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And now we come to the grand finale of this Nightmare before Christmas… and what’s a spooky story without a twist ending~?
I won’t spoil what’s ahead so I do hope you enjoy the turnabout to come~
Though I will mention the picture book mentioned is an actual kids book I had when I was little~
Part 1 - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/45201570/
Part 2 - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/45201586/
Part 3 - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/45201595/
Part 4 - You are Here
Please enjoy, fav & comment (please comment, really eager to hear what you think), and have a Merry Christmas ^_^
Characters owned by me
Pokemon not owned by me
——————————
“So you can’t tell us what happen in the next book?”
“Even if Momma told me, which I’m not saying she did, no I couldn’t… that’d be wrong.”
“… ‘kay, how ‘bout when the next book will be out?”
“When Momma finishes it and the editor approve it to be published? I’m fourteen, son or not I don’t have any control of that stuff.”
Shrugging, groaning, and rolling his eyes with every question Petie was internally kicking himself for mentioning Momma. It wasn’t like he’d hadn’t been through this exact same conversation with other fans of the series more times than he could count. Not a single thing they were asking was surprising. The only thing that was surprising-
“Sooo… did she base any of the cute little baby characters off of yo-“
“Finish that sentence and I’ll be sure to ask Momma to add an obnoxious witch character before the series finishes… really obnoxious…”
“… I dunno if I should be offended or try to get you to follow through on that one…” Angelica pouted, her being a fan still baffling him. “Aa-hem.” Hazel coughed into her paw, elbowing Angelica away from Petie in the same motion “A-anyway… I have one final question actually…” she gave him a overly sweet smile as he mentally listed off the four or five possibilities of what that question might be…
“Do you think you could get your mother to sign my books please~?”
Question number two it was then as Petie gave her the flattest look he could manage “No. I’m not gonna bother Momma for that. She does book. signings. Go to one of those, ask her then, and don’t use me as a middle man.” he said sternly… and mentally gave the fox credit for sighing and nodding rather than trying to argue. Then her ears perked up and she gave him a nervous, less fake smile.
“W-well… do you think you could let me know when she decides to do one locally again?”
“… fine, that one I’ll consider.”
“What about meeeee~?” Angelica cooed, ignoring Hazels bark of surprise as she tugged the fox away from him and got in his personal space “You’ll let me know too, right~?” she added, giving him what had to be the sweetest, broadest, and most annoyingly insincere smile she could make. His response was almost a reflex with how quickly it came out of his mouth.
“No.”
“Come oooooon.”
“No.”
“Pleeeeeease~? Don’t you like me~?”
“I said no and I don’t know you.”
“Come oooon, don’t act the age you look~ PleaACK!”
As he was about to blurt out an “EXCUSE me!?” to that comment Angelica was yanked back and away from him by the tassel on her hat… hair thing. Shelving confusion over what to call it he watched Mimi give the fairy type brat, he’d officially mentally cataloged her as a brat-he-didn’t-like at this point, a look that could peel paint off walls before sighing and stepping forward. Using her girth to prevent anybody else from getting up in his face for the moment.
“Really, really sorry about that… about her.” in spite of the fact he desperately wanted to stay annoyed the slowking sounded sincere enough Petie found himself calming down as Mimi continued “Like I said, you’re free to go if you want and we won’t stop you-“ she glanced over her shoulder as she said those words, no doubt giving her friends glares by how they looked away from her “but… if you do have any suggestions, any suggestions at all, on how we can improve our stories then we’d greatly appreciate hearing it… please.” she added, giving him an apologetic smile as Petie chewed on his lip awkwardly.
He really wanted to get up and waddle out the door right now… buuuuut when she’d been saying that an idea had come to mind. Something from when he was a kid around the first time he’d heard that coffin story. He could just walk away and not mention it to them, he didn’t owe them anything after all… but still…
“… I… I do have one sorta suggestion… from a picture book when I was little…”
if Angelica was about to make a smart comment connecting to “when I was little” Hazel putting a paw over her opening mouth stopped it as Petie continued “I don’t remember the title… but it was about three kids who were going on a camp out to a lake. Except one of them had brought their little brother along cause their parents made them.” he spoke slowly, ticking off the kids on his paws as he mentioned them, trying to make sure he was remembering it right.
“Well the big kids didn’t want a little kid ruining their fun… but they couldn’t just make him leave, that’d get them in trouble… so one of them got a clever idea. Since they already had a campfire they’d tell a scary story so scary the little brother would run home and never come back. So the first big kid told a story about a little boy just like the little brother who ends up meeting a grizzly end-“
“So did it work?” Winnie suddenly popped up as Petie noticed all four girls were giving him their undivided attention.
“Nope. The little brother wasn’t phased at all… so the second big kid stepped in a picked the story up like it was round robin or something, changing the ending so the kid survived and ended up wandering into another misadventure… aaaand meeting an even more unpleasant end.” he finished before shrugging his shoulders “Maybe that’ll work for you?”
“… I don’t quite follow actually.”
Blushing as the slowking spoke up Petie fiddled nervously with his paws “T-the round robin thing I mean.” he quickly said “Instead… instead of four different stories maybe four connected stories or something? One leading into the next? T-that’s what I meant… not the kid killing thing… definitely not the kid killing thing.” he added, shooting Angelica a dirty look as she just stuck her tongue out at him.
