Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shrimpo considered himself a smart fellow.

Heavy Emphasis on “considered himself”.

He had a grasp on his weaknesses; slow, loud, and sucked at operating machines— but his better traits where more or less hidden by the situations he was in. Extracting ichor? Always missed skill checks. Distracting? Finn’s twisted clone was a lot faster without legs than he had thought.

Point clear: he sucked at everything that revolved around machines and distracting.

But that’s because Shrimpo was out of his element. He’s a bully, not some tech whizz or Usain Bolt. His element was brutality and he could confidently say he was good at that. He could vaguely recall shoving around the other toons when they were called out to play with the kids. Some episodes when he would get more physical and actually be able to push dandy for once.

Shrimpo considered himself a smart fellow; just out of his element, however.

So,

Shrimpo was in the lobby, trying to find a group to tag along with so he could mooch off their tapes for more stolen trinkets and ultimately succeed in a solo run. His body shook slightly from unbridled rage, annoyance, if you will, at the toons around him being too loud or too quiet or too themselves. It’s never a balance of them, but it worked out since Shrimpo hates balance. Stable block towers where something he enjoyed knocking down when the children would visit.

He waited quietly, watching as the other toons talked amongst themselves trying to form a new plan for the floors below. Groups were slowly being formed, and when they were kinda solidified he’d shove himself in with the toons he knew he could somewhat tolerate. Shrimpo looked around, trying to distract himself from his growing boredom. Nothing was new in the lobby. Same fake plants, same benches, same toons and same shop ran by the same toon. But his eyes did catch something.

Red. It’s what you usually see on stop signs. Some study says that red is the most noticeable color out of anything. Curiously, Shrimpo left his place of waiting. The red thing was on the wall, with a glass window to show the contents. It didn’t have anything inside of it. It had a lock, and the side of it showed the roughened image of a fire extinguisher with the words “fire” being spelled within it. Shrimpo quirked a brow, hitting the top of it without much force. Dandy probably took the fire extinguisher. Maybe for his own safety, considering either sprout or shrimpo would’ve pelted him with it.

a fire extinguisher here would’ve been useless. Gardenview was strict on its no smoking rule and would check all staff and children’s bags for anything related to fire. Safety precautions. Really, what normal person would’ve smoked in a lobby? Now that he thinks about it, shouldn’t there be extinguishers in the kitchen? Sprout sucks at cooking without the help of cosmo. Maybe they do and he just never noticed.

Now that Shrimpo really thinks about it…

If they have fire extinguishers, shouldn’t they also have fire axes?

Gardenview was mostly concrete, steel and whatever else. But there were floors that contained wood supports and wooden doors. It’s possible that, if there’s wood, there’s a fire axe somewhere. Definitely not the lobby, who would have a lighter in the lobby? It may be more underground. It’s a higher risk for a fire to happen underground. Employees get stuck if wood or something got in the way. There could a dozen fire axes. Maybe more.

And Shrimpo, sweet and spiteful Shrimpo, was gonna figure that out.

…

If he could find a group to buddy up with.

Of course, the path to glory isn’t a smooth road. While Shrimpo had been staring daggers into the extinguishers case, every other toon had left into their own elevators. A loud cling and metallic buzzing  being the indicator of descent. There wasn’t a large crowd anymore, everyone had left into respective groups without Shrimpo. Those jerks didn’t even try inviting him! Hell, even dandy had left his lobby shop.

Alone, more annoyed and angered, and definitely a little bored; shrimpo waits for an elevator to rise before dropping further into the earths crust.

——

Solo runs weren’t a good idea for toons. Especially ones who hadn’t bought from dandy’s little side hustle of trinkets. Most only do solo runs if teams where full or no one else wanted to explore further. The main toons always did solo runs before, but eventually stopped since the floors began to get increasingly harder. Common toons like boxton or poppy always went on runs with eachother. Toons like shrimpo… were told to get into a group. Shrimpo never listened, which is why there was always a twisted Shrimpo clone on every other floor. And he’ll add another one if it got a reaction out of the other toons.

Dying wasn’t permanent here. The ichor may corrupt them, but it brought them back just the same. But it still hurt to get murked by a former version of yourself. Shrimpo would know, he’s killed his own self.

It’s not easy being the greatest…

Floor 1 is hard to get by. The machines are everywhere and, as emphasized earlier, Shrimpo is no tech expert like Rodger or vee. He’s gotten used to slamming his head into the glass to keep the ichor flowing. No matter how many times the other toons try to teach him to turn the valve, It just feels right to slam his head…

Shrimpo stumbles past the first floor, a bit more alert if he spot anything red and rectangular on the wall. He gets by, a bit injured from a poppy clone and dizzy from head banging but nonetheless better than most of his solo runs. As he enters the elevator, it closes just behind him. As he catches his breath, he can hear the wearing noise of the trap doors on the floor opening. Dandy and his little desk-shop pop up.

On shrimpos part, it’s damn near instinctual to yell an insult at a toon. Driving reactions out of others was fun, bullying was fun. But dandy looked more… irked then usual. It surely wasn’t shrimpos imagination when he saw the flowers eye twitch slightly. In any other run, Shrimpo would’ve shrugged it off and insulted him all the same: but knowing dandys “abilities” and having heard horror stories from Vee when the flower didn’t get his way was surely gonna hinder his search efforts.

Instead of outright ignoring him or insulting him, Shrimpo shuffled to the desk with his eyes lowered on the items.

Its just gumballs…

“ARE YOU LOW ON GOOD ITEMS OR SOMETHING?” Shrimpo couldn’t contain himself. But he also didn’t want dandy getting extra pissed, so he still pulled out his spare tapes. “YOUR STOCK SUCKS.”

Shrimpo swore he could see a flash of red in dandys eyes, but it left the minute the flower blinked and saw the tapes in the shrimps hand. “Your still buying, though?” Dandy asked, quirking a brow with a frown.

“I HATE YOU AND THESE TAPES, BUT I HATE THESE TAPES MORE CAUSE THEY WEIGH ME DOWN.” Shrimpo yelled, shoving the tapes into dandys hands and grabbing a bag of gumballs. “AND IM PLANNING ON SURVIVING FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE— SO ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING!!”

