Mear
"Let's try and find Estelle... She might know something about sewing and stuffed animals..." Shupple said as she slowly stood up. I stood as well with my sketchbook in hand still giving it a sideways glance. Gray continued to sit there for a solid second longer as if he were pondering something. After shaking his head a full moment, he rose as well.
We started walking down the stairs, but just as we got to the last step, I felt as though I was suddenly falling… The feeling suddenly increased, and I found I really was falling. My ears suddenly rang with the sudden yell that had escaped me and entwined with the already conjoined yells of Shupple and Gray.
"AHHHHH!!!" broke through the air and maimed any other sound in its path. Suddenly, the sharp smack of my body hitting the floor rang into my own ears. Flinching, I waited a moment to try and get up, but just as my shoulders raised high enough to force myself off the ground, someone came crashing down on top of me. Squashed between the floor and a body, I felt my eyes start to turn into a swirl pattered that defeated pokemon often have.
“Ouch….” I breathed after a moment as a very nervous Nidoran girl was quickly trying to squirm off of my back.
Once successful on the matter, she seemed to back away as I got up. Forcing myself up, I found that I had landed on my sketchbook that was now appearing to burry itself in the floor. I picked it up carefully and gave a quick view of the entire area. It seemed as though a huge number of Gijinka had suddenly been dropped into this area and were now returning to their own feet.
Shupple, who was not far away but returning to her standing position as well, seemed to shake her head a bit as she rose. It was then that my eyes moved and saw what she had landed on. Gray was sprawled out comically on the floor under Shupple and had taken the appearance of a squished pokemon rug with his arms spread out and his mouth half open.
"Where am I?" a Froslass asked looking around as if stunned. I found my eyes continuing to look around as well even as the sound of Shupple getting fully up and Gray rising up as well came to my ears.
"No idea." A Lucario answered back who appeared just as lost as the rest of us.
"I could have sworn I was just being attacked." Hoom, who was appearing to search for someone with her eyes, said. After another moment, a call broke from her throat. "HON!" She yelled, and with a swift motion despite the fact that we had all taken a fall, she had seized a houndour and was now holding him.
"But how did we end up here I just remember a big dark hole appearing and sudden I was taken in here." Shupple said after a moment causing my eyes to move towards her. She was standing there shaking her head a bit with Gray right behind her wearing a half confused half grinning appearance. Even in this state, I didn’t doubt that he probably had something or other to be grinning at.
"HEY YOU GUYS!!!" a voice yelled out not far off, and once again, my head had turned, and I found that Lux, Estelle, and a few other faces I had yet to meet before were running towards us. It looked as though they had scrambled or something to get away and had suddenly come back again.
.
"Lux? Estelle? And umm new guys?" Chii’s voice said half startling me and causing my eyes to move to his face for a sudden second before it registered that he was there. It felt as though my mind was suddenly running slower, and I found a similar sensation running through me in that moment. The nervousness of being around so many people at once had started to run through my bloodstream yet again. I found my eyes had already moved down, and I was staring into the back nothingness that served as the floor in this strange area.
"I am glad to see you are all right. It seems we are all here and accounted for, plus some new faces." Estelle’s voice said, yet I made no movement to look up and rather preferred to stare down at the floor. It was truly strange I must say to have such hard tendencies come at such awkward times. I let out a breath and tried to relax.
Suddenly, I was suddenly embraced causing me to half jump in shock. My eyes moved upwards, and I found that Lux was hugging me.
"MEAR YOU ARE ALIVE!!!" Lux said rubbing his cheek against mine as he continued to hug me. This strange clinging sensation was already starting to throw me off not to mention the constant motion.
"GET OFF GET OFF!!!" I found myself yelling as I started to try and squirm out of this strange embrace.
"NOOO I MISSED YOU SO MUCH I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!!" Lux cried almost to dramatically which suddenly caused my face to flush.
"ACK OFF OFF OFF!!" I answered back once again trying to squirm my way from his embrace that had once again managed to find its way back.
"Okay okay!" Lux laughed after a moment as he began backing away. He let out a laugh that I also returned with as I bit the bottom of my lip and found my fingers slowly relaxing from the tightens that I had clung to my sketchbook with. Lux continued a laugh and patted me on the shoulder with a half smile. However, this was suddenly stopped as a laugh rang out into the area. I felt myself tense completely, and Lux seemed to freeze as well.