“… that has some intriguing possibilities actually~” Looking back at Mimi Petie found the slowking was rubbing her chin thoughtfully “A running narrative… one character going through various spooky locations on a quest to get somewhere… the things we could do…” she was grinning broadly at this point “It opens the door for more props too~ Yes, this could work~” she sounded almost giddy as she rubbed her hands together… it was amusing enough to almost make up for everything they’d put him through. “Well, I’m glad for that, I’ll just be on my-“ he started to say, getting to his feet, before his vision was suddenly filled with purple ghost face… again.
“Waaaaait!”
“ITOLDY-“ he started to yell… even as he instinctively tried to jump back while leaning back to get away from the mismagius “ACK!” and promptly fell flat on his back, barely avoiding rapping his head on the floor. Flat on his back he heard a collective gasp and a little “Oops” from Winnie that just somehow enraged him on a deep level. Before anybody could scold the ghost or ask if he was okay the teddiursa managed to growl out “What. What did you want me to wait for.” as he lay there gritting his teeth.
“… still wanna know if you’ve got a story…”
The sound of multiple slaps told him the other girls either facepalmed at the stupidness of this… or had smacked the hell out of Winnie. This barely registered to him though as the deep rage he was feeling started to twist into something else. Something purpose driven and spurned on by all the annoyances and aggravations he’d endured here. A small part of him was aware it wasn’t quite fair to try and take it out of all of Team Coven… but a bigger part of him wasn’t in the mood to care about collateral damage.
After all… he’d never told them how that story about the big kids trying to scare the little kid ended, had he?
“You know what? I think I do have a story.”
Sitting up and folding his legs he ignored Hazel trying to tell him he didn’t have to, Mimi looking like she was about to strangle an excited Winnie (for whatever good that’d do), and a genuinely curious looking Angelica eyeing him. He took a moment shut his eyed, compose himself, and let the dark, purpose driven feelings boiling in his gut take on a proper form before taking a deep breath. Finally exhaling and opening his eyes to give them the coldest glare he could manage.
“And I think I’m gonna call my story… He’s Coming Down the Hall.”
He was pleased to note he had most of their attentions just at the title as the only one not giving him her undivided focus was Mimi… who looked to be busy adjusting the cauldron as she listen. Which was fine “This is a story about four… no… lets make it… three, three teenage girls. Perfectly average teenage girls who liked to hang out after school and gossip about anything and everything.” he was actually fine leaving her out of these proceedings.
It looked like Angelica was about to say something but Winnie elbowed her before she got a word out. Petie ignored it and continued “The type of girls who’d happily chase any new rumor that graced their ears… which, one afternoon long, long after pretty much everybody had left the school, is what led them to this little story…” he paused to build anticipation… and to decide if he really wants to try and do voice for this. After a few seconds he decided to heck with it, he was already in it so he might as well commit to the bit.
“Did you guys hear?”
“Hear what?”
“That new game going around, the one your not supposed to play.”
“Like… a video game or…?”
“Nooooo, it’s old school. Like a… what’chacall ‘em? Those board to contact the dead?”
“… a weegee boad?”
“I think it’s Ouija…”
“Right! It’s like that but it’s supposed to work for real~”
“Really?”
“That sounds coooooool, lets do it!”
Trying not to cough at how even attempted a “Teenage girl voice” was killing his throat, let alone three different ones, Petie took a deep breath “After all… the game was really simple. All they needed was a sheet of paper, something to write on it with, and a coin… and since they were hanging out in a school well most of that was easy to get.” holding a paw up he started tracing in the air with his finger “After that? Well all they needed to do was scribble down the right stuff on the paper and then? Then the game could start… all they needed to do was figure out what to ask first.”
“Soooo… is this, like, supposed to call up ghosts types?”
“Nooo… this calls up real dead folks, folks from the other side.”
“Other side of where?”
“… no clue, so what are we gonna ask? We just put one finger each on the coin and ask a question and-“
“Hey spirit, if you can hear us knock twice?”
“No you dummy, you gotta ask yes or n-“
Moving his paw to rap on the floor Petie almost jumped, and the trio listening to him certainly did, as a loud KNOCK KNOCK echoed through the gym. The girls were whipping their heads around looking for the source… as Petie noticed Mimi’s eye’s glowing slightly and a smile creeping across her face as the slowking appeared to make herself busy with the cauldron. “As the sound shook the room-“ Petie managed not to stutter as he picked back up “The girls noticed the coin they were all touching seemed to be moving on its own… question or not.”
“W-what’s it spelling?”
“I dunno, y-your doing this right?”
“… H… E… S… C… O… M…”
“HESCOMINGTHROUGHTHEFRONTDOORS.” Petie said, mentally groaning about how long the spelling part of this took. Even as he could swear he heard the creek of doors opening somewhere in the distance… he hoped he heard it anyway. He needed all the help he could get if he was gonna make this work and not just flop as doubt was starting to creep into his mind. He pushed on through anyway.
“Y-you guys are doing this, right? Right?”
“N-no… oh! Lets take our hands off the coin!”
