Inktobertale 2022 : Compilation of novels

11th of October : Dye

"Look, when you told me you had a plan, I expected something... I don't know, smarter."

Ink took another look at the multiple barrels in front of him. Following Inner-Ink's guidance, he had arrived to this timeline, where a great bazar was being held by both monsters and humans. He'd kept searching until he had found a stall fitting Inner-Ink's description : a dyer.

"I mean... since you and I are the same person, I'm sure you know that normal paint won't be able to give me feelings, and much less, paint alternatives like dye."

No response from his inner voice.

"Why won't you answer me ? Okay, it is true that I never tried dye, but what would be the odds for it to work ?!?!"

Still nothing.

"Okay you win, I'll try it !" angrily said Ink as he grabbed a fistful of green powder from one of the barrels, and dropped it in his mouth. He munched on it for a long time with a painful expression, before finally forcing himself to swallow... and immediately started to try and puke it out.

"Uerrrrk !" It was like drinking an entire salt shaker, with the glass broken and added to it. Ink violently spat out multiple green mucuses, which splatted on the ground and spread a terrible smell. The people gathered around Ink flashed disgusted faces and whispered as they all walked away. "Hey !"  screamed the shop owner, a big, chubby mouse-like monster wearing a very long orange top hat, "Just what do you think you're doing, coming here, trashing my products and scaring away the clients ?!"

"Listen pal," said Ink as he wiped his mouth, "Really sorry about trashing your stuff, but I've got better stuff to do, so you'll excuse me..." He grabbed Broomie from his back, lifted it to teleport away... and remained exactly where he was.

...Why am I not teleporting ?

Because we're not done here.

"So that's how it is ?" said the dyer, as he snapped his fingers, and two huge crocodile monsters emerged from the crowd and circled Ink. "Security, take this guy out !"

Oh crap. Ink told himself, then to Inner-him : What are you doing ?! I can't even take these guys out without wasting paint, which will shorten the time we have left.

I know. That's exactly why I brought you here.

Suddenly, one of the crocodiles pushed Ink, who accidentally dropped Broomie into one of the barrels, which was filled with dark blue dye. Instinctively, the guardian picked his weapon up, and his eyes widened when he saw that the hairy tip of the brush was now covered in dark blue, and seemed to be sparkling. He tried touching it, but suddenly the other security guard extended his tail, and swiped Ink's feet off the ground. As the skeleton felt, Broomie accidentally touched the crocodile. And the moment it did so, the white soul of the monster appeared in front of its chest, and as the dye spread on his scales, the shoulder took a dark blue tint.

Scared by this sudden attack, the colored guard stepped back, allowing Ink to move again, and the very moment Broomie was moved a bit forward by its owner, the crocodile monster was propelled in the same direction. As surprised as he was, Ink moved Broomie around a bit more, and watched as his opponent was dragged through the air from one side to another.

Blue magic ? But... the dye did this ?

No. We did. Just like we do with paint normally. Other substances have different abilities.

Ink would have liked to continue this conversation, but a dozen other guards appeared, and started charging forward him. The protector quickly looked at the other dyes at his reach, and tipped Broomie in some purple one. He then splashed three guards with it, and immediately their souls appeared and got colored purple, as strings appeared out of thin air and webbed the three to the nearby walls. With green dye, he paralyzed two more, then used cyan dye to send blue attacks which caught the rest right in their charge, and forced them to stop or get hurt.

So... we can force certain colors onto souls with dye ?

Precisely.

Then... are there other substances I don't know about which would help me beat that color eraser ?

I'm glad you asked, replied Inner-Ink as paint started appearing around Ink, until he plunged through it, teleporting to another universe.