Chapter Text
It started simple: Shrimpo was going on a walk and he found a rock.
He had been walking down the sidewalk, not really intending on a certain destination. Besides, he was pretty preoccupied with other things- such as how he hated that the sun was too bright, or that the air was too cold, or whatever other arbitrary thing he had decided was an affront to his entire existence. If he could have, he likely would’ve kept it up for the entire walk, but something oh so rudely decided to interrupt him. A barking, loud and at his feet.
“What do you want?! I hate being interrupted!” he snapped, looking down at the offending creature. His retorts died in his throat upon realising it was Pebble, and that Pebble was acting like he hadn’t seen anyone in years.
The little pet rock was pawing at his leg, looking up at him with absolutely pathetic eyes. He grumbled halfheartedly, not putting any of his usual anger into it since it wasn’t like Pebble could understand him and he wasn’t about to yell at an animal, and shifted his stance away from him.
“What do you want?” he repeated harshly. Pebble trotted in a circle and sat down in front of him, giving him an oddly expectant look before getting back up and running off to the forest.
Shrimpo got the distinct feeling that Dandy would not appreciate his beloved pet wandering off into the woods alone, so, abandoning his previous plans(which he hated anyways) , he followed him. Though, not unexpectedly, he started trying to complain again, but eventually gave up once Pebble sped up and he had to as well, since he ran out of breath almost immediately.
Pebble was clearly leading him somewhere, he quickly realised, as the little rock weaved his way through the bushes like he was on a mission, and Shrimpo had to rush slightly to keep up. This thing was way too fast for a literal stone. Heck, he didn’t even know where they were going, and they’d been on the move for a good few minutes at least. He was beginning to consider just leaving when they finally broke out into a clearing.
And the first thing he saw was the fairly large building, stout and long with cracked, unpainted concrete walls. The first thing Pebble seemed to see was a stack of crates at the side, running up to them and barking loudly at one.
Shrimpo decided to go investigate, walking over and fumbling around the edges of the box until he found the lid, trying to get his fingers beneath it. That, surprisingly, turned out to be rather easy, for such a weathered-looking box. He lifted it up and peered inside.
He immediately regretted it, as the smell hit him before his eyes adjusted. He pulled the lid to the side, tossing it to the ground roughly, then grabbed onto the edge of the box to look inside again.
Inside turned out to be the source of what was rotting, though it wasn’t quite old enough to be visible yet. In fact, Poppy’s body looked mostly intact, and he probably wouldn’t know she was dead if he didn’t know what to look for. If he didn’t spot her still chest, didn’t know where to find the nonexistent pulse, didn’t find the marks on her neck while trying to feel for a heartbeat. Didn’t feel the ichor slicking the bottom of the box.
He stepped away from the box warily, searching the clearing briefly for anyone else, before looking down at Pebble. He was starting to get a bit suspicious of the rock now, but- no, why was he worried about Pebble? If there was anyone he should be worried about, it was-
“Oh, hi! I didn’t think you’d be here.” Shrimpo turned to see Dandy stepping out of the trees, eyes barely flitting over to the box before returning to stare right at Shrimpo. He was smiling, but it didn’t reach the rest of his face.
”What are you doing here?” Shrimpo snapped, turning around to properly face him and slightly spreading his arms subtly. He looked over Dandy quickly, searching for anything suspicious. A spot of ichor, hands hidden behind his back, maybe even something as obvious as holding a weapon. But he found nothing. If Dandy had actually done it, he’d hidden it well, and if he hadn’t, then Shrimpo was probably just being a jerk.
“I was only looking for Pebble,” he said calmly, crouching down and holding his arms out to the rock, who bounded up and leapt into his arms. He chuckled lightly, standing back up and looking at Shrimpo again. “What’s in that box there?”
The faux-curiousity was not lost on Shrimpo. He narrowed his eyes at Dandy with a low sort of rumble, drawn-out and defensive. “Nothing. Go away.”
“Shrimpo, your hands are covered in ichor.”
“And you’re being weird and suspicious. I hate liars, you know!”
“You hate everything.”
“Yes! And especially you!”
Shrimpo stomped his foot, his hands curling into fists, but sticking one into his pocket to stop himself from doing anything rash. He was starting to hate this conversation, too. That, and Dandy’s stupid poorly hidden smug face was driving him insane. He stepped forwards, raising one fist very slightly. “You did this, didn’t you! How dare you!”