“Y-yeah! That’ll stop i-“
“All three girls just stared… as the coin kept moving. Kept spelling… even though the message changed ever so slightly.” Holding his paw up he moved his finger back and forth in quick, jerking motions to simulate the coin moving as he slowly intoned out the words it was spelling “HES… COMING… DOWN… THE… HALLWAY…” Placing as much emphasis as possible on each word to build even further on the anticipation…
And doing his best not to react as he was now sure he was hearing what sounded like dull, heavy, slow paced footsteps somewhere outside the room getting closer with each word. Judging by how they were glancing between him and the door the trio could hear them too… which was perfect. He didn’t dare glance at Mimi though for fear of them noticing and it giving the game away. Not when he was this close…
“Backing away from the desk… from the door connected to the hallway… the girls pressed themselves against the wall and watched, too tense to even breath, and the classroom wasn’t big enough to keep them from seeing what message the coin was scratching out now. Letter. By. Letter.” Placing as much sharp emphasis on those words as he could Petie continued to claw at the air as he spelled out “HE… IS… AT… THE DOORS.” as he could plainly hear the door know to the gym rattle as if something was clawing at it…
Despite it being a push door usually…
Fortunately it didn’t look like the girls put two and two together on that one as he could see them staring wide eyed past him to the doors. As much as he wanted to build the anticipation more (though he wasn’t sure if this’d push it into milking it or not) Petie wasn’t willing to risk them noticing that little detail. Taking a deep breath and trying to take the most ominous tone of voice he could possibly manage with his squeaky vocal cords he scratched out the coins last message for the trio to hear…
“HE… IS… HERE.”
Petie felt somehow detached from what followed, letting him see and hear it all in something like matrix slow-mo as it all played on. Perfectly on cue the door burst open and slammed against the wall with a loud bang. A bang that was accompanied by the girls’s reactions… which were a show in themselves. Hazel’s was the most basic as she squealed, eyes wide, and jumped back. Winnie’s was much more showy as she spun and swam mid-air in a panic, shrieking the whole while, for several seconds before hiding behind Hazel. Meanwhile Angelica’s… had him wondering what the heck he actually just saw.
Her body went tentacles was the most apt way Petie could say it. It went tentacles and seemed like it was gonna fall out of the gown she was wearing. He was also pretty sure he saw a much smaller body attached to her head be revealed when her body went tentacles… but she’d just collapsed in a heap before he’d gotten a good look. The whole thing had been just disturbing enough he’d been grateful for the last part.
Of course none of this did anything to detract from his smug as heck grin or the sound of Mimi busting a gut echoing off the walls of the gym. The fact all three seemed to quickly realize what had actually happened did nothing to damper Petie’s satisfaction either. Hazel was blushing and giggling and looking a little amused and very embarrassed as he couldn’t help but marvel as how low her ears could droop. Winnie meanwhile had a pout he hadn’t seen on anyone not under the age of five and in a princess dress as she had her arms and legs folded while floating in mid air. Which left Angelica…
Who was giggling like a nutter. The fact her body was… the best word that came to his mind was re-weaving… itself didn’t help to make it any less disturbing either as she went from a sprawled heap to standing bolt upright. Which let Petie see… the closest thing to a genuine smile he’d seen on her face since he got here. “Okay… that… that was a good one~ I think I like you kid~” the fact her comment was genuinely sincere sounding did sour victory for him a little… but he quickly brushed it off as he got back to his feet.
“You had that coming… oh, um… thanks for the help?”
Calling back towards Mimi the slowking just curtailed her belly laughs so she could catch her breath and smiled “Glad I could help~ Saw where you were going with that and couldn’t resist adding a little… pizzaz to it~” With a wave of her hand, eyes still glowing, Petie heard the door swing shut behind him. Striding forward the slowking had an almost jaunty step before stopped next to the other girls and wordlessly gestured back towards there set-up.
“Right, we’ll take care of it… come on Winnie.”
“… still think that wasn’t nice, I’m suppose to be the spooky one!”
“Right, right… clean up time. Pout later. You coming Angelica?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fixing my dress. Hold your horses.”
Hazel dragged a still sulking Winnie back towards the stuff as Angelica followed behind, trying to fix her grey gown over her… body? He was gonna have to look up what the heck was up with hatterene later. He didn’t really know anything past their name. “Sorry about her… she’s real sweet once she gets to know you, I promise.” the comment jarred Petie out of his thoughts as he realized Mimi was standing right next to him.
“… uuuuuh huh… suuuure… what about Winnie?”
“She’s a little kid who honestly can’t remember she’s not supposed to do that when she gets excited.”
“… I accept that excuse for my best friend, but he’s a baby evolution and shorter than me. Got anything else?”
The slowking chuckled and shrugged “It’s just how she is? Know I sound like a broken record but she’s a sweetheart at heart, you just have to get to know her… and bear with the pre-school social skills~” Petie was tempted to ask if that was a crack at his looks, size, or team… but decided to just roll with it, and his eyes, as he turned his focus back to the girls working to pack up the cauldron and props. He wasn’t sure if just turning and leaving now would be impolite or not… maybe he should say bye then just book it-
“So… did you make that story up on the spot or did you steal it~?”
“… uuuuuh…” fidgeting a little on his feet he could feel Mimi looking at him as he tried to figure out how to say this without sounding… well… there was no way to say it without sounding kind of silly “… k-kinda? Made the story up on the spot but got the idea from how that book I mentioned ended…” he trailed off there… leaving plenty of empty air for Mimi to chuckle and cut in “Didn’t you chastise Winnie for th-“
“I was put on the spot okay!?”
