He thought. I'm the only one who works here, so perhaps while I was showing Miss Silla around someone replace the flakes with salt? His eyes widened as he walked back to the desk and put back the can.
"Is this..the work of that guy from yesterday?" He whispered to himself.
"HEY!" A sharp voice called out from behind him, and he whipped around, seeing Silla, standing beside the aquarium, tapping her foot impatiently. "I said I had things to do, did I not? Hurry up and fetch the s-flakes!"
"Yes'm." He sighed, concluding that he would just have to check the cameras later. Shuffling through the desk, he went through every single can of fish flakes, even the ones for normal fish, and found that every single one of them had been replaced with salt, except one can of fish flakes named Potato Flakes.
This is actually ridiculous. Is that guy from yesterday so intent on making me talk that'd he'd risk the lives of my customers? Does he know how dangerous these fish are? He thought to himself as he shook the can of fish flakes one more time for good measure, and then walked over to Silla with the can in hand, and a bright smile on his face.
"Sheesh, what took you so long?" She smothered the cigarette onto the wooden table, and carefully peeled off her gloves, massaging her hands.
"I see you smoked up a storm while I was gone." He observed, and then handed the fish flakes to her, opening up the can. "Here, why don't you feed the fish so you can see how cool it is. The fish swims right up to the flakes and just gobbles them up. It really is an amazing experience."
"Why can't you just have a pet dog or cat like a normal person?" Silla sighed, and frowned down at the little fish, before shaking a few of the fish flakes into the aquarium. The fish swam up to the flakes and opened up its mouth slightly, nomming them down.
"Aw, don't you see? It's adorable." He crossed his arms, smiling down at the small fish.
"...Well, I... I guess, it is...sorta..."
"Cute?" He smiled at her, and she frowned at him, but took another step closer towards the fish tank and smiled down at it....and then.
The small little brown fish swimming through the tank suddenly erupted in size in a split second, swelling to twice the size of an elephant in under a few seconds, shattering the small tank it was encased in. Using its giant fins as legs, it pounced onto Silla, who, due to how fast this all had happened, was caught completely by surprise, its horns shooting through her throat and instantly killing her.
As the fish slammed the woman on the floor, Andone watched for a few seconds, absolutely stunned as the beast gobbled up the corpse of the woman, leaving only a large puddle of blood on the dirty, stained store floor. The fish slowly turned towards him, and his eyes widened.
It shot towards him, and despite its gigantic size, it was terrifyingly quick, crossing the distance in between them in a matter of a few seconds, ramming its powerful tusks into the man, who formed an X with his arms, and attempted to block the attack, sending him crashing into the aquarium behind him, the glass shattering, and water, and blood, dousing him.
She just...died. That's impossible. The flakes shouldn't have caused that sort of reaction...-unless...unless they had salt in them? His eyes widened and he slammed his hand onto the ground, springing himself into the air and above the mammoth fish which attempted to ram him a second time, the beast crashing into the wall behind him.
With the beast dazed, Andone ran towards the back room of the store and quickly kicked the door down, not bothering to pull out the key. As he rushed into the room, his heart beating intensely, he pulled out a long box, in which was a Tlahuitolli (a Mayan bow), with 10 arrows, sharpened with obsidian at the ends. Pulling the bow out of the box, he aligned the arrow with the bow and slid out the room.
Shit, this is all my fault. I was too relieved to see a fish can that wasn't full of salt, and so I didn't even think of checking the label to see if it contained salt. And because of that carelessness, Miss Silla ended up dead...and now I'm going to have to kill my own fish. He sighed, standing face to face with the mammoth fish which had pulled its head out of the wall, and had lowered itself to the floor.
It's two tusks started to spin around rapidly, generating a bit of steam as water on the beast evaporated, and then the tusks shot towards the man, who quickly manned his bow, and with master speed, shot down both of the tusks, before shooting three different arrows in under a second into the beast's side. "Stay down, okay? I don't want to-"
The beast lunged towards him again, this time trying to use its massive tail fins to slam the man into the wall, but he gracefully evaded this, and with a heavy sigh, aimed the arrow at the beast, closing his eyes.
I'm sorry I was so careless Tusky...I'll see you on the flip side. He opened his eyes and let go of the bow string, letting the arrow go flying towards the Mammoth Fish's skull, piercing through its brain, and killing it. He watched as it slowly sunk to the floor, shrinking in size until it was once again, no bigger than a goldfish.
He picked up the tiny mammoth fish, looking down at it with an expression full of sorrow, and then sighed, looking around his shop, which had been completely destroyed during the fight. Several aquariums had been destroyed, leaving dead fish all over the floor, the walls and floor were stained with blood, and there was a giant hole in the wall. Oh, and there were police outside the window.
Wait, what?"
Andone turned around, looking outside the window, and finding himself completely surrounded by the police, who had their firearms aimed sharply at the store. He kneeled slowly, putting the small fish back down onto the floor, and walked out, raising his hands.
The police had their guns trained firmly on the man, and their leader stepped forward. "You are under arrest for..." She stared at the completely wrecked store for a moment and found herself at a loss of words. "Improper and reckless maintaining of Rata Sea Fish. I'll be taking you into custody now." She raised the handcuffs she held in her hands, and Andone turned around, letting her cuff his wrists firmly.
Andone started to shuffle towards the police car, but then the lady raised a hand. "Hold it. I'm going to need you to put this on as well." She pulled out a blindfold from her belt and walked over to Andone.