Dandy let out an amused huff as his smile came back, more relaxed and less forced. “I guess you really didn’t listen to Vee’s announcement huh?” Shrimpo cocked his head, confuddled. Dandy sighed, relieved seemingly as he mumbled “sometimes I’m glad your you Shrimpo.”

The crustacean scoffed “I’LL ALWAYS BE SHRIMPO. THE GREATEST CANNOT CHANGE EVER!!”

“That’s nice.” The flower giggled, dropping the tapes beside himself. He sighs again, leaning back with his usual customer service look. “Looks like you’re about to head to the next floor… if you survive to 5 I’ll probably have some better items.” He shrugged.

Shrimpo grunted in acknowledgment, frown ever present, as he squeezed the bag of gumballs in his hand. The flower waved goodbye, pulling the lever and descending back into the trap doors. Shrimpo watched, unamused for a moment before hearing the elevator chime and shake as it approached floor 2.

With a deep breath and roll of his shoulders, Shrimpo ducked under the opening elevator door and began to explore the new floor.

It wasn’t anything special. If anything it was the same as the one above it. It wasn’t a shock, a lot of floors were reused blueprints. It made one wonder why the company had so many repeated floors everywhere. But shrimpo was not one and he only questioned why they didn’t have a damned fire axe on this floor. He had circled around twice dammit. It’s whatever though, cause he could always get to the next floor considering he hadn’t seen any twisteds around so far.

He circled around again, finishing two machines that happened to be side by side. He found another one, closer to the center of the floor and started to work on it. Mid-head bang, Shrimpo looked to the side, spotting a ichor vial. They weren’t as valuable as tapes, but dandy still took them regardless. Something about drinking it or whatever. It didn’t matter, currency was currency and ichor was a type to dandy. Shrimpo stepped away from the machine, hearing it Blare in protest as he walked off to the vial.

Shrimpo crouched down, reached, and touched the ichor.

Just as he was about to pick up the vial, it bursted open. Black liquid splatted onto the crustaceans face, as Rodger— a twisted clone of Rodger— reformed from the ichor. Shrimpo had fell back, panic stricken as he scrambled to find a spot to hide in. Too little too late, Rodger had opened his eye, bloodshot red and wide. The bag beneath it still noticeable along with a sickening revving that started and ended too fast.

Shrimpo felt it before it even happened. A quick shot to his shoulder that rendered it immobilized. The pain came sharp, a pistols bullet type of hurt. If Rodger hadn’t needed a cool down, Shrimpo surely would’ve been dead. The shrimp bit back a whine, teeth gritted as he stumbled to find balance on his feet and book it behind a shelf. He could hear the revving again, then hear it stop when he got out of sight. Shrimpo swallowed thickly, clenching his bleeding shoulder with a perfect pea shaped hole going through it.

After a moment, he could hear Rodger shift and dissolve back into his vial. Shrimpo heaved, not even realizing he had held his breath. He stepped out of his hiding spot, hand protectively covering his wound. Scowling, he stomped towards the vial and spat at it while walking past. He’ll finish that machine later, he’ll just look for the next one since he won’t be able to focus with that stupid vial around now.

Swaying with each step, Shrimpo found a fence of ribbons. He knew exactly who this was. Razzle and dazzles clone. If he recalled, they only attack when awake. He isn’t quiet but he can walk slow, that’s enough, right? He took a small step in, tensed up and waited.

“…”

Nothing.

Shrimpo shuffled in, taking a few strides in before nervously slowing his pace. Razzle and dazzle didn’t seem to wake or anything. That calmed Shrimpo a bit. Huffing, he looked around and found the machine rather quick within the fence of ribbons. He quickly began to work on it (head banging), while occasionally glancing to the twisted twins.

When he finished, he praised himself beneath his breath while stepping back. Easy peasy. No sweat even. Just a bruised forehead. He continued to cheer himself on as he left back to the abandoned machine and completed the floor.

Shrimpo quickly ran back, running through the twins little fence without realizing it until a ribbon grabbed at his ankle just outside the circle.

“What the—?”

Shrimpo was pulled back, a ribbon grabbing onto his wrist and slamming him against the floor. Shrimpo let out a pained cry, not registering the moving chains just above him. He struggled, pulling his arm and flailing all around. Curses and yelling didn’t work. razzle and dazzle stood just above the shrimp, titling their mask as they watched him flail. They were close. Horribly close. And Shrimpo got another idea. Squirming just a bit more, just until he got close to their foot.

Shrimpo will die, but he hates that idea.

Clamping his teeth down onto the white foot of razzle, he bit and he bit hard. The twins screeched chain moving wildly. Shrimpo could feel the nasty taste of ichor pour into his mouth and the ribbon left his wrist and ankle. He let go, aching wound and body rising as quickly as possible. He could hear the soft sob come from dazzle, and a growl come from razzle. The noise mixed together, ugly sounding to Shrimpo but ignored as he fumbled towards the elevator. A sharp pain stopped him again, a ribbon spike piercing his leg making him trip once more and falling flat on his chest. He wheezed, choked even, as he tried to crawl.

He couldn’t.

Shrimpo felt his chest move. His ribs crack and be pushed as well as his spine being torn. The best part about your spine being broken is that you can’t feel anything after. At least, that’s what he’s heard before. He isn’t sure if it’s the spine thing or if his head hasn’t processed the pain. Whatever it is he’s grateful. Because his lungs feel tight and he hasn’t heard his heart beat for longer than a moment. He swears he’s getting light headed, everything is lighter (or darker?) and fuzzy in his vision. Like he’s getting blind or something.

there’s ichor dripping out his mouth.

God dammit.

———

Dying is unpleasant.

That’s common sense now isn’t it?

When you die, as a toon at least, it’s just sorta dark. Maybe damp. Definitely damp. it’s tight and claustrophobic too, white noise playing repeatedly in your ear. Nothing too fancy. But that’s as a toon, and toons don’t really stay dead for long.

Shrimpo is indefinitely the only one with the most deaths. Only because his go back to before the ichor operations. He doesn’t exactly remember what happened, he just knows he died because of his own stupidity. He remembers one time when he died was because the staff had enough of him. They euthanized him like a dog. He doesn’t remember what he did either to deserve that but that was the longest he stayed dead for. It wasn’t until enough kids begged for him back did he come alive again.

A part of him hates that he’s died the most. Frustrated even. Being maimed sucks too. Being shot at or beaten to death is shitty also. But with the amount of times he’s died he’s gotten somewhat comfortable with death. Not the dying part, just being stuck in a claustrophobic space somewhat wet and really dark.