“Just teasing~” Mimi said with a big smile “So… how did it end? You said their stories didn’t work to scare the little kid away, right?” She cocked her head to the side quizzically while Petie rubbed the back of his head and looked away from her. “W-well… the little kid said he wanted to tell a story too…” he started to explain, not sure whether he should be embarrassed or proud he could remember this picture book so well “So he told about the little kid from the other three stories getting to a lake like the one they were camping at… and turning into a horrible monster when the moon went behind the clouds.”
He paused for emphasis as he watched Mimi nodding along, the look on her face making it clear she had probably guessed where this was going and was amused by it. “And then the monster started towards the glow of a campfire like if people were camping at the lake… cause he was hungry.” he caught himself making a mean face and posing with his hands up in a rawr gesture and quickly put his arms back at his side and tried not to blush as Mimi giggled “A-anyway then the moon went behind the clouds and it looked like the little kid vanished when the bigger kids could see again…”
“Let me guess… and when they started to panic the little kid jumped out and scared them~”
“… that predictable?”
“Only cause I had what you pulled to go off of~”
“… I was put on the spot…”
That got another laugh from Mimi “Oh relax, that wasn’t a criticism~ I think you did great~ Despite all that harping about not being good at it earlier~” he flinched a little at that, squirming more on his feet, and didn’t have a clue what to say… fortunately Mimi noticed right away and changed topics “Aaaaaanywho I think we’re just about done here… which leaves two things unsettled~” she held up two fingers for emphasis “First is your payment~ How about we just say We Owe You Big like we’d agreed and hammer out the finer details later, that still work?” Petie just nodded, he’d already got his fill of haggling (and extortion) earlier with Winnie so he wasn’t up for more of the same.
“Great! And that least the second thing… your suggestion actually gave me a great idea to revise our act~”
“… wait, really?”
“Don’t sound so surprised~ It was a decent suggestion… and I wanted to share what I had in mind before you left~”
“Well… okay? Share it?” he just shrugged, not sure what to expect since he was still caught up on the idea his rambling about a picture book from when he was 6 had somehow been useful. “Gladly~ Right now I’m picturing the story following a central protagonist.” Mimi’s eyes glowed as she waved her hand and a… plushie pikachu with drawn on stitches and what looked like plastic bolts sticking out of him seemed to fly from behind her to stop in front of the slowking. A psychic glow wrapped around the plushie. Before he could even begin to question it Winnie yelled out from the other side of the room.
“Hey! What are you doing with franken chu!”
“Just borrowing him Winnie~ I’ll put him back in your bag when I’m done~”
“… oookay… but don’t mess with Cout Cuddlcula! I’m still fixing his cape!”
“I won’t~”
There was a pause as Mimi looked at him as if expecting him to question this bit of madness… and he just gave her the flat look in return. He’d long since learned to never question this kind of stuff. You just don’t react to it and hope it passes by quickly. “Anyway-“ Mimi sounded almost sulky about his silence “as I was saying…” he watched as the pikachu started to bob up and down in the air like it was walking “Our protagonist will be traveling along for… whatever reason, maybe trick-or-treating… I’ll workshop it with the girls later, but they’ll be traveling along and each story will take place at a spooky local they stop at on their way to their final destination~” the plushie bobbed and weaved as if going to specific locations as she continue “A graveyard, a scary forest, those kind of place… nowhere too complicated for the kids~ Sound good?”
“Actually? Yeah it does.” he nodded as he tried to look Mimi in the eyes… despite the darn plushie constantly getting in the way “It sounds a lot better than just four separate stories and it’d be really easy to make it all Halloween themed. Is the protagonist gonna be a pikachu though or is… franken chu just for show?” Mimi laughed as she waved a finger and the plushie bowed in mid air before flying back to wherever it came from “Just for show~ You must forgive me, I like theatrics if you didn’t already know~ As for the protagonist… I was thinking… a little teddiursa in search of candy, how’s that grab you~?”
“… even if I said no you’d still do it anyway wouldn’t you.”
“Yes, yes I would~ And I think the other girls would back me on this one~”
“Riiiiiight…”
Rolling his eyes he started towards the door “Well don’t expect me to show up at this thing, whether I look like the intended audience or not!” he added quickly as Mimi made a show of looking away and whistling innocent. Despite himself he chuckled a little at that “Anyway I’m gonna be going now, see if I can get some training done in the right… gym…” he paused, his paw on the door as he stared at it for a moment… curiosity welling up inside him. “Hey Mimi?” he called, turning around to find he’d stopped the slowking on her way back to the other girls “When you did the thing with the door earlier…”
“Yeah?”
“Did you just make it fly open or did you make something appear in it to add to the scare? I didn’t turn around to look and…”
She proceeded to let out an undignified snort laugh as she gave him the first slightly patronizing look he’d received from her during this whole thing “Oh honey, if I could make illusion believable enough to work for that at will without any prep time…” she chuckled and threw her arms wide to give an overdramatic shrug along with an amused smile “I think my battling record would be a bit better than it is, don’t you?” Giggling a little despite himself as he realized how silly the question sounded Petie just shrugged “Fair ‘nuff… you gonna tell me if you could do it with prep time then?”
“Nope~ I’m a witch, I’m allowed to keep some secrets~”
“Again, fair ‘nuff~ See you later.”
“See you in a spell Petie~”
“… really?”
