Service Elite

▪ Prologue ▪

~Disclaimer~

*Some light cursing, minor description of gore, may come off as disturbing/morbid to some*

Dirty water quietly dripped downwards from the solemn rooftop. It ran down the grooves, collecting dead bugs and dirt as it flowed. Eventually, after running along for a little more than a minute or two, it would stop at the edge of the silent house. It then would drop, nothing more, simply drop into a widening puddle down below. Everything would've seemed normal from afar, it was just water trickling after all. 

Unfortunately, it was also what an orange squidling happened to stumble across after getting sidetracked during his hike. Annoyed at the sudden downpour of rain, he grumbled angrily and dragged his feet through the mud. 

"God damn it," he hissed through gritted teeth, glaring at the gray clouds above, "Couldn't have waited for a few more minutes, could you?" Taking hasty shelter underneath a tree, he lifted a hand to block the drops from landing directly onto his face. Going out into the open wasn't a wise idea, knowing that the rain could dissolve him and make him one with the mud. Scowling, he shook his fist at the sky instead, "Nothing ever goes my way, does it?" Through all his verbal loud complaints, the squidling didn't hear what any sharp ears would've heard. 

Then again, any sharp eyes would've seen that the water pooling off of the house wasn't what it appeared to be. After all, why would it be that tint of red? And... And that was a severed ear, wasn't it? 

Alas, the hiker didn't notice anything off through his frustration; his clothes too cold and his shoes too muddy. He subconsciously ran his hand through his matted orange tentacles, wondering what the squid he was going to tell his teammates later. Gosh, he was going to be so late for their strategy meeting. The important strategy meeting that he should've been at five minutes ago. How else were they supposed to beat Team Blue at the new 'Plankton Cup'? 

Creak

Still lost in a flurry of thoughts, he dragged his finger through the mud; gloriously bored. Would they start without him? The orange-yellow team was one of the more quicker paced ones... 

CrEaK

Hmmm... Maybe Octophone already was handing everyone their weapons and they were starting their intensive training. Aw man... He wanted to be there for that. 

cReAkKk

Eventually, the sound was loud enough to hit his eardrums. Startling, he jerked his head up and warily glanced around. He strained his ears, pulling his beret off of his head and tucking it snugly under his armpit. 

"Hello?" he called out quietly, "Helloooo?" 

CrEaK

A cold shiver running down his spine, he carefully backed up and crawled into a nearby bush. The rocks upon the ground scratched his elbows and the leaves got caught in his tentacles, but he ignored them both knowing that something was very, very wrong. 

And it was coming from that weird old house. Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he curled himself up into a ball, gripping at his knees with his muddy hands. Okay... Okay now he had to think. What was going on? Maybe it was just the sound of the wind rocking a few creaky branches? He puffed out a breath, trying to relieve his anxiety. 

Yeah. Yeah... It was probably just a tree. Just a tree. 

cReAkK

There it was again. The sound of some dumb plant swinging in the rain-

"I can see..." The inkling's stomach jumped to his throat, cold cold dread gathering in the pit of his chest. That voice... That voice wasn't natural! He covered his mouth with his hands, trying to contain the sound of his rapid breathing. Who was that? What was going on? Why would any inkling or octoling be out in the rain? Was it even an inkling or an octoling? Soft footsteps squelched through the mud, causing him to squeeze his hand over his mouth even tighter. "I can see..." that horrible voice repeated, "I can..."

Crap. 

This was the part where he ran away screaming, right? 

Surely the... Whatever it was wouldn't be fast enough to catch him, right? He was a dualies main after all, maybe he could dodge roll multiple times and then run away? 

The thing's feet continued to drag through the mud, the sound getting closer and closer to the bush he was so desperately hiding in. Grinding his teeth together, he tried to finalize his decision. 

Dodge roll. Run. Dodge roll. Run.

And never, ever look back. 

He needed to go back and warn the Squidbeak Splatoon, needed to tell the agents that there was this weirdo in the forest that could possibly be a threat. If anyone, they needed to know. To protect all of the city and-

The leaves on the bush suddenly parted, causing his heart to stop. He could see the clearing in front of him. Th-The... Clearing...

"I can see you..." Before he could even open his mouth to scream, long fingers wrapped around his throat. His beret fell to the ground as he thrashed his legs uselessly, desperately trying to kick out at the thing in front of him. He couldn't see it. He couldn't feel its presence other than its fingers on his throat. He couldn't do anything. 

Was this how he died? Even after he drew another breath, not knowing which one would be his last, he kept his final words in mind, hoping in anguish that they wouldn't actually be his last:

Were his teammates, was everybody, going to be okay? The city... Was it in danger now? 

SQUELCH

Blood poured from his ripped open neck, followed quickly by his voice box. His body flopped into the mud, dirt getting into his wound and blood getting into the dirt. The thing stood above him, washing its bloodied fingernails off with the pooling rain above. 

If it didn't hurry and bring the corpse inside, it would be gone before it could eat it. Those strange little creatures living in that excuse of a city were odd little things. Weak and pathetic. Unlike that protection squad that had kept guard of the borders for ages. Those stupid elite soldiers and their elite protection had protected the strange little city for the last time. It licked its lips, bending down to violently dig its nails into the squid boy's head. 

This, along with the fact that it had been woken up, showed that Service Elite was truly gone. Those annoying cephalopods with their fancy weapons and magical boom boom crap were gone. 

Oh, it really had to find more of the others and tell them. 

But first, it had to decide which one of these meat sacks was tastier. 

The first purple squid it had captured was too skinny, so it left most of the squid's body inside of the gutter on the roof of the house. It didn't know that inklings bled red, it thought that they bled the color of their hair. Oh well. 

Maybe it would find other uses for the first corpse. 

And here we go! I hope it's enjoyable so far, XD