And the Halloween Haunt's continue!

Part One: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/62836054/
Part Two: You Are Here
Part Three: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/62836600/

We continue Team Covens new set of spoooooky stories as this time it's Angelica and Hazel who step up to bat~ Considering how their last tries flopped will this attempt be any better? Read to find out~

I hope you enjoy, thank you for reading, and have a Happy Halloween ^,^


Characters owned by me
Pokemon NOT owned by me


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PCA - Return of the Witching Hour
Part Two



“And that’s why he doesn’t have any title other than Captain and-“
“Winnie!”
“Huh?”
“I love you girl, I really do. Ever silly, weird, spooky bit of you… but I want to tell MY story.”
“Oh, sorry Angie~”

He’d already managed to finish the bag (and start nursing on his paws to enjoy the after-taste) by the point somebody finally stopped her. He’d been expecting Mimi or Hazel to be the one to do it… but it looked like Angelica had hit her limit first. Either way the hatterene looked genuinely relieved that the babble had been stopped… unfortunately the brief silence that followed was just too tempting and he couldn’t help himself.

“Yu… you wanna go next?”
“Does the thumbsucker have a problem with that~?”
“Paw. Paw sucking. It’s a teddiursa thing. And no… buuuuut…”
“Right. Right, sorry~ … and but what?”
“Thought you’d wanna go last, minimize possible time in the corner~”
“Ooooo, somebody full of sass to go along with that candy!”

Angelica puffed and pulled herself up to her full height, doing her best to sound offended at that… but the cauldron glow made it pretty obvious she was smirking a little. “Either way I told you, I promised no gory stories this time… and I meant it~” her smirk widened to something more devious as the blue glow of her dark eyes shrunk for an expression that made him shudder a little “Buuuuut little bear… if you think I need a gross out to get a scare out of you? It’ll be my pleasure to prove you wrong~” she purred out the last words as with a flick of her hand the green smoke stopped and a familiar pink smoke started to rise out of the cauldron…

And formed… a ring?”

“… gimme a minute, need… needed to practice this one a little… there we go~!”

Her aura of menace slipping for a moment he watched Angelic screw her face up in concentration as the smoke shimmered and shifted again… and the ring became something a bit more detailed. An ornate mirror… with a shape shifting across its surface.

“Alright then…” clearing her throat and taking a deep breath… the hatterene resumed her early menacing expression as if nothing had happened “Now, MY story is a little tale of warning from the oldest times of Sinnoh~ A whispered word of warning for all those brave enough to risk the attention of-“

**************************

The Devil Beyond the Glass


Beauty. How few things mattered beyond it in the world of ancient Sinnoh… or so Hime believed~ The lopunny had made her look her life… and she’d profited from it~ Known far and wide as possibly the most beautiful woman in the land as people came far and wide to catch even a glimpse of her. Her elegant dances, her skills with instrument, her talent with poetry… but most of all her ravishing beauty. She lived as royalty, suitors lining up and vying for even the slightest chance of wooing her. All hopelessly enraptured by her beauty they were…

And none more so than Hime herself. How she would gaze upon her reflection as she brushed through her fur and primped her long ears. For hours upon hours, lost in her own beauty and pushing it closer and closer to perfection. No matter how her mother warned her, pleaded with her “Please, leave the mirror to itself. Tis bad fortune to linger so long before one. They might notice you. They might spirit you away!” she’d say… but Hime payed her no mind. She did not fear the old superstition. Nor did she worry for who this mysterious “They” the old folks mentioned was. After all… how could her mirror, something that showed her such loveliness, and those connected to it be anything but a friend?

And so it went as what time Hime didn’t spend lavishing in the attention of those who pined for her onto to send them away empty handed she whiled away before her mirror. “Am I not the most beautiful there is~? she’d ask the glass as she posed before it “Let them come and offer me pretty trinkets, let them grovel for my time, my beauty belongs to me and me alone~ Who else could appreciate it as much as I~?”

“I could.”

“Who’s there!? Who dares intrude on my sanctuary!?”