"What the? A blindfold? Look, lady, I'm not going to resist you because I know I screwed up, but is that even necessary?" Andone raised his hands, which were handcuffed together to further push his point.
"Don't make me add resisting authority figures to your list of charges. Just stay still and let me blindfold you, and we won't have a problem." She gestured for Andone to turn, and with reluctance, he did so, allowing her to wrap the blindfold around his eyes. She then shoved him in the direction of the car....
----------------
A few hours later, Andone found himself in what he assumed to be the jail of the police station. He still had the blindfold on so he couldn't see anything, but it didn't smell like the outside. This all happened because I was too careless..I suppose I deserve whatever they're going to do to me.
His eyes widened. Wait. What was the name of that clan of Fish Flakes? Potato Flakes? He started to mess with his nails as realization kicked in, and his anxiousness grew. I never bought any brand like that...that guy must have purposely put that can of flakes in there. He replaced all the other cans with salt so that I would let my guard down when I came across a can that wasn't full of salt, and I took the bait! He's the real criminal! I've gotta tell them!
And then, his thoughts were interrupted as he heard the sound of someone sitting down in front of him. He quickly leaned over the cold table he sat on, pleading towards whoever was sitting across from him. "HEY! I WASN'T THE ONE WHO GAVE THE RATA FISH SALT! OR AT LEAST...I didn't do it on purpose! Someone tampered with my fish flakes!"
And then he felt someone sharply pull off his blindfold...and his eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. Sitting down across from him was Shen, resting his chin on his hands. "That's a bad habit, Mr. Andone. Always check before you eat, or feed something to someone."
Andone's eyes narrowed, and he took a few seconds to recollect his breath. "...It's..you." He looked around the room, and quickly realized it was not an interrogation room, but instead, a spacy attic. There were two other people, one, a boy with fluffy golden hair and sharp red eyes, and...Miss Silla?!
He slammed his hands onto the table. "MISS SILLA? YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!" His eyes seemed to sparkle, and Malincha just shifted her gaze away, an unreadable expression painted across her face. "Miss... Silla?"
"I told you once before, have I not, Mr. Garcia? A name can be changed just as easily as a profile picture." Shen sighed, fiddling with the disc in his hands.
"But I saw her get eaten up, right in front of-"
Wicked laughter erupted from the boy with golden hair, shaking his head as he laughed, leaving his hair even crazier than it already was. "Ah...yes, this one is definitely a sailor of the Rata Sea. A man who's seen the craziest things in the world can't believe a tiny setup like this, what a fool." He snickered, and glanced around the room, finding Malincha glaring at him, and Shen staring straight ahead at Andone,
"This isn't funny, Pan." Malincha replied solemnly, and Pan just continued to giggle, obviously not caring what the woman perceived as funny.
"Anyways. Miss Silla, as you know her, used her talents to replace all of your fish flakes with salt. The scene where you saw her get devoured was nothing more than a illusion she created." Shen clarified, now pulling out a mini-tv, and setting it onto the table, turning it so that it would face Andone.
"B-but that's...that's..." He trailed off, finally understanding what Pan meant. After all of the horrors he had seen in the Rata Sea, a small trick like this was nothing. Especially considering that Miss Silla, or Malincha, was no regular human.
"Completely possible." Shen finished, turning on the TV, and starting to browse through all of the channels. "And the police officers who took you in were just doppelgangers."
"It really bummed me out when you just handed yourself over. You're about as interesting as the dead goldfish littering your store floor." Pan commented, before closing his eyes and sliding his hands into his pockets. "Anyways, I've done my job. Tell Banjo if he gives me anymore errands to run, I'll tear his bones out, and craft a banjo out of them." Pan then vanished.
"I'll pass that along." Shen finally found the right channel, a news channel.
"Wait, so that means I'm not really in trouble?!"
The TV showed what appeared to be gigantic, monstrous fish roaming throughout the city of Leon, devastating everything in their path. "You could be."
Andone's eyes widened, and he stood up from his seat. "Those are my fish! You fucking PYSCHOS, what is it you want? You've ruined my date, you ruined my shop, kidnapped me, and now you're destroying the city. WHAT, do you want?"
"Do not act like I didn't warn you. I told you there would be repercussions, and you refused to listen. This is entirely your fault, because you were too stubborn. If you really want all this destruction to stop, then tell us where we can board a ship from the Oruka Company." Shen seemed more agitated rather than guilty, like Malincha. His fists were tightened, and his eyes were narrowed, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days either, similar to Andone.
Andone stared at the destruction being displayed on the TV screen, and then Malincha, who looked away, and then Shen, who's eyes bore into his soul. "..."
Malincha took a step forward and spread her hands to show she didn't mean harm. "B-but, if you tell us then we'll take care of the whole situation for you, and even get you a better store! You just have to tell us what you know, it's that simple!"
Andone just glared at her, and she looked down at the floor, seemingly to be slightly...ashamed. "Alright. I'll tell you what you know, on the condition you do all that you have promised." He said slowly.
Shen turned off the remote and stood up from his chair, placing the remote onto the floor. "Good, then let's get th-"
And then, the sounds of chains rattling were heard as Andone pulled apart his hands with monstrous strength, completely destroying the handcuffs, and leapt forward, pulling back his fist and then slamming it into Shen's face, sending the younger man's weaker body flying into the wall.
"BUT the next time you set up a plan like this to try and manipulate me towards your goal, mark my words, I will completely destroy every single one of you conniving bastards, you got it?" He pointed to himself with his thumb, glaring down at Shen, who's hair covered his face, completely hiding his expression.
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