"IT APPEARS YOU ARE ALL HERE!" A shadowed voice laughed melodically.
I felt the sharp turn of myself as I began to form an attack.
"You cannot defeat me in this place. In this word I rule all. Welcome to the Twilight Zone." The voice laughed sharply from the darkness that still cloaked it.
"WHAT?" Everyone screamed, and a sudden race of fear had run into my system. This was a different world entirely! We weren’t even in the mansion anymore!
Suddenly, a wind began to pick up and swirled around us all brushing up hair. My hat escaped me and went flying off into the nothingness. I made a reach to snag it just as it was going by, and yet I couldn’t. Half of me wanted to go after my hat, and yet another was fearful of what lay in wait not too far off. Finally my own fears caused me to take a step back again. Shupple had moved up beside me, and we both stared into the darkness.
“It’s not the girl,” Shupple said after a moment. “This spirit is a lot darker…..”
I felt my muscles tighten suddenly as a laugh caused everyone to turn sharply to the right. The air had started to swirl even faster as a dark figure began to approach us. It wore a long black coat, and none could see any face from underneath the hood that shielded it. However, everyone could hear the malicious laughter that was escaping this beast as it continued towards us. A few of the Gijinka had stepped backwards, and I found that Nyarth, that was his name… I recognized him from the time he introduced himself to me, had backed straight into me. I placed my sketchbook up as somewhat of a pillow between us, and realizing that I was standing behind him, he turned suddenly and looked straight at me.
“What…. What’s going on?” he asked no one in particular even as he continued to look at me.
“Nyarth… I’m scared…..” the Nidoran girl from before cried suddenly.
Taking a sudden step, Nyarth took the Nidoran girl’s shoulder and seemed to embrace her a bit.
“It’ll be ok…. Nina…..” Nyrath tried, but just as he said it, the being that was now only a few yards from the entire group burst into another fit of maniac laughter that sent shivers through us all.
“Just what the hell are you?!” Lupe’s voice yelled out sharply almost from within the entire group itself.
“Aw…. That’s mean,” the shadowed figure said raising a finger up and moving it in the way a metronome did. “Why don’t you at least try some common decency when speaking?”
A growl seemed to escape Lupe in that moment, but it was suddenly hushed by a wind that had once again wrapped itself around us leaving the air hissing and tormenting. We all fell into complete silence again. However, in that moment, both Shupple and Estelle had seemed to take a sudden step forwards away from the group.
“You’re not human,” Estelle said after a moment.
“And you’re not Gijinka or Pokemon,” Shupple commented after.
“Ahhh correct, correct both of you should get an A in school….” The figure laughed suddenly clapping his hands together in a strange form of amusement that one gives a street performer or a comic. “I am none of the above… can you guess what I am then?” The tone that he was giving us was now starting to work its way through my entire system. It was a strange criticizing tone, and yet there was an undercurrent that everyone could feel.
“Another ghost,” Gray said from behind me almost causing me to jump from where I was.
“Are you with the little girl?” a girl with blue hair asked from not far off. She was standing with her arms crossed and was leering straight at the figure. There was sharp look on her face as if she were ready to attack even with the knowledge that it would probably do not good.
“Ah, no no no,” the shadow figure answered waggling his finger at us all once more. “We sprits are not of the communing class. She is very weak in comparison with my powers which is why I decided to take away her play toys as well.” With that, the figure seemed to raise his hand once again and pointed directly at a Glameow who seemed to tense up considerably.
“Why are all these ghosts even here?” a Sableye standing behind the Glameow asked as she eyed the shadowed man with eyes that shimmered.
“Ah I wouldn’t try Foresight if I were you,” the figure said once again waggling his finger. “If you happen to see my true form, you might lose the will to live, and then where would my own fun be? Down the toilet you see.”
“Did… he just rhyme….?” Suddenly my attention turned to an Unbreon who seemed completely lost in the moment.
I will state that the most random of confused moments will often occur when one is scared, and in that moment, I found that it was a perfect example of this statement. Etselle, who had been communicating with Lupe as well as the Forslass seemed to look over for a sudden moment and blinked a solid second.
“Uh….” Estelle answered the Ubreon’s question and then suddenly fell quiet.