Coming back to life is hard to explain. It’s like everything still happened but it got condense into a quick sting of pain. Depending on the damage, of course. For Shrimpo, the minute he realized he was alive again he felt himself choke on nothing and squirm about. His lungs felt odd, spine feeling like it had been stretched too far, and shoulder throbbing like he just hit it against a sharp corner. He figured the pain was just the healing process. He hated that, but it was better than coming back all mangled.

Coming back to life is awkward, though. Especially when there’s another toon to watch you crawl out of the machine.

Shrimpo struggled to make it out of the hole that the machine provided. With a bit of squirming, some child safe curse words and a moments break, Shrimpo made it out with a splat when he met the ground. The sucky part about the machine and reviving is that you don’t come out wearing clothes. For most toons it didn’t really matter but the rest had gotten used to the feeling of clothes on their back. Thankfully, when the first few toons perished, they figured out that they revived in a safe floor just above the lobby. Pieces of clothes were scattered around, most stolen from the bags of the employees or given by gardenview. Easy fix messily done,Tisha occasionally came in to organize but it’d be ruined really quickly.

Finding his clothes was hard, sometimes he wishes he didn’t rip apart the closets but he just needed to let out some steam and they were the closest thing. Shrimpos regular red dresses were mostly lost to the lower floors, theyd get rescued on a good run but sometimes be stained. Actually, he can’t even remember if he tossed any of them into here since yesterday…

“Shrimpo?” A soft voice echoed. “Are you good? I thought you didn’t go on a run…”

He jumped up, huffing as he sat a little straight and looked around.

“Shrimpo?” Shelly waved her hand, finally catching the crustaceans attention.

“SHRIMPO IS FINE!!” He snapped “AND I DID GO ON A RUN!! BECAUSE YOU DUMMIES LEFT ME BEHIND!!!”

“Oh! Sorry Shrimpo…” she hummed quietly “you kinda seemed to be zoning out so we didn’t bother you.”

“THATS BULL!” He yelled, crossing his arms. “AND WHY THE HECK ARE YOU HERE SHELLY?!”

“um… I think you could figure it out…”

Shrimpos frown deepen. “AT LEAST THE TWISTEDS NOTICE YOU.” He huffed “DID COSMO NOT SEE YOU HARMED? CHRIST HES USELESS.”

“He was focusing on goob! I can’t blame him…”

Shrimpo stared hard at Shelly.

Shelly looked to the side nervously.

Shrimpos shoulders relaxed.

“YOUR STUPID.” He finally rises from the ground, antenna twitching as he looked her up and down “… WHATS UP WITH THE PAJAMAS?”

“Oh! It’s a tyrannosaurus PJs! I got it from Astro awhile ago and I hadn’t really thought I’d wear them ever again but I uh… forgot to restock my clothes yesterday.” She laughed. “Um, would you uh… like some clothes?”

“THAT—!” Shrimpo paused, looking down remembering he was pretty naked “… SURE!”

“I don’t think I see any of your clothes in this pile here other then— oh! Wait here!” Shelly exclaimed, pulling out a black sweater with a skull on it. The sleeves were ripped and it was pretty cool looking.

“THIS IS UGLY!” He huffed “WHEN DID WE HAVE THIS?”

“I think it was mine? I don’t really know but it’s about the same length as your dresses.” Shelly replies, handing the sweater to Shrimpo. “Also— why do you wear dresses? Is it… the same reason as glisten?”

“SCREW OFF IM NOT THAT GAY.” he said, snatching the clothes “AND DO YOU KNOW HISTORY?”

“Yup! Specifically everything from the Caribbean explosion to the extinction of dodos!” Shelly’s expression sours as she shakes her head “poor poor dodos, too stupid for their own good…”

“YEAH JUST LIKE YOU— BUT THATS NOT WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT I MEANT MORE HUMAN HISTORY.” He said pulling the sweater over his head, Shelly was right, it was the same length as his dresses. “TUNICS IN OLDER TIMES WOULD DECIPHER CLASS STATUS. MOSTLY BY COLOR BUT MEN WOULD ALWAYS WEAR THESE, BUT NOBLES WOULD WEAR THEM LONGER THEN PEASANTS.”

“I didn’t know you liked history shrimpo! Especially fashion!”

“I DONT I HATE IT— IT WAS JUST THE LEAST BORING PART OF THE STUFF THEY TAUGHT ME IN SOLITARY.”

“They taught you stuff in there? Gigi said they didn’t?”

“DEPENDED ON WHO WOULD RUN IT.” He said dusting off the imaginary dirt from the shirt. He’s definitely keeping this. He’s just gotta not die with it on. Easy enough. “SAM DIDN’T BOTHER THEY ONLY SIGNED UP FOR THE EXTRA HOURS, DEVAN USED TO HAND US BOOKS BUT STOPPED WHEN I RIPPED TOO MANY. THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO CARED ENOUGH WAS SHANON, ARTHUR AND DELILAH.”

“Oh I remember that! Shanon was majoring in history I think.”

“MATCH MADE IN HELL.”

“Probably! Hope she’s doing okay though.”

“I HOPE THEY ARENT.”

shelly only snorted in response.

Despite being insulted at every other sentence, Shelly seemed to enjoy Shrimpos company. After their shared bantering in the revival room, they left to the lobby. It was deserted, dandy wasn’t even in his shop. Shrimpo wanted to snoop but the flower had an odd way of knowing who was peeking in his store. To his chagrin, Shelly dragged the shrimp to beneath the tree and forced him to listen to her talk. Well, he could’ve left on his own accord, but he was tired, his sweater was soft and the florescent lights were dimmed under the trees leaves. It was awfully peaceful.

He… disliked this.

They both laid on the grass, Shrimpo admittedly was drifting a bit. Shelly’s facts weren’t so bad just a bit boring. But he still listened, they were entertaining enough like Finn’s.

“—oh, that reminds me! Shrimpo, why did you go on a run?”

“HM?” He glanced to the ammonite, frowning “TALKING ABOUT COMP—COMPSO— COMPSATHO— COMP—“

“Compsognathus!”

“TALKING ABOUT THOSE MADE YOU WONDER WHY I WENT ON A RUN?”

“E-yup!”