“Couldn’t help it~ Take care~”
I won’t spoil what’s ahead so I do hope you enjoy the turnabout to come~
Though I will mention the picture book mentioned is an actual kids book I had when I was little~
Part 1 - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/45201570/
Part 2 - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/45201586/
Part 3 - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/45201595/
Part 4 - You are Here
Please enjoy, fav & comment (please comment, really eager to hear what you think), and have a Merry Christmas ^_^
Characters owned by me
Pokemon not owned by me
——————————
PCA - Tales from the Witching Hour
The Final Tale“So you can’t tell us what happen in the next book?”
“Even if Momma told me, which I’m not saying she did, no I couldn’t… that’d be wrong.”
“… ‘kay, how ‘bout when the next book will be out?”
“When Momma finishes it and the editor approve it to be published? I’m fourteen, son or not I don’t have any control of that stuff.”
Shrugging, groaning, and rolling his eyes with every question Petie was internally kicking himself for mentioning Momma. It wasn’t like he’d hadn’t been through this exact same conversation with other fans of the series more times than he could count. Not a single thing they were asking was surprising. The only thing that was surprising-
“Sooo… did she base any of the cute little baby characters off of yo-“
“Finish that sentence and I’ll be sure to ask Momma to add an obnoxious witch character before the series finishes… really obnoxious…”
“… I dunno if I should be offended or try to get you to follow through on that one…” Angelica pouted, her being a fan still baffling him. “Aa-hem.” Hazel coughed into her paw, elbowing Angelica away from Petie in the same motion “A-anyway… I have one final question actually…” she gave him a overly sweet smile as he mentally listed off the four or five possibilities of what that question might be…
“Do you think you could get your mother to sign my books please~?”
Question number two it was then as Petie gave her the flattest look he could manage “No. I’m not gonna bother Momma for that. She does book. signings. Go to one of those, ask her then, and don’t use me as a middle man.” he said sternly… and mentally gave the fox credit for sighing and nodding rather than trying to argue. Then her ears perked up and she gave him a nervous, less fake smile.
“W-well… do you think you could let me know when she decides to do one locally again?”
“… fine, that one I’ll consider.”
“What about meeeee~?” Angelica cooed, ignoring Hazels bark of surprise as she tugged the fox away from him and got in his personal space “You’ll let me know too, right~?” she added, giving him what had to be the sweetest, broadest, and most annoyingly insincere smile she could make. His response was almost a reflex with how quickly it came out of his mouth.
“No.”
“Come oooooon.”
“No.”
“Pleeeeeease~? Don’t you like me~?”
“I said no and I don’t know you.”
“Come oooon, don’t act the age you look~ PleaACK!”
As he was about to blurt out an “EXCUSE me!?” to that comment Angelica was yanked back and away from him by the tassel on her hat… hair thing. Shelving confusion over what to call it he watched Mimi give the fairy type brat, he’d officially mentally cataloged her as a brat-he-didn’t-like at this point, a look that could peel paint off walls before sighing and stepping forward. Using her girth to prevent anybody else from getting up in his face for the moment.
“Really, really sorry about that… about her.” in spite of the fact he desperately wanted to stay annoyed the slowking sounded sincere enough Petie found himself calming down as Mimi continued “Like I said, you’re free to go if you want and we won’t stop you-“ she glanced over her shoulder as she said those words, no doubt giving her friends glares by how they looked away from her “but… if you do have any suggestions, any suggestions at all, on how we can improve our stories then we’d greatly appreciate hearing it… please.” she added, giving him an apologetic smile as Petie chewed on his lip awkwardly.
He really wanted to get up and waddle out the door right now… buuuuut when she’d been saying that an idea had come to mind. Something from when he was a kid around the first time he’d heard that coffin story. He could just walk away and not mention it to them, he didn’t owe them anything after all… but still…
“… I… I do have one sorta suggestion… from a picture book when I was little…”
if Angelica was about to make a smart comment connecting to “when I was little” Hazel putting a paw over her opening mouth stopped it as Petie continued “I don’t remember the title… but it was about three kids who were going on a camp out to a lake. Except one of them had brought their little brother along cause their parents made them.” he spoke slowly, ticking off the kids on his paws as he mentioned them, trying to make sure he was remembering it right.
“Well the big kids didn’t want a little kid ruining their fun… but they couldn’t just make him leave, that’d get them in trouble… so one of them got a clever idea. Since they already had a campfire they’d tell a scary story so scary the little brother would run home and never come back. So the first big kid told a story about a little boy just like the little brother who ends up meeting a grizzly end-“
“So did it work?” Winnie suddenly popped up as Petie noticed all four girls were giving him their undivided attention.
“Nope. The little brother wasn’t phased at all… so the second big kid stepped in a picked the story up like it was round robin or something, changing the ending so the kid survived and ended up wandering into another misadventure… aaaand meeting an even more unpleasant end.” he finished before shrugging his shoulders “Maybe that’ll work for you?”
“… I don’t quite follow actually.”
Blushing as the slowking spoke up Petie fiddled nervously with his paws “T-the round robin thing I mean.” he quickly said “Instead… instead of four different stories maybe four connected stories or something? One leading into the next? T-that’s what I meant… not the kid killing thing… definitely not the kid killing thing.” he added, shooting Angelica a dirty look as she just stuck her tongue out at him.