“My Ho-Oh,” someone said behind me, and I turned to see that Lupe had put her hand to her head and looked ready to smack her face. Chii who also seemed to register this motion was looking from me to Lupe and back to me with a half worried look. Standing not far off from Chii, another new face seemed to be staring at this sudden action and was shaking his head.
My eyes caught the face of a Girafarig who was also serving as an onlooker to the situation but remained quiet in that moment. However, both the newer face not far off from Chii and the Girafargig seemed to exchange a look as two often do who meet under circumstances of confusion.
“What do you want from us!” a voice suddenly yelled, and my eyes moved to Lux who had sudden seemed to tense angrily at the figure who had now halved his distance from us. I felt my stomach twitch again, and suddenly, my hand was flying through the pages of my sketchbook at a break neck pace. Once again, the image of the rabbit was reveled from the page.
“Reverse sketch,” I said aloud, and in that moment, the bunny was pulled straight off the page and had come into Shupple’s arms. She looked down at the rabbit stunned for a solid second before realizing what I had done.
“But the figure already said he wasn’t the same ghost….” Shupple said looking down at the rabbit.
“But the girl might also be around still….” I said realizing the hole in my own idea and wanting to cover it as best I could.
“Better than nothing at this point,” Gray answered back shaking his head.
Shupple seemed to take a step forwards with the rabbit in arms, but before she could move away from the entire group, I had taken the rabbit from her.
“Mear….” Shupple said looking at me with a worried look.
“I don’t want you harmed, Shupple,” I answered back. “I’ll do this.”
“Mear… wait don’t…..” Shupple seemed to beg, but already, I had turned and started walking out of the entire group.
Suddenly, a hand has seized my shoulder and stopped me completely.
“Just what do you plan to do?” Lux’s voice asked, and my eyes slid to the right to get a side view of him.
“This rabbit means something to that first ghost,” I answered back. “If we can get her to form, maybe we can use it as a pivot to get out of here somehow.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”Lux half demanded.
I fell silent unsure of what to do. Suddenly, a scream broke out from the group, and both Lux and I turned our heads to find that smaller shadows had formed and were now taking the form of spiders as they crawled around the floors. Several Gijinka were spreading out trying to get away from them.
“No! Don’t split up!” I found myself yelling, but the spiders had already started to section off groups of Gijinka.
“You’re not pretty enough to be in my presence!” a Zangoose yelled at the spiders who were starting to heard him as well as a Kadabra away from the group.
“Get away from me!” the Froslass yelled at the spiders as she formed a beam of ice and was starting to jettison beams of cold air at the spiders. However, the spiders continued forwards as if nerveless to the intensity of the cold at which they were being subject to.
“Mega kick!” a hard voice yelled.
“Aura sphere!” another hard voice yelled, and my eyes moved fast enough to see that a Hitmonlee and a Lucario were starting to attack the spiders head on.
“Mear watch out!” Lux’s voice brought me back to my current situation, and I felt a sudden fear roll through me as I saw a particularly large spider seem to jump straight at me. In one swift solid motion, I dropped the rabbit and slammed the spider with the side of my sketchbook causing it to fly off as if it were a baseball.
I let out a sharp breath as my eyes had begun to look around my immediate surroundings. A group of small spiders had started to try and take away the rabbit, but with another sharp motion, I beat them into ash and picked up the rabbit once more.
“Thunder!” Lux yelled… wait…. That wasn’t Lux.
My eyes moved over, and I found that a Manetric had shocked a few of the spiders near me into nothingness. I let out another sharp breath and allowed myself to look around once again. In that moment, I saw that Lux was fighting off yet another horde of spiders… no… they were flying! The shadows had morphed into some sort of locus that was now buzzing and swarming around everyone. Screams escaped into the air as the buzzing grew louder and louder.
“Now isn’t this a better game than what that little girl wanted to play?” the malicious voice roared above the sounds of all. My eyes shot towards the figure who was now standing between the divided groups with his arms held high above his head and a crude laughter escaping his thought.
Suddenly, my eyes caught the horde of locus beginning to encircle and swarm Lux. A sharp yell rang out, and I heard Estelle’s clear voice scream out the words Lux and Reo. In that half second I had been left to ponder in, I found that locus had swarmed me as well and were buzzing about in a terror like no other. My muscles tightened, and I began to bat them away again as I had the spiders.
A voice screamed out, and what followed made me tense completely. “SHUPPLE!”