“IM NOT GONNA TELL YOU!”

“Why not!” Shelly turned her head from the leaves to Shrimpo, letting out a confused huff. “You never go on runs alone unless Vee specifically asks you not too, or at least if you’re getting teased by someone.”

“CAUSE ITS A SECRET!!”

“Could you at least give me an idea of what it was?”

Shrimpo grumbled and shook his head “NO!”

“Please?”

“NO!”

“Please?”

“GAH! YOUR ANNOYING!”

“Does that mean you’ll tell me?”

“NO!” He screamed. He stayed silent for a moment. The search for a fire axe would take forever if it was just by his lonesome. He tried to rationalize he could do it fast by himself but with his recent death it was proving him quite wrong in that matter. “… BUT YOU CAN HELP.”

“How am I suppose to help if I don’t know what I’m looking for?”

“OH MY GOD.” He groaned “IM NOT GONNA GIVE YOU A STRAIGHT ANSWER BUT ITS A REALLY COOL THING AND IT’LL HELP ALOT AND IF WE WORK TOGETHER WE CAN FIND IT FASTER.”

“Okay… what does it look like?” Shelly, at this point sat up, hands between her thighs as she tilted her head curiously.

“IT… ILL SHOW YOU WHEN WE FIND IT.”

Shelly kept looking at Shrimpo, humming jn thought before laying back down. “I have a theory, but I’ll wait till we find it.”

“FAIR.” Shrimpo nods, drumming his fingers on his stomach.

“Fair.” Shelly smiles, tucking her arms beneath her head.

Chapter Text

Company wasn’t unwanted. Shrimpo would never admit this to anybody ever but he never hated the idea of being around others. And the thing he’ll never ever and almost certainly will not ever tell anybody ever is that he enjoys talking to other people. Or, in this case, people talking at him.

“—then PULL! A bite! And it was a strong one too!” Finn said, jumping on his heels as he recalled a memory. He barely payed attention to the machine he was on.

Shrimpo halfed listened, keeping an eye out for twisteds. He knew he didn’t have too, pebble was around and likely had all their attention. He scoffed and leaned against the wall, tapping his foot as the machine gurgled and groaned.

“I almost fell off, it was that strong. But I’ve got some decent muscle so I fought it out the water!” He gloats, “and it was a big ol’grouper! Bigger than my body!”

“AND THEN YOU WOKE UP.”

“….yeah.”

The machine dinged, and Finn let go of it dejected. Shrimpo grabbed hold of the bowls arm and dragged him towards the elevator.

“We’ll—“ he starts again, “before that, I went to show it to Gigi! ‘Cause I remembered that she wanted to start a new collection and I thought somethin’ fish related would help her!”

“A BUNCH OF STINKY FISH FOR YOUR WEIRD GIRLFRIEND? REALLY?”

“Hey! She isn’t my weird girlfriend! She’s my weird friend that’s a girl!”

Shrimpo glared at Finn, huffing quietly (well, Shrimpo quietly) “YOUR WEIRD.”

“And yet you still tolerate me for that!”

“NO I DONT.”

The elevator shuttled and opened, Shrimpo stomped in angrily. Finn kept yapping his mouth off, reciting old fish facts and such. As toons started to pour in, Shrimpo could feel his anger boil just a bit more.

Shrimpo had been able to invade another run, with the help of one Shelly fossilian, and successfully make it through 10 floors. Although he had wanted to ruin the run, far in his bones he wished he could, his newest partner in crime had recommended not to. So, for once in his life, he held his tongue and kept away. Of course, it hurt his pride but if it meant getting an axe faster he’d do it. Although Shelly wasn’t near him at the moment, he busied himself with Finn’s nonsense as it was one thing he liked enough to do. He was too slow to distract and already had a headache from the previous days antics so doing machines was out the question. No one seemed to mind, actually. Infact, Vee was awfully chipper about Shrimpos behavior; even if she didn’t show it outright.

The elevator closed, once pebble ran in. The dog barked happily as Cosmo patted him, and the group collectively praised the rock. Shrimpo huffed, watching silently with a scowl.

Shrimpo scanned the elevator for Shelly, spotting her after a moment. She was happily in the corner, swaying side to side. Slowly, he shuffled away from Finn who had started to talk to his sister, teagan. Shelly was humming as Shrimpo approached her.

“News…?” He whispered for once.

“Oh! Nope! I found a few jumper cables though!”

“MUNDANE!” He yelled, which was mostly ignored by the other toons.

“Well, I’m not really sure if anything was out of the ordinary. I kinda double checked everything and didn’t find anything interesting.” She mumbled, scratching at her arm “and, I’m still unsure of what we need to look for.”

“ITS A COOL ITEM.”

“… I don’t know your definition of cool, Shrimpo…”

“FIGURE IT OUT!”

The elevator comes to a holt, and dinged open. Pebble skids out first and yips happily as he gets the twisteds attention. The others trickle out, Shrimpo following last with Shelly. Shrimpo could hear the machines from miles away, the sound of ichor falling was ingrained to his ears (or, whatever his equivalent was). This time, he was in the warehouse, vans scattered and boxes piled up. Shelly snuck through, hiding for a bit before running off to where she found a machine. Shrimpo trailed closely behind, for once not stomping on every step. Shelly ran up to the machine and began working at it. Shrimpo sat behind, tapping his foot impatiently.

“Shrimpo, why don’t you go do a machine? You have Vees remote.”

“IT DOESNT WORK AFTER TWO MACHINES.” He scoffs “PLUS, ITS BETTER TO USE IT IN TIGHT SPOTS— KNOW THE GAME, IDIOT.”

“Being down here isn’t really a game Shrimpo…”

“DONT TELL SHRIMPO SOMETHING HE ALREADY KNOWS!!!”

eventually, the silence returned. And Shrimpo headed off to the other side of the floor.

——

Nothing in the warehouse, then nothing in the next floor.  Shrimpo was growing a little more irritated, nothing seemed to be going wrong and that bothered him. He kept himself mostly by Shelly’s side, before wandering off to find his main goal. Sometimes he felt the urge to Waltz right into pebbles distracting area but would remember Shelly’s words and turn the other way. He groaned everytime he snuck past the rock.

Nothing was going wrong.

Nothing at all.

Until the familiar jingle of dandy’s radio. Of which, was distorted.