“Intrude? My dear I’ve been here all along… and you know me so well. Who else could you trust? Who could appreciate you more than I~ Why else… why else would you stand at my gate so often~?”

The candles in the elegant landers lighting her room began to flicker, casting long shadows across it. Great snakes of darkness wriggling around her Hime looked for the source of the voice… but all she saw was her own frightened reflection in her mirror. Until something else joined it. A dark form appeared in the mirror, blacker than the flickering shadows and looming behind her.

“Stay back!”

Spinning around she found… nothing. Her room was empty.

“And now? I will not be teased any longer~ Come, my kingdom awaits you my most lovely prize~!”

Hime turned… and the lopunny saw the dark shadow now filled the mirror with smoke obscuring her own reflection. Obscuring everything… save for two red, glowing eyes.

Many people heard her scream that night… her family, the attendant, the guards… but as they threw open the sliding door to her room? They found naught but the darkened mirror and extinguished candles. The great beauty of Sinnoh had vanished without a trace.

Some stories said one of her suitors had finally grown impatient and taken her… others claim she must have fled into the night with one willingly… but there were whispers. Old stories of the mirror and the broken kingdom beyond it. A kingdom starved for beauty and ruled by one who watches what lurks beyond the glass. And in these whispers was a new legend… how in the dark of the night, under the light of a candle… should you look closely at the mirror? You just might see her… pressed against the reflective shine.

A forever young beauty, trapped forever in her reflection by her vanity and those beyond the glass.

**************************

“… okay, way better than your first one I’ll give you that.”

“Told you I could~ Now… what was wrong with it?”

“… wrong with it? I genuinely thought it was good?”

“Fuuuun fact bout my species kiddo, I can sense emotion~ Usually I’m just enjoying the panic and terror a good jump scare gets… buuuut I can use it for more… eeeeh… lets say productive? Imma go with productive. More productive uses.”

“… ooooh-kaaaay?”

“Like being able to tell when my little audience of one just got yanked right out of the story by something, so what was it?”

“Something personal and not your or the stories fault?”

“Yoooou’re avoiding the queeeeestion~ Now I REALLY wanna know~”

“… just… I get its a legend but… did it have to use Giratina as the baddie?”

“Weeeell I know he’s a cliche… but he’s a cliche for a reason you know~ ‘sides the mirror thing wouldn’t work without him. Why? What’s wrong with Giratina? You know one personally or something~? A lil babyface bumping into the stars~?”

“Uuuuuuuh…”

Fidgeting nervously he couldn’t help remembering last week… where he’d walked in on a business meeting at Cuddlebutts. His boss had been meeting with the Owner and CEO of a pharmaceutical company looking for a potential merger… basically a bunch of boring business stuff. He’d have turned on his heels and left if that was all there was to it…

The fact the guy his lugia employer had been meeting was a Giratina so dorky he utterly killed any awe Petie felt for the species? That had made Petie stick around. The fact the chubby, four armed devil dragon, who he swore was trying to flirt with Dani when he first stepped into the room, had noticed him and responded by what he could only call “Dad Cooing” had made it worse. It wasn’t Angelica’s fault the guy had decided to show off for him (maybe trying to be cool or something?), tried to slide into the mirror, and got his fat butt stuck for a good five minutes. That was real hard to forget…

But knowing the guy personally…?

“Nooooo, no I can’t say I doooo…”

“… okay your hiding something and now I reeeeally wanna know~”

“Let him have his secrets Angie, lord knows you have yours~” Mimi suddenly cut in and the hatterene just slumped in a huffy pout as he breathed a sigh of relief… even as she added a wink to her comment that left him confused. Did she mean something more by that comment? He didn’t get to linger on that though though as there was a sound like a match being struck and suddenly the smoke started to swirl… and turn a deep red color.

“I’ll be going next~” Hazel purred, the delphox swishing her wand through the air as the ignited tip made sparks dance among the smoke “And this time there’ll be no interruptions… er… cause I actually worked out the problems I mean~ The story actually gets to the point this time~”

“Got it, now get to the story? Please?”

