Shupple
I awoke in my old room, back at my old house that was a cave. I had forgotten about this place, but… it made me wonder what happened to it. I looked around, and saw all of the little stuffed animals I had when I was a kid. Each of them was Pokemon but they were coated in spider webs and dust. Nobody had visited this place in a long time, ever since Mom and Dad had gotten captured by the Bounty Hunters.
I picked up an old picture of my parents and I. I had forgotten what they had really looked like as Banette. I looked at myself and then at them. I really did look like them, and for some reason, I wasn’t surprised. When I had looked down at myself once more, I noticed that my wounds weren’t healed. That meant I wasn’t dead, and I was trapped in the ghost’s game of fears.
I suddenly heard a hiss behind me that made me jump. It was my own fear. Snakes, and boy, did they freak the hell out of me, but I knew myself this was just a trick. A figment. Visions of something pretend. Fake. But this seemed too real.
“Afraid of snakes? Or afraid of your parents dying?” I heard a sinister voice ask as the snake advanced with a few behind him.
I then felt a hand tap me on the back, and I saw my parents, but they were bleeding immensely, even though I could see no wound. They fell to the floor, and I couldn’t hold back the tears. I cried as I even fought the snakes as best as I could, even with the wounds, but they were slowing me down. I knew it couldn’t be helped, but I felt the entire wounds act up at the same time as I fell to the cold, stone floor and a snake stood above me, ready to pounce.
Why do people say you can see your life flash before your eyes before you die? I never understood that. I just saw the snake, but an old saying came back to mind from my dad. He had said, “If it’s something you’re afraid of, imagine it as something funny or something else scary, so that you don’t get yourself scared.”
So I did. I imagined a stuffed bunny. The stuffed bunny Mear had first given me to hold before he took it away. I opened my eyes, and found myself in a fire lit upon a room.
I tried to realize where I was through the smoke and my own coughing, but it was hard. I realized that I was out of my own fear nightmare, but where was I now? I wasn’t afraid of fire. And then I heard my name called out.
“SHUPPLE!” It was Mear, not that far away from me. And he was burning.
I felt myself crying and then I tried to move myself through the flames to get over to him. My own clothes set on fire, but they didn’t affect me at the time. I couldn’t care less about my own wounds. I just cared about Mear and getting him out of here.
He passed out with the flames engulfing him, his clothes burning on him. When I finally got to him, I picked him up with the last strength I had in me and carried him over to the bed that I saw burning. Once I got to it, the flames started to calm down but barely.
I put Mear on the bed as I coughed into my arm carefully. I was crying by his side, and slowly, I put a hand on his cheek.
“Don’t imagine such pain, Mear,” I told him. “If it’s something you’re afraid of, imagine it as something funny or something else scary, so that you don’t get yourself scared, and then everything will be better. Imagine everything around you just filled with Smeargle. Isn’t that better, Mear?” I cried out, as I closed my eyes and just cried with my hands over my eyes.
I wasn’t even sure if Mear had heard me, but slowly, I heard the crackling of the flames die around me, and I then felt a hand on my own and I took my eyes off my eyes and opened them. It was Mear’s hand, and this time, he was trying to sit up. I helped him and he propped himself up on a pillow.
“Why are you crying?” He asked him a hoarse voice with worry, but some sort of happiness glinted in his eyes.
“You were the one burning, Mear,” I sniffed as I whipped away the tears and looked at him with a smile on my face. Thank God he was okay.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you found it!” A high pitched squeal entered the room, which made me look up and I saw the ghost of the little girl clinging onto a bunny. The bunny that Mear had used Reverse Sketch on.
“So… you really were looking for that?” I asked her as I coughed out the last of the smoke.
“Yes, so very much! My parents gave it to me, and it was what I wanted to have in the afterlife, and it was what kept me bound to this world. Thank you so much for finding it!” She exclaimed happily as she swung the bunny happily all around her, which made me, smile a little.
“I’ll make a deal with you, if you don’t mind,” She told us cheerfully and I looked over at Mear, who squinted his eyes in suspicion.
“What… deal?” Mear coughed and I looked worriedly at him. Was he really okay?
“A deal that everybody will like! If you, girl, helps me pass onto the next life and lets me keep the bunny, I’ll help you defeat the other ghost! I don’t like other ghosts taking over my fun, so if you help me, I’ll help you!” The little girl exclaimed and I looked over at her. I guess I could help her, even if exorcism wasn’t my specialty.
“Okay, but how about we see if we can help the others first?” I asked the girl as I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my collarbone. It was the bite from the spider, and it was weakening me, but I kept a straight face as could as I could.
“Sure, but I’ll only help you out with that just a little bit, okay?” She asked with a smile and I nodded.
I looked over at Mear, and smiled. He seemed to be tired from the fire all around him. I looked around the room, and noticed that it must have been his.
He had a picture of many Smeargle on a shelf, and he looked really young with, what seemed a little sister beside him. Even that made me smile.
There were paintings all around me, and sketches. It was kinda obvious that this was Mear’s room, because he even had his name on the door. Mear seemed to be looking around the room too, trying to take it all in, probably so that he wouldn’t forget it.
“You know, you two are really cute together, you know that?” The little girl exclaimed happily with a smile on her face and that made me blush bright red.
I looked over at Mear and noticed he was blushing bright red too, and he noticed me looking at him, and it made me smile nervously.
-~-
Gray
Bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs! I just hate bugs!
I scampered around as I tried to get away from them, but then came upon a cliff to where the dropping height was over 100 feet. Oh, joy. I felt myself get dizzy from looking at the ground and then at the bugs, and then back at the cliff, which made me feel sick.
“You really have to be afraid of all of this?” I heard a familiar voice ask me, and I turned around, and saw my little sister. I nodded and she just laughed.
“I thought I looked up to you, brother. Now, you’re just pathetic and worthless, you know that! So old and worthless!” Hold on a second, I’m not old, am I?
I covered my ears so I wouldn’t have to hear any of this, but that ended almost immediately as I felt something crawling up the side of my leg. I opened up my eyes, and saw a king snake, hissing at me. I shuddered as I felt it crawl up me, and it doing that, it made me fall off the cliff, I grabbing the edge of it quickly before I completely fell down. God, I was Shupple was here!
“Hey, idiot. Done screaming yet?” I looked up and saw Shupple, holding up Mear on her shoulder. I didn’t even realize I was screaming until Shupple said it, and I shut up.
I quickly climbed back onto the ground and laid down on it, feeling the grass and ground before I was able to get up from it. Just as I turned towards Shupple and Mear, I noticed somebody else behind them. It was the little ghost girl. My hair stood up on end as I raised an eyebrow, and Shupple rolled her eyes.
“She’s going to help. We made a deal, okay?” Shupple chuckled slightly before wincing from the stab wound in her chest and for what seemed her collarbone.
“Okay…” I said uncertainly as I slowly followed them to a dark, empty, spaceless, hole.
“Let’s go onto the next person now!” The little girl exclaimed happily while shaking around the bunny that I had seen in Mear’s arms before and jumping into the hole playfully as Mear and Shupple climbed in, and I just climbed in with an uncertain look on my face.