“C’mon, there’s gotta be something you guys will need!” He pleaded angrily, “an airhorn, a bandage, AND smoke bomb! You could need any of these!”

Shrimpo ignored him, as did everyone else. The bandaids were enticing, infact he was tempted to grab them. But he had been very much informed to ignore the flower no matter what he sells. For what reason he doesn’t know and doesn’t inherently care. But an angry dandy is a scary one, and Shrimpo always had a bad feeling whenever  he got like that. He didn’t really know why he was listening to Vee, she always had bad ideas, but they’ve lived so far thanks to her leadership. He kept his eyes away, staying beside Shelly. He’s never seen dandy so irritated, maybe a long time ago whenever the show was still around but besides that…

Shrimpo silently weighed his options. He hated an angry dandy, but he also hated looking like he was taking pity. He grumbled and looked behind him. Eying  the bandaid, Shrimpo gave in and walked over to his desk. He gave the flower a frown and quietly fiddled with his sweaters pockets.

“Shrimpo!” Shelly whispered urgently, catching the attention of the other toons.

“Shrimpo!” Dandy announced happily. “A reasonable toon, for once! Which do you want? The bandaid?”

Shrimpo nodded.

“Well you’re in luck! You can just pay 50! No more than that, just for you!” Dandy was hopping on his heels at this point.

“Shrimpo what are you doing?” Vee spoke sharply.

“I HATE TAPES. THEY FILL UP MY POCKETS.”

“Then just drop them somewhere!”

“NO. THATS WASTEFUL!!!”

“Since when did you—“

“HERE. FULL PRICE.” Shrimpo plopped the tapes onto dandy’s shop and took the bandaid and stuffed it into his pockets.

“Oh, friend you didnt have too!” He smiled, counting the tapes with his eyes.

“WHATEVER.”

Shelly looked concerned as Shrimpo turned around, huffing quietly and taking his place next to her. Vee looked to the crustacean with a scowl, keeping quiet as she returned to stare at the elevator door. He could feel a sense of satisfaction, the defiance he so desperately sought for the last 12 floors. It was a small act, sure, but it gave him the usual thrill. Dandy happily took the tapes off his desk, the once distorted radio returning to normal. He fiddled with the box’s opening, scratching at the thin cardboard as he waited. Shelly glanced to Shrimpo, seeing one of his rare smirks, the ones where he knows he did something wrong and is far too proud of it. There was a whole reason they didn’t buy, Vee & Rodger’s big idea was to force some answers out of the flower by taking his tapes away. It was stupid, protesting against him. Shelly never had much to dislike about dandy really, but she knew he was keeping secrets from everyone. Infact, everyone knew. And very little knew what those secrets were. No one really like kept secrets, therefore no one really liked dandy.

“Anyone want another? I promise it’ll be cheap!” The flower announced, putting another bandaid on display. No one else looked, a seemingly silent agreement to continue their boycott. Dandy was already back to his chipper self, a sale was a sale.

Dandy’s not irritated anymore, Shelly thought, what’s the point in this plan when we’re back to square one? Maybe being around Shrimpo was making her a bit more pessimistic. It’s just one thing, dandy is bound to get irritated at some point. She sighed, and straightened up.

It’s just gonna be a long run.

Nothing bad will happen.

——

Everything bad happened.

Floor 25, blackout in the diner.

Pebble ran out and paused when the lights shut off, he sniffed around for a bit but got snatched into the darkness with a yelp. A sickening scrape was heard and immediate panic settled in. Pebble hadn’t died quite yet, he was still running around. Cosmo quickly gave the rock a snack, which seemed to rejuvenate him. Everyone stayed hidden, everyone didn’t dare move until they were sure pebble had everything under control. For a dog, he was awfully smart.

Vee quietly told everyone the plan.

“There’s twisted pebble and goob. Our pebble is running with the other 4 twisteds, goob included. I don’t know where pebbles counterpart is at. Cosmo, I want you to do the machines in the middle cause that’s where pebble is likely at and most likely to get hit. Teagan, stick with Shrimpo, boxten your with me, Shelly and Finn go look for the farthest machines. Keep an ear out, I’ll periodically check the cameras for pebble.”

Shrimpo wasn’t too fond of this plan like All the other plans Vee has made. It was easy enough to avoid pebble, but blackouts got everyone shook. No matter, the plan was set into motion. Shelly silently waved Shrimpo goodbye as she jogged away from the elevator. Cosmo snuck towards the middle. Boxten and Vee left right after. Shrimpo and Teagan were left with eachother. Teagan took the machine closest to the elevator, commenting on how she’ll “prime” it for the others. Shrimpo sat on the booth, quietly scowling as he could hear the distant barking of pebble (which one? he didn’t know), and the dulled sound of ichor pouring. The ding of completed machines where heard far away, he decided that was he Que to sneak off.

He wasn’t gonna miss this opportunity to find the axe, blackout or not, he was gonna look around. He just had to be extra careful about it. Teagan was focused on her machine, barely noticing the silence that came with Shrimpos absence.

He left, off to one of the side rooms to start his search. He wasn’t exactly stealthy, but at least the objects gave him some leeway to hide. Dark, vision somewhat obscured, he trekked forward with confidence. He quietly fiddled with the bandaid that sat in his pocket, the edges now worn down from his constant pestering. He circled around, glancing from side to side, hugging the wall  incase of a machine or casing. Shrimpo wandered into the middle, pebble wasn’t there, he must’ve rounded the twisteds over to the fake elevator, with Cosmo closely behind. A machine had been finish, two infact, and a small protein bar left alone. He picked it up and stared to chew slowly. It had already been a while since he ate, although he didn’t necessarily need food, the feeling of hunger persisted at times. he wandered off to the other side, still checking and double checking the walls.

There was nothing of note, he picked up some more food, some more surgery then others, and left the wrappers in his wake. He ran a hand against the wall.

Then he felt a cold metal.

He looked & He smiled.

He found it.

He found it all by himself.

Dumb and toothily he smiled and dropped everything on his person, he needed all the weight he could muster to open it. But what if it didn’t open? He didn’t care, he could just break the glass. Giddy overtook him, and he started to juggle the handle. It was a struggle, and he growled quietly when it didn’t open after a few more tugs.

“OPEN, DANGIT!” He yelled in frustration.