“… that has some intriguing possibilities actually~” Looking back at Mimi Petie found the slowking was rubbing her chin thoughtfully “A running narrative… one character going through various spooky locations on a quest to get somewhere… the things we could do…” she was grinning broadly at this point “It opens the door for more props too~ Yes, this could work~” she sounded almost giddy as she rubbed her hands together… it was amusing enough to almost make up for everything they’d put him through. “Well, I’m glad for that, I’ll just be on my-“ he started to say, getting to his feet, before his vision was suddenly filled with purple ghost face… again.
“Waaaaait!”
“ITOLDY-“ he started to yell… even as he instinctively tried to jump back while leaning back to get away from the mismagius “ACK!” and promptly fell flat on his back, barely avoiding rapping his head on the floor. Flat on his back he heard a collective gasp and a little “Oops” from Winnie that just somehow enraged him on a deep level. Before anybody could scold the ghost or ask if he was okay the teddiursa managed to growl out “What. What did you want me to wait for.” as he lay there gritting his teeth.
“… still wanna know if you’ve got a story…”
The sound of multiple slaps told him the other girls either facepalmed at the stupidness of this… or had smacked the hell out of Winnie. This barely registered to him though as the deep rage he was feeling started to twist into something else. Something purpose driven and spurned on by all the annoyances and aggravations he’d endured here. A small part of him was aware it wasn’t quite fair to try and take it out of all of Team Coven… but a bigger part of him wasn’t in the mood to care about collateral damage.
After all… he’d never told them how that story about the big kids trying to scare the little kid ended, had he?
“You know what? I think I do have a story.”
Sitting up and folding his legs he ignored Hazel trying to tell him he didn’t have to, Mimi looking like she was about to strangle an excited Winnie (for whatever good that’d do), and a genuinely curious looking Angelica eyeing him. He took a moment shut his eyed, compose himself, and let the dark, purpose driven feelings boiling in his gut take on a proper form before taking a deep breath. Finally exhaling and opening his eyes to give them the coldest glare he could manage.
“And I think I’m gonna call my story… He’s Coming Down the Hall.”
He was pleased to note he had most of their attentions just at the title as the only one not giving him her undivided focus was Mimi… who looked to be busy adjusting the cauldron as she listen. Which was fine “This is a story about four… no… lets make it… three, three teenage girls. Perfectly average teenage girls who liked to hang out after school and gossip about anything and everything.” he was actually fine leaving her out of these proceedings.
It looked like Angelica was about to say something but Winnie elbowed her before she got a word out. Petie ignored it and continued “The type of girls who’d happily chase any new rumor that graced their ears… which, one afternoon long, long after pretty much everybody had left the school, is what led them to this little story…” he paused to build anticipation… and to decide if he really wants to try and do voice for this. After a few seconds he decided to heck with it, he was already in it so he might as well commit to the bit.
“Did you guys hear?”
“Hear what?”
“That new game going around, the one your not supposed to play.”
“Like… a video game or…?”
“Nooooo, it’s old school. Like a… what’chacall ‘em? Those board to contact the dead?”
“… a weegee boad?”
“I think it’s Ouija…”
“Right! It’s like that but it’s supposed to work for real~”
“Really?”
“That sounds coooooool, lets do it!”
Trying not to cough at how even attempted a “Teenage girl voice” was killing his throat, let alone three different ones, Petie took a deep breath “After all… the game was really simple. All they needed was a sheet of paper, something to write on it with, and a coin… and since they were hanging out in a school well most of that was easy to get.” holding a paw up he started tracing in the air with his finger “After that? Well all they needed to do was scribble down the right stuff on the paper and then? Then the game could start… all they needed to do was figure out what to ask first.”
“Soooo… is this, like, supposed to call up ghosts types?”
“Nooo… this calls up real dead folks, folks from the other side.”
“Other side of where?”
“… no clue, so what are we gonna ask? We just put one finger each on the coin and ask a question and-“
“Hey spirit, if you can hear us knock twice?”
“No you dummy, you gotta ask yes or n-“
Moving his paw to rap on the floor Petie almost jumped, and the trio listening to him certainly did, as a loud KNOCK KNOCK echoed through the gym. The girls were whipping their heads around looking for the source… as Petie noticed Mimi’s eye’s glowing slightly and a smile creeping across her face as the slowking appeared to make herself busy with the cauldron. “As the sound shook the room-“ Petie managed not to stutter as he picked back up “The girls noticed the coin they were all touching seemed to be moving on its own… question or not.”
“W-what’s it spelling?”
“I dunno, y-your doing this right?”
“… H… E… S… C… O… M…”
“HESCOMINGTHROUGHTHEFRONTDOORS.” Petie said, mentally groaning about how long the spelling part of this took. Even as he could swear he heard the creek of doors opening somewhere in the distance… he hoped he heard it anyway. He needed all the help he could get if he was gonna make this work and not just flop as doubt was starting to creep into his mind. He pushed on through anyway.
“Y-you guys are doing this, right? Right?”
“N-no… oh! Lets take our hands off the coin!”