“How dare you,” Dandy replied evenly, setting down Pebble and crossing his hands behind his back with a smirk. Shrimpo simply stared at him, completely lost and entirely frustrated, so he continued. “Don’t give me that. You know how this looks. Covered in ichor, your fingerprints all over the box and the body, out here alone for no good reason… and who wouldn’t trust Dandy?”
“You wouldn’t,” Shrimpo said faintly, though he was still glaring at Dandy. “Besides, they’d trust me too! I hate lying!”
“But you’re the bully,” Dandy countered, his initial smirk widening into a grin. He stepped towards Shrimpo, circling him like he was sizing him up, yet clearly not intending to hurt him. Despite that, Shrimpo watched him warily. “You’re the mean one, the untrustworthy one, the one who they’d all expect to murder someone in cold blood like this.”
Shrimpo balled his hands into fists, tense and ready. He was going to punch him in the face if he kept talking. Or if he kept moving. Shrimpo hated things that wouldn’t stop moving long enough for him to catch them.
“Well, I suppose I should get a move on. Wouldn’t want to keep a criminal free for too long, would I?” Dandy said coolly, turning to walk away.
Well, if he was getting arrested anyway…
He ran up behind Dandy, footsteps loud on the grassy gravel, and swung a fist towards the back of his head, putting all his strength into the right hook. He expected to be met with a hard skull, but instead found his knuckles meeting the palm of Dandy’s hand, which shifted down to his wrist swiftly and pulled him forwards. His back met the ground harshly and he laid there stunned for a brief moment, before attempting to get up, at the same time kicking out at Dandy’s shins. But his ankle was grabbed and he was pulled up into the air, the blood rushing to his head immediately and making him feel like someone was squeezing his skull.
“Oh, now what do you think you’re doing?” Dandy asked, looking down at him. Shrimpo stared up at him for a moment, dazed, before his expression twisted into a snarl and he started struggling. Dandy just held him a little further away, looking rather bored.
“Let me go!” he snapped, attempting to kick Dandy’s arms with his free leg. Dandy shrugged and dropped him to the ground, where he pushed himself up and hopped awkwardly away from him, wincing. He kicked angrily at the ground upon regaining his footing, sending what looked like a rock bouncing into a bush.
Dandy watched him for a moment before turning and walking away into the forest. He looked incredibly satisfied and Shrimpo hated it. He hated it, he hated it so, so, so much he wanted to beat Dandy’s stupid face in until he could never so much as smile again because nobody made fun of Shrimpo and got away with it, at least not without their teeth shattered, not without paying for it, not-
“Excuse me, Shrimpo.”
He turned to face whoever had spoken, and found himself looking at Rodger. Rodger. Shrimpo had no idea how he’d apparently offended the world this much.
“Rodger?” he answered quickly, his tone softened slightly though still laced through with a hint of hostility. He stepped towards the detective, looking up at him.
“I’m afraid I have to place you under arrest,” Rodger continued without acknowledging him, though his eye was not stern but instead sorrowful. Shrimpo didn’t back away.
“Rodger, I swear it wasn’t me. You know me,” he said, a hint of pleading entering his voice but masked with aggression.
“I know. But the evidence-“
“How about a deal, then?” Shrimpo interrupted desperately. He hated compromising, but it seemed like his only option at the moment, so he’d just have to suck it up. At least it was with Rodger. “You cover this up temporarily, and I’ll help you find the real killer.”
“What- Shrimpo, that could get me fired! You know how hard it was for me to get this job as a Toon!”
“You care about your dumb job more than me!?”
“Yes, I care about my life, and I don’t exactly want you on my team anyways.”
Shrimpo looked taken aback, stung slightly by the last sentence. While he did somewhat understand Rodger prioritising his life’s work, that comment was just being mean. “Hey!”
“Well, you’re not exactly half decent at anything besides violence…” Rodger pointed out, not unkindly, though quite bluntly.
“Rodger, come on. I swear I won’t get you fired.”
“…fine. Only for you.”
Shrimpo huffed, crossing his arms. He was slightly grateful, yet refused to show it whatsoever. “Damn right, now let’s go arrest a murderer.”
He turned and began walking into the woods, trailing Dandy’s faint footsteps. Rodger winced as he began walking- there was no way they were sneaking up on Dandy at this rate. But he followed anyways, his steps softer and slower yet somehow outpacing Shrimpo anyways.
”What exactly do you expect to accomplish here, anyways?” Rodger inquired, slowing down slightly to allow Shrimpo to keep up. The other was already huffing behind him.
“We’re gonna jump Dandy, duh,” Shrimpo replied, rolling his eyes. He sprinted slightly faster, attempting to hurry up, but only succeeding in making himself slightly louder and only marginally faster.
