When everyone was ready, with their stuff in the wagons; and the witches in place and heavily guarded, they headed back to Tabira. Even after one day from the battle, the tiredness could still be feeling in those who fought the entire combat. Alex, Nya and Zack were the most tired of their group and rested in the wagon they’re moving; while Sasha, Darius and Jack helped in escorting Madeline and keeping an eye out on the cell. I was a longer trip than the last time, since they were travelling without stop.
It was morning when the expedition arrived in Tabira. Jack, Sasha and Darius stayed to help with the last things; Zack, Jaina and Isabel went to buy some berries and the rest headed to the house.
“Home sweet home” Alex said when they arrived.
“This is where you’re staying?” Ryan asked.
“Sep, we managed to get a relative big house, just in case”
“Getting ahead of any inconvenience” Nya commented.
“You know us; let’s get inside now”
Once inside, they unpackaged all their stuff, including their gear; accommodated the rest of the empty rooms for the others and waited. Zack, Jaina and Isabel returned with a bag of berries. Then Jania headed directly to the kitchen and made juice of the combination of the berries. She served it to Alex, Nya and Zack and they drank it, recovering energy.
“Wow, I feel better now” Alex said.
“I made a mix of some berries to help you recover” Jaina explained.
“How do you know which berries to choose?” Zack asked.
“It was a recommendation of a botany merchant when I was looking for them”
“Do you know who?” Nya asked.
“No, I didn’t catch her name”
“Hi guys” Jack said when they came in.
“We have news for you” Sasha said.
“A new task?”
“Better; we have some days to rest from the entire expedition thing and the city has prepared a celebration for saving the continent” Darius answered.
“Also; we have to go to a meeting after the days off, where they’re going to tell what’ll be the plan for Madeline and Gilgamarsh” Jack added.
“Now that’s something I want to see; even if was decided to not kill Gilgamarsh, he still represents a problem in the long term” Nya commented.
“True; they have to pay for his crimes, but also there has to be a way to try to reform them; if there’s any chance” Alex said.
“It’s going to be complicated; both Gilgamarsh and Madeline are not in good terms with anybody, so the easier solution is to restrain their powers” Jaina pointed.
“In any case, it’s not our decision; we’ll hear what the guilds have in mind” Jack mentioned.
“And there’s another complication; with Gnarl’s situation, the witches have to be more careful” Nya commented.
“You’re right; we’re still forgetting we’re not in our country and in this place, witches are the symbol of evil”
“You cannot expect to change people’s minds, especially when they had unpleasant experiences with them and the magic; even if there’re people that can have some doubts about them” Ryan commented.
“Let’s hope this doesn’t escalate to dangerous proportions” Sasha commented.
“Right; so, we’re heading out and enjoy these days?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, let’s see what we can do” Zack said.
All of them went out and headed to the center of the town. They saw banners, booths, and more while they were passing.
“Wow; I’ve… never seen this” Charles said.
“Me too” Anibal added.
“And… me” Isabel said.
“It’s like a festivity; it’s your first time in this kind of event, right?” Zack said.
“Yeah; so much color, food, games; things I didn’t see before” Ryan said.
“It’s the same thing I thought when I saw it” Sasha commented.
“Well, for you, this is the first of many”
“Then let’s have some fun; I guess we can do a lot of things here” Darius said.
“Why we don’t spread out and meet again to eat?” Alex proposed.
“Sure, but where?” Nya asked.
“Mmm; how about that one?” He pointed to the Wonder Room.
“Yeah; I’ll guess we’ll see you guys later” Darius said.
Everyone travelled in small groups at different directions. Alex, Nya, Isabel and Jaina reminded together and travelled through the streets to see what interesting things can find.
“Hi miss Jaina; did the berries I recommended you work out?” Someone asked.
They turned around and saw a Rhydon in one of the stands.
“Oh, hello again; yes; Alex and Nya here can verify that” Jaina answered.
“I’m glad to hear it”
“You know her?” Alex asked.
“Met her, actually; she’s the botany merchant I mentioned before”
“She’s right; my name is Shu Shun; Jaina told me you’re working with the guilds”
“Yep” Alex said.
“That means you met my daughter”
“Uh, who is she?”
“It’s Lin Lin”
“Oh, yeah; but we didn’t talked too much; mainly because we didn’t have many occasions”
“I see; so how was the expedition?”
“One word: tiresome”
“I can tell; so, you want some treats?”
“Sure”
While Jaina was paying them; Lin Lin, Birch, Rue, Nana and other children were approaching. Birch was a little nervous when he saw Nya.
“Nǐ hǎo Mǔqīn!” Lin Lin said.
“It’s good to see you again Lin Lin” Shu Shun said and hugged each other.