“Y-yeah! That’ll stop i-“
“All three girls just stared… as the coin kept moving. Kept spelling… even though the message changed ever so slightly.” Holding his paw up he moved his finger back and forth in quick, jerking motions to simulate the coin moving as he slowly intoned out the words it was spelling “HES… COMING… DOWN… THE… HALLWAY…” Placing as much emphasis as possible on each word to build even further on the anticipation…
And doing his best not to react as he was now sure he was hearing what sounded like dull, heavy, slow paced footsteps somewhere outside the room getting closer with each word. Judging by how they were glancing between him and the door the trio could hear them too… which was perfect. He didn’t dare glance at Mimi though for fear of them noticing and it giving the game away. Not when he was this close…
“Backing away from the desk… from the door connected to the hallway… the girls pressed themselves against the wall and watched, too tense to even breath, and the classroom wasn’t big enough to keep them from seeing what message the coin was scratching out now. Letter. By. Letter.” Placing as much sharp emphasis on those words as he could Petie continued to claw at the air as he spelled out “HE… IS… AT… THE DOORS.” as he could plainly hear the door know to the gym rattle as if something was clawing at it…
Despite it being a push door usually…
Fortunately it didn’t look like the girls put two and two together on that one as he could see them staring wide eyed past him to the doors. As much as he wanted to build the anticipation more (though he wasn’t sure if this’d push it into milking it or not) Petie wasn’t willing to risk them noticing that little detail. Taking a deep breath and trying to take the most ominous tone of voice he could possibly manage with his squeaky vocal cords he scratched out the coins last message for the trio to hear…
“HE… IS… HERE.”
Petie felt somehow detached from what followed, letting him see and hear it all in something like matrix slow-mo as it all played on. Perfectly on cue the door burst open and slammed against the wall with a loud bang. A bang that was accompanied by the girls’s reactions… which were a show in themselves. Hazel’s was the most basic as she squealed, eyes wide, and jumped back. Winnie’s was much more showy as she spun and swam mid-air in a panic, shrieking the whole while, for several seconds before hiding behind Hazel. Meanwhile Angelica’s… had him wondering what the heck he actually just saw.
Her body went tentacles was the most apt way Petie could say it. It went tentacles and seemed like it was gonna fall out of the gown she was wearing. He was also pretty sure he saw a much smaller body attached to her head be revealed when her body went tentacles… but she’d just collapsed in a heap before he’d gotten a good look. The whole thing had been just disturbing enough he’d been grateful for the last part.
Of course none of this did anything to detract from his smug as heck grin or the sound of Mimi busting a gut echoing off the walls of the gym. The fact all three seemed to quickly realize what had actually happened did nothing to damper Petie’s satisfaction either. Hazel was blushing and giggling and looking a little amused and very embarrassed as he couldn’t help but marvel as how low her ears could droop. Winnie meanwhile had a pout he hadn’t seen on anyone not under the age of five and in a princess dress as she had her arms and legs folded while floating in mid air. Which left Angelica…
Who was giggling like a nutter. The fact her body was… the best word that came to his mind was re-weaving… itself didn’t help to make it any less disturbing either as she went from a sprawled heap to standing bolt upright. Which let Petie see… the closest thing to a genuine smile he’d seen on her face since he got here. “Okay… that… that was a good one~ I think I like you kid~” the fact her comment was genuinely sincere sounding did sour victory for him a little… but he quickly brushed it off as he got back to his feet.
“You had that coming… oh, um… thanks for the help?”
Calling back towards Mimi the slowking just curtailed her belly laughs so she could catch her breath and smiled “Glad I could help~ Saw where you were going with that and couldn’t resist adding a little… pizzaz to it~” With a wave of her hand, eyes still glowing, Petie heard the door swing shut behind him. Striding forward the slowking had an almost jaunty step before stopped next to the other girls and wordlessly gestured back towards there set-up.
“Right, we’ll take care of it… come on Winnie.”
“… still think that wasn’t nice, I’m suppose to be the spooky one!”
“Right, right… clean up time. Pout later. You coming Angelica?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fixing my dress. Hold your horses.”
Hazel dragged a still sulking Winnie back towards the stuff as Angelica followed behind, trying to fix her grey gown over her… body? He was gonna have to look up what the heck was up with hatterene later. He didn’t really know anything past their name. “Sorry about her… she’s real sweet once she gets to know you, I promise.” the comment jarred Petie out of his thoughts as he realized Mimi was standing right next to him.
“… uuuuuh huh… suuuure… what about Winnie?”
“She’s a little kid who honestly can’t remember she’s not supposed to do that when she gets excited.”
“… I accept that excuse for my best friend, but he’s a baby evolution and shorter than me. Got anything else?”
The slowking chuckled and shrugged “It’s just how she is? Know I sound like a broken record but she’s a sweetheart at heart, you just have to get to know her… and bear with the pre-school social skills~” Petie was tempted to ask if that was a crack at his looks, size, or team… but decided to just roll with it, and his eyes, as he turned his focus back to the girls working to pack up the cauldron and props. He wasn’t sure if just turning and leaving now would be impolite or not… maybe he should say bye then just book it-
“So… did you make that story up on the spot or did you steal it~?”
“… uuuuuh…” fidgeting a little on his feet he could feel Mimi looking at him as he tried to figure out how to say this without sounding… well… there was no way to say it without sounding kind of silly “… k-kinda? Made the story up on the spot but got the idea from how that book I mentioned ended…” he trailed off there… leaving plenty of empty air for Mimi to chuckle and cut in “Didn’t you chastise Winnie for th-“
“I was put on the spot okay!?”
