Chapter Text
It was just a normal run. It was supposed to be just a normal run. Floor 10, then theyd go back up. Of course, Shrimpo decided to go along, despite the weird feeling of….nausea? Dread? He wasnt sure what it was, but there was some kind of weird feeling in his gut that something was going to happen this run. It had started normal enough, common twisteds for the first few floors, then rarer ones started showing up before mains. Nothing out of the ordinary, Goob and pebble decided theyd switch off distracting every other floor, and theyd both distract on main floors, with pebble taking the mains and goob taking the others.
It was just supposed to be floor 10, but now here they were, floor 28. Here Shrimpo was floor 28. And he had only taken damage once, when he ran into Toodles on floor 13 because of a blackout. The feeling in his stomach still hadnt subsided. He had even tried talking to sprout about it (of course, sprout didnt particularly want to talk to him, focusing more on cosmo). He decided maybe he was just coming down with something, and hed go rest once they went back up.
…whenever that would be.
This floor they had 6 twisteds, as to be expected with floor 28. There were only 5 of them left now. Poppy had died to Rodger floor 15, goob lost finn floor 18 and he killed cosmo, and then tisha died to razzle and dazzle on a blackout floor 23, having not seen where their ribbon circle was and running straight into it. So now there was only him, vee, pebble, goob and sprout.
Of course on this floor they had to get Pebble, so pebble was busy distracting…well, himself, while Goob took care of tisha, looey, toodles, finn and Gigi. And yet this floor was when the feeling in his gut felt the strongest. He couldnt place why. He was wandering around, avoiding walking near pebble or Goob, so really he was just in one area, which was the hall next to the kitchen pebble was distracting in. He picked up a skill check candy and jumper, spotting an airhorn in the middle of the hall, and also spotting (or hearing) vee on a machine on the other side of the shelves there, and he turned the corner and stood next to her.
“Has anybody told Goob about the airhorn out there?” He asked, keeping quiet so he wouldnt distract pebble from pebble.
“No, i didnt even know there was one, i came in from pebbles side.” She said, her monotone voice grating on shrimpos ears. God he wished she had been programed with the ability to show even just a bit of emotion in her voice.
“Alright, ill radio him then,” Shrimpo pulled the walkie-talking from the clip on his pants and brought it up to his mouth, pressing the button. “Hey Goob, airhorn in the hall next to the kitchen pebs is in. Me and vee are here but were hidden, you should be good to come in quick and get it.”
“Roger that, coming. Stay there.”
He turned around to peer through the metal shelving as he watched Goob run in, grab the airhorn, and run right back out. He knew sprout was doing machines on the other side from where the two were, but vee was on the last one.
“You should get to the elevator.” She said, pulling her walkie-talkie and saying the three letters everyone had agreed to say, just to make it easier on everyone.
“See you there then.” Shrimpo said, getting off the shelving and walking towards the elevator. As he walked, the feeling he had increased, feeling almost actually nauseating now.
He stood on the other side of the counter, watching Goob before the machine popped and goob ran around the other way as shrimpo booked it to the elevator, followed by goob then sprout, whom goob pulled into the elevator using his ability. They heard pebble use his bark, assuming he had lost his twisted self and was getting him back. They waited for a bit for vee and then pebble to show up, but they were all left worried when they saw pebble sprinting down the hall with no sign of vee yet, when she suddenly rounded the corner from the counter, clearly out of stamina. Unfortunately, Goob and pebble were both on cooldown, meaning vee immediately got spotted.
They all froze for a second, before Shrimpo, without hesitating, ran out of the elevator and shouted to “FOCUS ON ME YOU DUMB DOG” grabbing twisted pebbles attention and ran in the opposite direction of where vee was so she could get into the elevator. He couldnt hear anything, it all went quiet as he focused on making sure vee got into the elevator, even if it cost him his life. He hadnt even realized he was outrunning Pebble, or that he wasnt as tired as he should be by now. All he could hear was his own pulse rushing in his ears, and he felt the feeling in his gut change. Into what? He wasnt sure. Determination? Protection? He didnt know all he knew was that as he rounded a corner, arms were wrapped around his waist and he was pulled into the elevator.
The elevator closed immediately after, and the arms let him go. He needed a minute to catch his breath, still only being able to hear his own heart beat, before sounds started coming back. Now however he was tuning them out, walking over to a corner and opening his stats panel.
walk speed: 17.5
Run speed: 27.5
Walk speed multiplier: 0
Run speed multiplier: 0
“Shrimpo!! You could have told us you found a box of chocolates! Vee could have used it there!” He heard sprout shouting once he tuned back in to what everyone was saying. “That was risky, even for you! If the chocolates wore off before goob could grab you you would have been dead!”
“I didnt have chocolates.” Was all he said.
“You clearly did! You-”
“I didnt have chocolates.” Shrimpo said, turning to the others, his inventory on display. A jumper, a skillcheck candy and gumballs. He really didnt have a box of chocolates. “...and im as fast as goob without trinkets now. Same stamina too.” He said, showing them his stats.
“...what the fuck?” was the first thing said from Goob. Sprout and Vee turned to look at him like he just committed a mass amount of war crimes in front of them. “...what? Im 26, im not a child, im gonna swear with something like that.”
“Hes right though, what the fuck.” Shrimpo said, closing his stats.
“..I think its time we go back up, try to figure this out.” Vee said as she pressed the button to go up.
Once they were back up, the other three crowded around Shrimpo as pebble ran off, not seeming interested in what they were doing. Shrimpo immediately pulled up his star stats, and sure enough, his movement speed and stamina were both up from 1 star to 4 stars. All four of them looked around at each other, all equally confused as the other three from their team, Poppy, Cosmo and Tisha walked over.
“What are you guys doing?” Poppy asked enthusiastically, trying to get a peek of what they were looking at.
“Shrimpo has the stats of a distractor.”