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Multiple thuds and a muffled scream echoed behind Shin and Raiden as they sat in the front seats of the van. The lack of a back window prevented them from seeing the scene that was occurring behind them, but they had a pretty good guess. The noises happened right after Shin drove over a pothole without slowing down.
“You gotta drive carefully, man,” Raiden commented with a stern look. Shin didn’t pay much attention to him, not wanting to hear another of his friends' lectures as he had heard plenty of those while on the road.
“I swear… Stop somewhere, we should check on Dustin.” Pointing at the side road, Raiden continued. “Knowing your driving skills, he probably ended up splattered in there like a pancake or something. It’s time to stop. Stop!”
Shin, in fact, did not stop at all. He continued like nothing happened, even running over some more potholes, keeping his eyes forward like a prey waiting for an unlucky chicken to cross the road on these country roads.
A sudden banging behind them was the only comfort and indication that Dustin was still alive. Hopefully. He drove on, ignoring Raiden’s comments. “Seriously?!”
The headbanging didn’t stop for the rest of the way, and turning the radio volume up didn’t help much as the banging was on beat with the song.
Once they arrived back at the base, Raiden hurriedly got out and walked towards the back door of the van. Gripping the handle, he swung the door and…
…quickly closed it. Raiden took a moment to process what the hell he saw. Shoulders shaking, trying to suppress his menacing laughter, quickly attracted others’ attention. Shin was the second to check. Taking a long look inside, he, too, closed the door. However, Shin’s face remained stoic, which made Raiden burst out with laughter, no longer trying to hold it back, grabbing his legs for support.
At this, curiosity for others around them peaked. “What happened?” Anju was first to ask, shifting her gaze between the two.
“Just a little spill.”As soon as Shin answered, there was that same banging again, which only made others even more curious. “And Dustin, I think.”
“The hell?” With confusion, Theo went towards the van, opening its door wide open. As soon as he saw what was inside, he couldn’t help but burst out with laughter. “Pffffff-hahaHAHAHAHAHA!!”
Kurena and Anju went closer next. The red-haired girl couldn’t hold her laughter either, whilst Anju smirked with surprise.
“Damn, Dustin. You’re orange!” Said Anju.
“Really?! I REALLY didn’t notice THAT!” Dustin finally spoke…Or rather, he shouted.
“You- you look like- AHAHAHAHAH! Like a godman mango!!” Raiden added.
“I WONDER WHY!?” Dustin shouted again. “Can’t you all drive like normal people???”
“We were in a rush,” Shin answered casually, yet his eyes sadly looked at the spilled paint.
“Ara ara.. How will you re-paint Fido now?” Anju directed her question at Shin, leaving poor Dustin to scramble himself up.
Instead, Kurena pitched in. “We could use him as a paint roller!” Just the image alone made both Raiden and Theo wheeze out, letting their laughter get louder as the two bent in joy.
Dustin, half giving up to stand up, instead slid out of the van, spreading the paint whenever he touched. Now in sunlight, he was really bright colored, almost shining like a beacon of orange light.
It was hard not to notice; even those who were passing by couldn’t help but look.
“Can’t you drive anything like normal?!?” Dustin directed his anger towards a certain someone while looking at himself, already tired of how much washing he’ll need to do.
“Dustin. Take your clothes off.” After a long silence since arrival, Shin finally spoke. This made everyone stop to realize if Shin really said that.
“Oh my…” Anju smirked.
“W-w-w-WHAT?! NO!”
“Your clothes, give them to me!” Shin barked. “I can get paint squeezed for Fido.”
“YOU STILL HAVE PLENTY!”
As Dustin was trying to get away, a redhead prince and his songbird stumbled into the chaos that was unfolding. They stared at the splashed, bright orange paint. Their expression changed from surprise to ‘another incident again.’
“Quite lively here, indeed,” Vika observed. “How did this even happen?”
“Combine someone who can’t drive like normal and a bunch of potholes.” Raiden indirectly pointed at Shin.
“Oh my! Poor Sir Sagittarius…” Lerche quietly added.
“By the way…The paint is washable, right?” Anju’s question made everyone stop in anticipation. Yet Shin didn’t answer; he could only turn away and look at the mess inside the van again. His silence was a clear answer, and it was worse when Kurena read the bucket label and shook her head to confirm.
Dustin’s face shifted from hope to realization and lastly to desperation. “T-there has to be a way…” He panicked, pacing around hurriedly. “I CAN’T BE LIKE THIS! NOOO!”
“Allow me!” Lerche, who at some point in this short period since arrival, took a nearby hose and directed it at Dustin, splashing him with water.
“AHH!”
“You seven year old! Water alone, won’t help him!” Vika shouted, bonking her head, forgetting it was all metal and hurting his hand in the process.
“M-my shame knows no bounds...”
“Hey look on the bright side, you won’t be an Alba for a while. Instead you’re… orange! Like Fido!” Theo added, not helping the situation at all.