He huffed, and looked around for anything to cover his hand. He was gonna just break the stupid glass. He don’t exactly have enough cloth on himself to tear off and use. Why didn’t he bring his boxing gloves? Or hand wraps? Oh right. Ver said it was a waste of space. Jerk. He’ll show her a waste of space when he axes those twisteds. Or better yet her twisted self. Frankly, he just can’t wait to axe anything. His smile was persistent, practically the longest he’s ever smiled for. Nothing could strike him down now. Not when he had this axe just an inch away from him. He quickly jumped away, eagerness almost taking his reason. He wouldn’t be able to handle the axe if he were to injure his hand. He needed something to wrap it. He ran, speeding away to find a kitchen towel or so.

Excitement, It made him vulnerable.

So vulnerable he didn’t hear barking, he shrugged it off as pebble.

So vulnerable, he didn’t even notice the continued growling.

So vulnerable, he had trapped himself in a corner by the time he realized he was done for.

A sick, echoing crunch. Twisted pebble had gotten to him. It didn’t take all of him, Thank Christ, but it took a solid chunk of his arm. A bandaid wouldn’t help with that. But he rushed away and used it anyways. He cursed beneath his breath, at himself mainly as he ran. He couldn’t find what he needed but getting that axe out now was better than nothing. So what if he broke or damaged his hand? To hell with that.

He wanted that axe.

Pebble groaned and shook off the cool down, looked around for a moment before spotting the huffing shrimp. It growled lowly, barking as it sped towards the crustacean. It followed the ichor trail, the rumble in its throat growing as Shrimpo paused to regain his breath. It pounced. Its nipped its prey’s torso. He cried out, falling to the floor in panic, just before the axe. Pebbles speed had fell, standing over shrimpo with a grisly huff. This can’t be happening. Right there after 20 floors. Shrimpo felt frustration build at his core. This isn’t fair. This just isn’t fair.

Shrimpo shuffled towards the casing, legs locked in fear, a worthless effort. Pebble growled in a warning, pressing a foot onto Shrimpos legs haulting him immediately.

“Nonononono—“ he repeated beneath his breath, Flailing as he stretched his still missing arm. “Fiddlesticks—“

An uncanny hiss came from pebble, as the twisted dog pressed its foot deeper into the shrimps leg. Fascinated by the struggle.

“It’s right there—“ shrimpo huffed, “—ITS RIGHT THERE!” He yelled “ITS UNFAIR!”

An excitement went through pebble. Prey drive in all dogs run rampant when met with a challenge.

“ITS UNFAIR!!”

And pebble silenced him with a sickening crunch to his head.

——

A long time ago, Shrimpo sat in solitary.

It was one of the many times he’d been in there.

Solitary was the toons equivalent of a teenagers detention. It was mind numbingly boring and barely did much to correct a toons behavior. Poorly thought out by the one and only Arthur. Honestly, it was only made because of Shrimpos constant bullying. Typically, a staff member of the main toons would watch over the disobeying toon, attempt to reeducate and get them in professional working conditions. Besides Gigi (her constant thieving from children and staff) and Connie (for listening in on private conversations and encouraging gossip amongst the children), Shrimpo was always there every other day. It wasn’t exactly ideal, considering the handler who would watch over him would change on the daily, and it never would help at all.

The most consistent handler was sprouts, since they wanted the extra hours and never really tried to correct him. Shelly’s would be close second, but it was always just history lessons.

Shrimpo huffed as he sat in the chair far too big for him, his legs dangling in the air. His chin resting against the desk as he drummed his fingers on his knees. He hated this, he hated being here and he hated waiting for a stupid handler to decide who should deal with him.

The door opened, and he perked up a bit.

Hes sure sprouts handler was chosen, they always come around.

But it wasn’t them.

Shrimpo froze up when he saw the familiar pink sweater. Delilah.

It scared him a bit.

Just a bit.

“CAN I GO NOW?” He huffed “YOU TOOK FOREVER, I MIGHT AS WELL LEAVE!!”

Delilah’s smile stayed persistent and he frowned at that. Even when he was made, she was exactly like that. Smiling, never letting out. It made him hate her more. It wasn’t everyday you see Delilah out of the lower floors. She was always cooped up there, no toons after being made see her after. Maybe discounting the holiday toons. She was mysterious, closed off and creepy; much unlike Arthur, who was easy to read and get along with. To think they’re both the founders of gardenview is mind boggling. But they pick up where the other lacks, thankfully.

Shrimpo didn’t care for those details, however.

“I WANT TO LEAVE, NOW!!”

“You can’t.” Delilah hummed as she walked towards a dingy metal desk. It was the designated handlers seat. She sat down calmly and began to snoop through the desk, finding the knick-knacks left behind by previous participants. “You still have 43 minutes left, friend.”

“ITS BEEN LONGER THEN THAT!!!”

“Nope! Not at all.” She pulled out a piece of blank line paper, studied it for a moment before writing on it.

Shrimpo scowled as he slammed his head onto his desk, groaning in frustration. He didn’t want to be here. He hated this so much. It was so pointless.

“Shrimpo.” Delilah called.

“WHAT?”

“Come here for a moment.”

He mumbled a protest, hopping off his chair and dragged his feet towards her. Delilah slid him a paper, questions listed orderly and neatly. From he skimmed, all the questions where of different subjects.

“Just fill this out— I wanna test something.”

If Shrimpo could, he’d be frowning even more.

Reluctantly, Shrimpo completed the test. As much as he wanted to simply not try, he figured he might as well pass the time quicker by thinking about it. Although he’d love to do anything else, it was better than nothing. Even as he etched the letters into the paper, he could feel Delilah’s eyes bore into his back.

The questions weren’t so bad; a math problem here, science question there, and literature evaluation here. It wasn’t easy, shrimpo didn’t have the same smarts as, well, anybody else besides toodles and the mutt.

When he did finished, he padded up to Delilah and slammed his paper onto her desk.

“GIVE SHRIMPO SOMETHING HARDER!” He said, as if he wasn’t stuck on a simple subtraction problem for the last 15 minutes. The founder only smiled, making Shrimpo uncomfortable, and started to read over his work.

She quietly stated what he got wrong and right as she went down.

He heard a lot more wrongs then rights, and he flushed a bit at that.