Lee
Spiders… I hate spiders. I hate spiders with the passion of Indiana Johns who despises the snakes. My eyes narrowed as they began to form around us. Kat screamed out causing me to turn sharply. The vermin had already started to separate everyone into factions, and in that moment, I understand the concept. Divide and conquer. Indeed, a perfected art that was used to win not only battles but wars. I would not allow them to win this way. Taking a sudden footstep, I moved into my kicking position. Leaning just far enough back, I began to unleash a series of sharp low kicks causing the spiders to go flying in different directions.
“LEE!” Kat yelled, and my head jotted sideways as I saw that the spiders had started to jump around her and were threatening to bit. My eyes narrowed.
“Mega Kick!” I yelled kicking back an entire fleet of spiders as I managed to side step through the mounds of black legged anthropoids. Kat continued to scream, and I heard the lower tones of Sable joining in the chorus of the damned.
“Get off me! Iron Tail!” Kat yelled, and with a sudden spinning motion, she beat back most of her adversaries. Once again, even in that half second, I thought of the idea of starting a dojo and training all these Gijinka. I would especially like to trai-…..
“Brick break!” I yelled suddenly blasting away a pair of spiders who had managed to get onto my arms. “Mega Kick!” I kicked once again over and over, and yet they still seemed to come without end.
“Aura Sphere!”A voice yelled out, and suddenly the spiders were reduced to sudden ash. My eyes moved up, and I found the familiar face of Luis who was blasting away at his own spiders as well as mine. “I thought you could see a hand, friend,” Luis said still managing to retain the courtesy despite the fact that we were being overrun by spiders.
“Thank you,” I managed as I kicked away another set of spiders.
“Lee!” Kat yelled as she managed to get the rest of the way through the sea of spiders that only seemed to increase with each wave.
“Good,” I said suddenly. “We need to stay together. All of us.”
Kat seemed to give me a sudden female look but quickly threw it away for a sudden determined face.
“Alright,” she said.
“Count me in,” Luis answered back.
“Don’t forget about me,” a voice said causing me to look over and view Sable who had managed to get back with us as well. She was breathing hard as if she had waded through this perpetual sea.
We all turned back to back and stared out at the sea of spiders. Blasting them back with attack after attack, we each managed to cover each other’s weak points. However, just as it seemed that we were winning this battle, the spiders began to morph and take on the form of flying insects that reminded me of smaller forms of Yama. These shadows now dive bombed us and flew in every which way direction. I found a sudden stress run through me that we might not be able to win, but in that moment, I found Calm Mind to do its work instantly. I felt suddenly mentally recovered, and with a sudden series of Brick Breaks, I managed to make a lane. We all moved through and headed towards the nearest series of Gijinka who seemed to be fending off their own swarms.
“Flame thrower!” a Houndoom Gijinka yelled as she spurted flames at the flying insects. The younger one, a Houndour, beside her also took in a breath and released a series of fire attacks. As we moved towards them keeping up our continued attacks, we managed to move together.
“Need a hand?” I asked. “Or rather a foot? MEGA KICK!” I kicked back a sudden swarm of shadows that had made with a last ditch kamikaze effort to attack the Houndour who was already at the time too busy burning another set.
“Thanks,” the Houndoom answered sharply as she continued to release flames.
“A pleasure always,” Luis answered back as he continued to blast Aura Spheres.
“We should try and get back together as fast as possible,” I said sharply. “This figure is trying to divide and conquer. We need to all work together!”
“Right,” Kat said sharply as she released a claw attack and sliced several of the spiders apart.
After another series of movements, we managed to get to another group of Gijinka. This once consisted of Lupe and a few others. A Girafarig was throwing out Solar Beam after Solar Beam but to no avail against the hordes of shadow creatures. Lupe was throwing out her own psybeams, and it was then that I noticed she was standing in front of and defending a Nidoran girl and a Meowth.
“Psychic,” Sable yelled suddenly throwing back large quantities of shadows. “This is getting ridiculous.”
“Solar Beam!” the Girafarig yelled blasting a hole through the dark.
“We need to keep moving,” I said sharply. “Come on.”
“Right,” Luis answered.
“Where’s Chii?” Lupe asked.
“We’ll find him next,” I answered back, although I had to half wonder who Chii was.
_______________________________________________________________
Heaven and Earth *dies*
Mear
Lee
KC