“Right, right~” taking a moment to brush back her hair and… ear fluff? Or was that more hair? He couldn’t tell… either way she brushed it back, composed herself, and then… whipped her wand through the air as the swirl of smoke began shifting… into a MUCH more complex design than even Mimi’s ship and waves. He could see trees, a mountain, a mountain pass…

“Somebody’s showing off she practiced this stunt the most…”

“You’re just jealous cause you messed up your first try~” Hazel said, literally sticking her tongue out at Angelica for that comment, before clearing her throat “Now then… my tale does quite have a specific region it’s from… but it’s a story repeated over all of them~ A story of places were only the brave dare tread… and only fools tread further~ I call it…”

**************************

The Test of Courage


It exists all over the world with just as many names… Kimodameshi, a Scare Dare, a Test of Courage… a way for the young and growing to prove their mettle to each other and themselves. The rules change as easily as the name… sometime it’s in pairs, some times it’s alone, sometime you leave something and sometimes you take something… but one thing remains the same in all its forms. That the challenge must go somewhere scary~ Be it haunted or abandoned, man made or natural, to prove yourself you must face fear~

And this is exactly what the subjects of our story set out to do one hot summer evening~ It could be a small village in Sinnoh, a far away mountain town in Kanto, or even a podunk in Kanto… the location doesn’t matter~ All that matters is a group of teens had a plan. They had this plan for years and now they finally had worked up the guts to try it. Every year there was a festival and during the festival young teens took the challenge. Go up the spooky mountain path to the shrine, take one of the dangling charms left there earlier, and come back to prove your bravery…

But, and they’d all heard this warned again and again over the years, to NEVER go around the shrine to the locked gate where the path continued, to NEVER go passed the gate to follow that path up the mountain, and to NEVER go near the mountain cave at the end of the path. So naturally our brave group of teens decided to do exactly that as proof of exactly how “brave” they were and to spite all the warnings they’d been given.

As the sun set the festival got underway. The sound of people, music, and cheer drifted through the air as lights pushed back the darkness… and the Test of Courage got underway. Under the watchful eye of adults groups of young teens… two, three, sometimes more… started their way up the path with lanterns to guide them… and under the watchful eye of adults they returned in victory or defeat. Then? Then came our groups turn… they were a little old for it but the claims of wanting one more go of it for “Old times sake” proved to be sentimental enough and the supervisors sent them on their way none the wiser.

Up the mountain trail they went. Past the set up spooks, past the hanging frights, past all the safe and harmless scares they already knew so well. Finally their lanterns alighted upon the shrine, numerous charms still dangling from it and twisting in the wind. And twisting in the breeze of the group passing by as they went to the forbidden gate. They’d planned this. They knew how to pop the lock off. If everything went as they expected they’d already be to the cave before the adults caught wind something was amiss…

So they plunged into the darkness of the rough, overgrown, barely used path trusting their confidence and their lantern to guide them…

And the glowing red eyes. More props they thought, more things we’d seen before… as the eyes followed them. A pure white skull, a wild cackle in the air, dark shadows dancing unnaturally despite the forest closing in around them being perfectly still. Just more props they insisted, dismissal turning to panicked denial as they huddled close together, clutching their lanterns for protection. They just had to keep moving. All they needed to do was reach the cave. Then it’d be done. Reach the cave and then… then…

They need to somehow prove they’d gotten there. The realization they should have reached earlier added cold water to the chill already on their spines… but they couldn’t turn back now. If they did it’d all be for nothing! So they pressed on… and every step seemed to make the darkness grow thicker… and the horrors grow worse. No longer content to linger among the trees the ghosts now darted in and out, daring the edges of the lanterns glow to glare and shriek and grimace at them, before retreating back again.

And in the face of such horror it served to drive the group… further up the path. They wouldn’t back out, they couldn’t. They had to do this. They’d made it their mission to show everyone, to prove them wrong. And as the haunting reached a fever pitch… they stumbled out into moonlight. A moonlit clearing… and darkness. The mountain towered over them and across the barren clearing they saw it. The cave. A patch of darkness against the mountains towering face, jagged and cold.