“…no, Shrimpo, we are not doing that.”
Shrimpo glared up at him over his shoulder, looking incredibly irritated. “Oh yes we are!”
Rodger sighed, closing his eye and dragging a hand over his face. This idiot was going to be the death of him, he just knew it.
Shrimpo paid the action no mind, instead spotting something up ahead. He ran towards it, but Rodger grabbed him by the collar of his tank top and yanked him back. “Hey! What gives!? He’s right there!”
“Exactly. Keep it down, Shrimpo,” Rodger whispered, narrowing his eye at him. Shrimpo stuck his tongue out, but fell silent, moving loudly behind a tree to peek out from around it, Rodger doing the same.
Dandy was just standing there, talking to Astro, a confident smile on his face. Astro looked incredibly uncomfortable, shifting around and watching Dandy.
“…ourse, I’ve taken care of it. I was just going to hide it, but the opportunity practically fell into my lap, and I just had to take it. Nobody likes Shrimpo anyways, right?”
Shrimpo immediately spoke up, yelling at him. “Excuse me! Lots of people like me! I’m the best!”
Dandy and Astro both immediately turned their heads towards the pair. Rodger swore loudly.
“Well, look who showed up. The bully and his pet snoop,” Dandy said, crossing his arms, though he sounded more irritated than anything. “I don’t feel like dealing with you right now. Astro, would you be so kind as to get them out of the way?”
Shrimpo opened his mouth to object, but Astro held out one of his hands from under the blanket. There was a sensation like someone hammering his eyes from the inside of his skull and kicking his lungs at the same time, and he let out a choked gasp, his vision going black immediately. He was barely aware of hitting the ground, but his ears were ringing and his vision was too blurry to truly process what was going on around him. In fact, he felt rather drowsy, and he wanted nothing more than to just go to sleep to get rid of the hurt.
But he hated giving in.
So instead he stubbornly fought it, managing to stay awake, though he didn’t become fully lucid until a decent amount of time later. Eventually, his vision began clearing up, and he slowly processed what had happened, and at that point he shot up and immediately regretted it because it felt like his head was being sawed open.
He turned to look for Rodger, and spotted the detective passed clean out on the ground, snoring away like he was in his own bed. Shrimpo pushed himself up unsteadily, going over and wrapping his arms around Rodger, hauling him up. “Alright, come on, ya dumb lug.”
He dragged Rodger off, stumbling stubbornly through the woods. At some point, Pebble ran out from the bushes, whining and nudging Shrimpo’s shin. When Shrimpo ignored him, keeping his eyes fixed on the forest ahead, he trailed behind the pair instead. The three of them made their way through the trees- which were starting to darken as the evening slipped by at a pace slower than Shrimpo. By the time his claws hit sidewalk, the rusty blue-orange sky was peppered with faint stars.
And by the time he returned to the office, he was almost tired enough to collapse right then. But he didn’t. Instead he called out. “Glisten! You here?”
Footsteps rang down the hall before someone entered the lobby, the same old smirk slipping once he saw the state of them. Shrimpo could already see his reflection in Glisten’s face and he didn’t like it. “Ah, Shrimpoh no what in the world happened here?”
“Dandy,” Shrimpo grunted, hoisting Rodger up onto a nearby chair. He turned back to Glisten, arms crossed, paw tapping expectantly on the floor. “Go fix our boyfriend.”
“…Shrimpo, how exactly do you expect me to fix this?”
“You fix everything!”
“Well, I’m glad you know as such, but there’s nothing to fix here. You do know he should wake up fine, yes?”
Shrimpo paused for a moment, having not considered that, before his arms uncrossed and curled into fists at his sides. “I hate you!”
“Mhm, sure you do, dear,” Glisten hummed, rolling his eyes as he walked over to Rodger and sat down in the chair next to him. He tucked his arm around Rodger’s shoulders, noticing that the other had been slowly slipping. Shrimpo huffed, stomping over to the other side of the room before pausing and turning around. He stomped right back over, and stood in front of Glisten.
“Sit up straighter.”
“What?”
“I said sit straighter.”
Glisten stared at him with a weird, and somewhat judgemental, look on his face before sitting up straighter, as asked. He was immediately met with Shrimpo sitting in the chair next to him and leaning back against him, closing his eyes. And promptly falling dead asleep.
OPERATION NECTAR
Full Name: Poppy Pop
Age at Death: N/A
Cause of Death: Strangulation and/or Blunt Force Trauma
Person Suspected of Murder: Shrimpo Rosado
Reasons for Murder: Unclear