“Not so smart.” She hummed, frowning with disappointment. “Seems my excitement made me overestimate…”

“WHAT’RE YOU TRYING TO SAY?” He said, leaning forward. “SHRIMPO IS SMART! VERY SMART!”

Delilah didn’t react, leaning back in her chair as she mulled over the results. The crustaceans eye twitched, instinctive frustration filling him up. He huffed, trying to come up with a way to get back at her. Something like a prank would do.  But before he could really think that over, he heard her chair groan as Delilah leaned forward to him. She had an idea, a simple one really. Arthur wouldn’t mind if she messed with the toons a bit.

She smiled, a hand beckoning Shrimpo closer to her. “I have an idea— what if I teach you how to be a better bully?”

Shrimpo looked at her confused. A better bully? He was already a good bully! Hell, the best there ever was! He opened his mouth to say as such but Delilah stopped him.

“Sorry, how to hurt people more.” She corrected herself. “A good bully knows how to hurt people in more ways then one.”

Shrimpo cocked his head, confused as he stared at her. She stared right back. His frown thinned a little, he didn’t like being confused. What could she possibly be talking about that he didn’t already know?  His frown returned quickly, feeling a bit insulted.

“TELL ME!”

Delilah smiled. It wouldn’t be so hard to explain the concept. The toons were still in their mental infancy, if her calendar was correct. Shrimpo will pick it up in no time. She quietly explained, dumbing down some words to make it easier for the shrimp to digest. He seemed more interested after a moment. Full attention and nodding. She was happy he was being quiet now. His incessant yelling was getting irritating.

The run down was: A keen eye, Delilah had told him, keep a keen eye on people and you’ll hurt them more than a punch.

A good ear, a keen eye, and some creativity go a long way.

—-

Death was uncomfortable.

But reviving was even more so in some cases.

Shrimpos head had been crushed by twisted pebble, so all feeling was numb for the moment. Although most toons didn’t quite have the same organs like humans. They still had nervous systems and muscles and so on. Shrimpo was blessed with a brain and some thick skin. But not thick enough to withstand pebbles attack.  He clenched and unclenched his hands, feeling the life flow back into them. Pins and needles going all over his body as he pushed himself up from the floor. His thoughts were scattered, another likely effect from the injury.  He assessed himself quickly. His head was normal, he was naked once more, ichor was dripping off his body, he was cold, tingly, and slowly coming back mentally. His only thoughts he could coherently think where “I’m alive again, shoot.” And “pebble got me.”

He blinked slowly, motor functions worked fine. Most his thoughts still lost to him, he only really focused on one of them.

Pebble got him.

Pebble. Got. Him.

And at the moment, he didn’t understand why he was so angry.

As he stood up, he wobbled, and forced himself to understand his surroundings. Revive room. Closet. Clothes. Stuff that wasn’t his. Ichor. He realized he was still shaking, but it wasn’t from being cold or scared or anything of that sort. He was angry. Pure, hot, anger. He took in a deep breath, then exhaled, drawing it out shakily as his fists clenched harder. He swallowed thickly, shaking his head. Feeling was coming back, senses filling every pore a bit too quickly now. Stale clean air mixed with the stench of rusted pipes, the cold wet floor against his feet, the unforgettable taste of his own mouth, the dim lighting of the room.

He sucked in air, holding it, keeping it in as he walked towards the wall of the room.  He breathed out, and slammed his fist into the wall. It hurt, but not enough to deter him.  He did it again, then again. Grunting with every bit of contact. A hole was made, but he wasn’t satisfied. He kicked the clothes around, cursing childishly. He made a few more holes, his knuckles bleeding as the debris dug into his skin. He huffed, irritation still lingering in him. This wasn’t enough. He needed to break something big. Something tall. And his gaze fell on the closets. That same rage came back, and he quickly placed himself infront of it. He slammed himself into the closed closet doors, hearing a creek as they were forced against their hinges. His shoulder ached, nerves sending messages to his head to stop. He persisted.

SLAM! It wasn’t fair.

BANG! He didn’t deserve that.

BANG! This would be so much easier—

CRASH! If he just had—

SLAM! An—

Splat!

…

An axe.

Shrimpo fell onto the floor. Head fuzzy, bits of his body warm with pain and others cold with ichor. He was sore. He was tired. He felt childish.

He wanted to get out of here now.

He stood up, and with some humility, kicked the clothes back into a neater pile. He found the sweater from the other day, and quietly pulled it over his head. He quietly hoped Shelly would return his other clothes. It was unlikely, everyone’s always eager to escape a blackout.

This will do, he’s okay with this.

He stepped out of the room, prepping himself for another few hours alone. Anyone can go back up if they just ask dandy, but he doubts they will. It was a good run, everyone will be better off without him. Harsh truth, but he didn’t inherently care. Much. If he did, he’d be throwing another fit like the one in the revive room. Maybe that’s just post-mortem talking. Dying does do numbers on you mentally. With a heavy head he trotted towards the tree in the lobby. No one was around, as expected, so he climbed the bench and bricks and flopped onto the grass. No one would see him here. Hopefully. He grumbled, sleep weighed his eyes, and he dozed off.

Losing half your head and regaining it not so long after makes you sleepy, apparently. And he wasn’t really complaining. Sleeping off the stress is nice.

——

Some hours later, maybe a bit less, Shrimpo abruptly woke up. He didn’t have a nightmare or a weird dream, he  just woke up. He groaned, suddenly feeling everything in his body when he sat up from the grass. Achy muscles, bruised knuckles, and sore throat. Worst of all, a splitting headache. He rubbed his palms against his eyes, getting the sleep out of them. He was tired, sure, but he spent enough time dillydallying. He needed to come up with a plan. That axe was still there, the team was likely long gone, and so was his spare red dress. He huffed, angry about that and the axe. Mainly the axe. Actually just the axe.

He groaned in his hands, trying his best to ignore the pain. He sat up, hearing bits of his bones pop at the movement. He breathed in and breathed out. And that’s when he realized someone was staring at him. And it wasnt really a mystery to who it was.

Dandy, just like his darn mutt, had a staring problem.

“Shrimpo!” Dandy said, waving a hand to him. “I heard you died! And to pebbles clone no less.” He shook his head “Y’know, pal, you can avoid him by just—“

“I DONT WANT YOUR ADVICE!” He yelled, and immediately flinched at his own volume. His head felt like it’d break open at this point. He growled, clenching his head as he flopped back onto the ground. “Ow…”

Dandy watch, curiously tilting his head at the shrimp. “Did the machine not heal you right, friend?”