“Just teasing~” Mimi said with a big smile “So… how did it end? You said their stories didn’t work to scare the little kid away, right?” She cocked her head to the side quizzically while Petie rubbed the back of his head and looked away from her. “W-well… the little kid said he wanted to tell a story too…” he started to explain, not sure whether he should be embarrassed or proud he could remember this picture book so well “So he told about the little kid from the other three stories getting to a lake like the one they were camping at… and turning into a horrible monster when the moon went behind the clouds.”
He paused for emphasis as he watched Mimi nodding along, the look on her face making it clear she had probably guessed where this was going and was amused by it. “And then the monster started towards the glow of a campfire like if people were camping at the lake… cause he was hungry.” he caught himself making a mean face and posing with his hands up in a rawr gesture and quickly put his arms back at his side and tried not to blush as Mimi giggled “A-anyway then the moon went behind the clouds and it looked like the little kid vanished when the bigger kids could see again…”
“Let me guess… and when they started to panic the little kid jumped out and scared them~”
“… that predictable?”
“Only cause I had what you pulled to go off of~”
“… I was put on the spot…”
That got another laugh from Mimi “Oh relax, that wasn’t a criticism~ I think you did great~ Despite all that harping about not being good at it earlier~” he flinched a little at that, squirming more on his feet, and didn’t have a clue what to say… fortunately Mimi noticed right away and changed topics “Aaaaaanywho I think we’re just about done here… which leaves two things unsettled~” she held up two fingers for emphasis “First is your payment~ How about we just say We Owe You Big like we’d agreed and hammer out the finer details later, that still work?” Petie just nodded, he’d already got his fill of haggling (and extortion) earlier with Winnie so he wasn’t up for more of the same.
“Great! And that least the second thing… your suggestion actually gave me a great idea to revise our act~”
“… wait, really?”
“Don’t sound so surprised~ It was a decent suggestion… and I wanted to share what I had in mind before you left~”
“Well… okay? Share it?” he just shrugged, not sure what to expect since he was still caught up on the idea his rambling about a picture book from when he was 6 had somehow been useful. “Gladly~ Right now I’m picturing the story following a central protagonist.” Mimi’s eyes glowed as she waved her hand and a… plushie pikachu with drawn on stitches and what looked like plastic bolts sticking out of him seemed to fly from behind her to stop in front of the slowking. A psychic glow wrapped around the plushie. Before he could even begin to question it Winnie yelled out from the other side of the room.
“Hey! What are you doing with franken chu!”
“Just borrowing him Winnie~ I’ll put him back in your bag when I’m done~”
“… oookay… but don’t mess with Cout Cuddlcula! I’m still fixing his cape!”
“I won’t~”
There was a pause as Mimi looked at him as if expecting him to question this bit of madness… and he just gave her the flat look in return. He’d long since learned to never question this kind of stuff. You just don’t react to it and hope it passes by quickly. “Anyway-“ Mimi sounded almost sulky about his silence “as I was saying…” he watched as the pikachu started to bob up and down in the air like it was walking “Our protagonist will be traveling along for… whatever reason, maybe trick-or-treating… I’ll workshop it with the girls later, but they’ll be traveling along and each story will take place at a spooky local they stop at on their way to their final destination~” the plushie bobbed and weaved as if going to specific locations as she continue “A graveyard, a scary forest, those kind of place… nowhere too complicated for the kids~ Sound good?”
“Actually? Yeah it does.” he nodded as he tried to look Mimi in the eyes… despite the darn plushie constantly getting in the way “It sounds a lot better than just four separate stories and it’d be really easy to make it all Halloween themed. Is the protagonist gonna be a pikachu though or is… franken chu just for show?” Mimi laughed as she waved a finger and the plushie bowed in mid air before flying back to wherever it came from “Just for show~ You must forgive me, I like theatrics if you didn’t already know~ As for the protagonist… I was thinking… a little teddiursa in search of candy, how’s that grab you~?”
“… even if I said no you’d still do it anyway wouldn’t you.”
“Yes, yes I would~ And I think the other girls would back me on this one~”
“Riiiiiight…”
Rolling his eyes he started towards the door “Well don’t expect me to show up at this thing, whether I look like the intended audience or not!” he added quickly as Mimi made a show of looking away and whistling innocent. Despite himself he chuckled a little at that “Anyway I’m gonna be going now, see if I can get some training done in the right… gym…” he paused, his paw on the door as he stared at it for a moment… curiosity welling up inside him. “Hey Mimi?” he called, turning around to find he’d stopped the slowking on her way back to the other girls “When you did the thing with the door earlier…”
“Yeah?”
“Did you just make it fly open or did you make something appear in it to add to the scare? I didn’t turn around to look and…”
She proceeded to let out an undignified snort laugh as she gave him the first slightly patronizing look he’d received from her during this whole thing “Oh honey, if I could make illusion believable enough to work for that at will without any prep time…” she chuckled and threw her arms wide to give an overdramatic shrug along with an amused smile “I think my battling record would be a bit better than it is, don’t you?” Giggling a little despite himself as he realized how silly the question sounded Petie just shrugged “Fair ‘nuff… you gonna tell me if you could do it with prep time then?”
“Nope~ I’m a witch, I’m allowed to keep some secrets~”
“Again, fair ‘nuff~ See you later.”
“See you in a spell Petie~”
“… really?”
“Couldn’t help it~ Take care~”
The End
Category Story / Pokemon
Species Pokemon
Size 885 x 1280px
File Size 279.4 kB
Listed in Folders
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