And they stood alone in the clearing… just them and the cave. One by one they started to laugh. All that stuff… they must have been imagining it, right? They were here. All they needed to do was go in and bring something back. That’s all they needed to do. So one of them stepped forward…

And let out a cry as a large hand came from behind and wrapped around him, holding him firmly in place.

Crying in panic the others just barely turned to see the dusknoir emerging from the forest darkness, reaching for another of them… before fleeing towards the cave. The massive ghost grabbed after them, others emerging from the woods to snatch and claw at the teens, Who fled forwards in the only direction they could think to go. One by one despite the desperate clawing of the ghosts they vanished into the cave… leaving only one behind struggling in the dusknoirs grip and crying for help…

Until other cries drowned his out. Bloodcurdling, hysterical screams… coming from the cave. The cave that was still as black as ever despite the lanterns that had been carried into it. Looking at the ghosts, now just hovering and staring… staring mournfully at the cave… he understood. He understood he’d never see his friends again…

And as the dusknoir released its grip on him and he was freed to sit crumpled on the ground he could feel the unspoken words the ghosts were saying…

“We tried to keep you away… you were warned for a reason…”

**************************

“… okay, you still kinda meandered there… but not bad. Good even.”

“D’aaaaaw~ High praise from a picky lil cubby~”

“Also your ending was kinda su..din… uuuh… what’s with her?”

Hazel had been almost preening at him praising her, idly twirling her wand with one paw and brushing her cheek fluff with the other… right up until he noticed Winnie. Specifically the mismagius cheeks were so puffed he half expected her witch hat… er, or maybe it was part of her head? Whatever it was he half expected the tip of it to explode like a volcano out of some cartoon. She look maaaaaad. Comically mad. And he couldn’t think of a reason why.

“… uuuuh… Winnie-“
“Who told you!?”

Before Hazel could get out more than two words Winnie exploded with a shriek that echoed off the walls and made him wince… aaaand made the Delphox clutch her ears and nearly tumble into the cauldron. Which wasn’t helped by the ghost type getting all up in her face. The look on Winnie’s face was hard to place… anger, betrayal… the look like somebody had told a secret after pinkie promising with her not to… yeah that last one seemed more on point.

“Who tooooold you!?” She repeated, waving her arms for emphasis and forcing Angelica to duck and Mimi to dodge “It supposed to be a secret! Mortals aren’t supposed to know about the dark places! Only ghosts are supposed to know about them!” She wailed as Hazel, finally recovering, even as she clutched at her ears, just looked confused.

“What the heck are you on about? I got the idea from a forum posts of all things!”
“… what?”
“Yeah, it was a story that does the rounds every halloween. Think it’s at least ten years old at this point.”
“… oh. Okay, nevermind~”

And just like that the… freak out? The freak out stopped on a dime as the ghost type girl was all smiles as if nothing happened. He wasn’t the only one incredulous about this sudden shift either as he could read “WTF just happened?” On the slowly blinking faces of the other members of the coven. Hazel, going from confused to incredulous in record time spoke first.

“Whoah whoah whoah, hold up. What did you mean-“
“What did I mean what?”
“You said-“
“I said something?”
“… ooooh no, you’re not playing dumb here-“
“I’m not dumb! I just get bad grades at math!”

That last one made him have to cover his mouth to keep from laughing at just how sincerely Winnie had said it. Its helped him put what else she’d said out of his mind. He’d happened to learn that “I really don’t wanna know” was the smartest way to handle ghost type stuff. Hazel meanwhile… was stomping her foot, whipping her wand through the air in frustration, and doing a wonderful job bringing herself down to Winnie’s maturity level as the ghost type just hovered in the air, humming and grinning and just stopping short of going “la-la-la-la”, as she ignored the foxes questions.

“You don’t get to just blab all that and pretend it didn’t happen! Winnie? Winnie! Come on! You messed up the critiquing of my story! Winnie!”
“Speaking of that… does it REALLY count as an old legend if you got it online?”
“Stay outta this Angie!”


To Be Continued…