“Dunno.” Is the response Shrimpo could muster. His voice was a lot softer sounding, quieter if you will.

Dandy shook his head, clicking his tongue as he crouched close to Shrimpo. He stared a bit longer, bringing a paw close to the shrimps head. Shrimpo swatted his hand away, letting out a low grumble.

“Huh.” Dandy hummed, “your brains still processing it.”

“I’m not Vee— I know what happened.”

“Yeah— but there’s an aftershock—“ dandy groaned “Y’know what friend? I’ll tell you later, I don’t feel like explaining it to you.”

“Good for me.”

A long stretch of silence came after that. Shrimpo kept his eyes closed, trying to keep his head soothed. Dandy’s presence was kindling his irritation. He could hear the flower shuffle and sit down a bit closer to him.

“So.” Dandy broke the silence, much to Shrimpos dismay. He cracked open an eye, looking to the flower. After a moment, Shrimpo repeated dandy’s word.

“So?”

Another silence came.

“…”

“… did the other toons come back?”

“Hm, I told them I was taking a break.” He shrugged. “I gave them the offer of going back up but they didn’t accept. I opened up the stairs for them so they could leave whenever they wanted.”

“What about— uh—“ Shrimpo paused, rubbing his forehead. “What happened exactly after I died?”

Dandy scratched his chin, “well, Finn looked pretty darn bummed. Poor pebble was whining so much I just had to give him a treat!— turns out Cosmo gave him one earlier but oh well. The rest were pretty sad I think.”

“Hm— what about Shelly?”

“Huh? Shelly?” He sounded more confused then he did shocked “um, I don’t know I wasn’t really…”

“Paying attention.” Shrimpo finished.

Dandy nodded, not really ashamed. Shrimpo scoffed, “not very nice of you, Dandicus.”

“Don’t ever call me that please.”

Shrimpo smirked, “I’ll remember that.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Good.”

Dandy sighed, irked at this. A silence was about to settle again before Shrimpo mumbled—

“Why are you here?”

Dandy paused, and pulled the friendliest smile he could muster. “I just wanted to check up on a good friend—“

“Don’t bull me.” Shrimpo grumbled. Dandy’s smile dropped.

“Alright fine.” He huffed. “I have something to ask of you but I’m…” He looked at Shrimpo up and down. The crustacean looked half dead. “I’m unsure your well enough to listen.”

“I’m… really not.” He agreed.

——

Dandy left after a few more words, promising to come back later. Shrimpo was left alone for a bit longer. He mostly napped away his headache. Toons were shockingly resilient. Shrimpo considered himself a tough fellow, despite lacking a shell like his animal counterpart. When he woke up again, his head didn’t feel like it needed to split.

After a while, sometime after his last nap, Shelly came back.

“I died.” She shrugged when Shrimpo spotted her coming. “Pebble got badly hurt so I offered to distract them for a bit.”

She paused to climb onto the grass, Shrimpo grabbed at her sleeve and pulled her up a bit. He, admittedly, wasn’t much help. She tucked her legs to the side, dusting off her skirt.

“But I ended up biting off more then I could chew.” She finished. “The last thing I saw was Boxten and your twisted self coming towards me.”

“Boxten?”

“I liked to think he was telling me to lose them.”

Shrimpo shook his head “DID YOU REALLY NOT TELL ANYONE YOU WHERE DYING OR SOMETHING?”

“I couldn’t with the situation I was in…”

“DUMMY!”

“Sorry.”

Shrimpo huffed, laying his back against the tree. Shelly said she swiped his clothes, but lost them.

“Boxten might’ve gotten them… maybe.” She shrugged. “I hope so at least.”

“GOOD ENOUGH I GUESS.”

He huffed, watching as Shelly shuffled to the tree and leaned next to him. He hated the closeness. Not really. He pulled his knees to his chest as Shelly got herself comfortable next to him. Their shoulders touched when Shelly finally settled down. More accurately, their sides touched.

“So.” Shelly started as her legs sprawled out over the ground “what exactly got you so upset when you died?”

Shrimpo flinched slightly at the sudden question. He looked to her and then to the gap between his knees. He scowled slightly as he yelled “I FOUND IT.”

“The thing?”

“YES THE THING.” He said “DIDNT YOU SEE IT WHEN YOU FOUND MY CLOTHES?”

“Not really… my flashlight was dimming out so um—“

“UGHH!!!” Shrimpo threw his head back, his head tail scratching at the bark of the tree. His palms rubbed at his eyes, barely able to remove the frustration exploding in him. “DANGIT DANGIT DANGIT!!!!!”

“I’m sorry Shrimpo I didn’t see anything…”

“ITS—“ he hissed out some air, sagging against the tree. “ITS— ITS WHATEVER.”

“Whah”

“ITS WHATEVER. AT LEAST I KNOW WHERE IT IS FOR NEXT TIME.” He rubbed his face, still feeling sleepy.

“Oh.” She mumbled, glancing to him then looking back up. “You’re right! We’ll find it in no time!”

Shelly smiled and Shrimpo only frowned in response

And dandy coughed to get their attention.

“Shrimpo!” Dandy greeted. “And Shelly! Pleasure to meet you!”

“Dandy we’ve met before” she giggled a bit.

Dandy giggled too, playing along. “Right! Silly me.” He shook his head with a friendly smile. “I’m mostly here for Shrimpo, but I think it’d be nice to have a few more toons in on this. The more the merrier, Y’know!”

“CANT YOU EVER LEAVE?” Shrimpo glared

“Nope!” Dandy responded “plus! I said I’d be back! Not for long, the other toons are still going strong.” He said, rubbing his paws together.

Shrimpos foot tapped impatiently as he looked at dandy. Shelly was the opposite, waiting patiently for him to continue.

“Okay.” Dandy started. “I only ever offered this to one other toon but I believe now it’d be better to expand it to others— especially with all those idiotic dandy runs.” He said, paws behind his back. “I’ve been searching for the right candidates, specifically those who can keep their mouth shuts. You two just so happen to be keeping some secrets, one of you more-so then the other, and I believe this proposal will not only benefit me but also you folks!”

Shelly tilted her head. “So…?”

“So,” dandy smiled toothily, “let’s make a deal.”