“Thanks! That makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER” Sarcasm in Dustin’s voice was very much noticeable.
In amidst of this, no one except for Shin, paid attention to rapidly approaching Fido, who failed to stop in time and slammed into Lerche. “PIII!!”
“BLYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!” The prince shouted, his hands holding onto his luscious hair as if that would help.
Being body slammed by Fido did not look like the best experience, thankfully only machines were subjected to that so far. Still, everyone felt pity towards Lerche, she did not deserve this, accident or not. Now, near the orange paint, there was blue Sirin blood splattered, along with Lerche’s remains.
“LERCHE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Vika shouted as he sank onto his knees, tears, so hot that it fogged his glasses. “You maniacs! You killed her! Damn you all to hell!”
“Technically, they aren’t even alive to begin with,” Shin corrected. “You gotta have to let her go, Fido’s crashout wasn’t your fault.”
“Shut up! You don’t even know how I feel right now, who's going to make me toast in the morning!”
“This feels like one of those murder scenes from those movies…” Kurena said. This probably would have felt more unsettling if the paint were dark red, instead of almost glowing orange and blue.
As Vika mourned the temporary loss of Lerche whilst swearing every few words, Anju took away Dustin in search of something that would help the paint come off decently enough.
Shin, who was about to leave for some reason, was stopped by Raiden, who tightly grabbed his shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going, you little shit?! You are going to help me clean the van. Fido re-painting can wait. Your fault things came to this.” Having no other choice, Shin helped Raiden, taking unopened buckets out of the van, whilst also scavenging the remaining paint that can be saved. Anything else that was splashed by paint, might not be saved that easily.
“...What happened here..?” A new voice suddenly spoke up. It was Lena, followed by her motley crew of Alba girls who probably passed by a really orange Dustin and came straight here. They all curiously stared at the remains of what transpired. “Why was Dustin so orange?” She asked again.
“This must be some sort of Processor initiation ritual,” Echo commented, “You know, since he’s an Alba, like us, he wanted to become one of them.” But her thoughts were put to bed by Annette’s shaking head.
“If that’s the case then he would have just painted his hair orange, not his entire body, and there’s only one cruel pit.” Annette’s mighty finger pointed towards Shin’s direction, causing Lena to gaze with her silvery eyes towards Shin’s current position.
It did not go unnoticed by Lena, the way Shin looked away, like a puppy in trouble. “Shin…what did you do?” Lena’s voice grew colder.
There was no response; either Shin was ignoring his future wife like in a toxic, heterosexual relationship or he didn’t want to admit that from this moment, he knew he fucked up.
“Raiden.” He flinched when she directed her tone at him. “Who was driving?” She probably noticed the remains of orange inside the van.
No response again. Raiden was not a snitch, but his sweat of fear on his face betrayed his discomfort. However, he did make a mistake of briefly directing his gaze at Shin. That was all Lena needed.
“MY ALBA GIRLS! ASSEMBLE!” Lena’s voice echoed with command. Her subordinates immediately got to work, like some magical girls in action. “TAKE HIM TO THE SHADOW REALM!”
It all happened so fast that Shin could barely escape as these Alba girls captured and dragged him far away. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” He tried gripping onto anything he could get a hold of, but to no avail. These Alba girls were so strong. No amount of begging and screaming could prevent him from escaping his fate.
“You’ll take care of the rest, right?” Lena spoke again, her smile bright as if nothing had happened.
Raiden could only nod, not daring to say anything else. Instead, silently praying. Please…come back to me. Whatever it takes… Bro...
Once Lena left, he let out an exhale he was holding. He selfishly was glad that it wasn’t him that was taken who knows where.
“...Well there goes our Shin…” Hiding behind the van, Theo said in a trembling voice.
“He shall be missed…” Kurena added, peeking her head from behind the pillar.
“Let’s hurry up, before they come back. We can’t let them sense our weakness and lure them back.” Raiden hurriedly said, picking up his speedy cleaning skill.
Theo and Kurena couldn’t agree more.
After a long work of cleaning all the paint to the best of their abilities, the inside of the van looked so much better. Although not as bad as first, traces of orange will probably remain there for some time.
At least Dustin was looking far better. With Anju’s help, he managed to revert to being Alba. Pecks of orange were still there, so it was not perfect. He will probably need a few days to get them fully off. Dustin wasn’t sure if this was a lesson or not, but he will never be anywhere near Shin while he is driving ever again.
Shin himself came back from wherever he was dragged to. The strike-package Captain was sitting alone, his red orbed eyes had seen something no living soul should have. He looked like that dried-up alien. No one really dared to approach him or even ask what happened to him, not even Raiden could recognize his friend. He was dragged by the magical Alba girls as a boy and came back as a grandpa. Whatever Lena, Annette, and Echo have done to him will surely haunt him enough.
Fido didn’t get his re-paint that he really was looking forward to until Shin recovered from this traumatic event.