Then Lin Lin turned to Alex and the others and greeted them: “Nǐ hǎo”
“Hola” Alex said with the intention of catching her off guard.
That caught the attention of Lin Lin. Alex smirked and she did the same, deducing what he’s up to.
“Duìbùqǐ, wǒ bù míngbái nǐ zài shuō shénme”
“¿Puedes repetirlo otra vez? No sé qué fue lo que dijiste”
“Wǒ zàishuō yībiàn, wǒ bù míngbái nǐ de yǔyán”
“Esto no está funcionando ¿Qué es lo que estas tratando de decir?”
And they kept going for at least one minute until they stopped. The others looked confused as they were talking; trying to see if the other gives up. When they ended they looked to each other and laughed.
“I guess we cannot keep doing this, unless we want to get a headache” Alex said.
“I agree with that; just for curiosity, what is that language you were speaking?” Lin Lin asked.
“Hinolish; that’s my native language from the town I come from in the Claytren kingdom; and yours?”
“Xinnish; that’s the language in Xin Tou”
“And you better keep using the language you’re talking now so all of us can understand” Nya said.
Alex and Lin Lin said respectively: “¿Qué?”; “Shénme?”
“Not again” Jaina said while she was smiling.
After that, they decided to walk together as they were enjoying the day. On the way, they talked about things like family, their home towns and such; and bought some sweets.
“Lin Lin; you know where Penelope is? Because she’s normally with you” Alex said.
“She’s in the Haunted House, keeping an eye out that our friend Kenneth won’t exaggerate with his act” Lin Lin answered.
While they were passing in front of the Haunted house, they met with Sonya and Yang, who were passing there as well.
“Hi Sonya, hi Yang; how are you?” Alex asked.
“Hi Alex; much better now; and a few days to relax is definitely what we need” Sonya answered.
“D-did you s-see all the things in the s-stands?” Yang asked.
“Some of them; oh, that reminds me” Jaina said and took out some of the sweets left. “You want some of them?”
“Thanks” Sonya answered.
Jaina gave the sweets to Sonya and Yang and they ate them.
“How are they?” Jaina asked.
“D-delicious” Yang answered.
Stella, Stephan, Firestar and Lena were passing by and the little Cyndaquil approached to Jaina to have some free sweets.
“Firestar, no; you cannot ask for treats to every adult you find” Stephan said.
“It’s okay Stephan; I have enough of them to share” Jaina said.
“Don’t foment his behavior”
“Come on! These days are to have fun! Let Firestar do what he wants!” Stella said.
“Stephan; you’re one against too many; for now, let him be” Alex suggested.
“Hmpf; fine”
In that moment; Devin and Kizu were approaching to them as well, running.
“Hi guys!” Kizu greeted when they stopped.
“Hi Kizu, hi Devin; how are you?” Alex asked.
“We’re fine, thanks” Devin answered.
“Why the rush?”
“We’re going into the Haunted House; can you come with us? Pleeeeaasseeee?” Kizu asked.
“Really?”
“Yup! We want more people to face the scary monsters there”
“Well, I can say no to that; okay, I’ll go”
“Yay! This is going to be fun!”
“Can we go as well? Pretty, pretty please?” Lena asked.
“*Sigh* Okay” Alex said.
“Hell yeah!”
That relieved Stephan a little. Some of the children wanted to go in as well.
“Mom, can I go with them?” Rune asked to Nana.
“Well…”
“I can keep an eye on her and the others if you are complicated with them splitting out” Alex offered.
“You can do that?”
“No problem for me”
“And I can help him as well” Nya offered.
“Thanks, both of you; Rune, stay close to Mister Alex”
“I will; Birch, can you come with us?” Rune asked.
“I-I…” Birch tried to say. Entering a spooky house is not what he had in mind.
“You can say no if you don’t want” Alex said.
He was a little indecisive, but the puppy eyes of Rune were enough to convince him.
“O-okay, I’ll go” He said.
Lin Lin made a gesture to Alex to come to her.
“I’ll stay with Nana to watch over the rest of the children; and one more thing, Birch gets really nervous near fire types”
“That means he and Nya have to stay separated?” Alex asked.
“Not at that extreme, but just in case”
“I’ll keep it in mind”
“Thanks”
Jaina and Isabel stayed with Nana and Lin Lin to help them while Alex and Nya organized the children to enter. Sonya also accompanied them, since Alex asked for extra help; while Yang stayed with the others, since she doesn’t like being jumpscared all of the sudden. Stella, Lena and Firestar joined them, while Stephan was with the rest of the group. Once they were ready, they headed to the door where Gil was waiting.
“Do you dare enter the spookiest haunted house this side of the continent?” Gil asked.
“Yep, all of us” Kizu answered excited.
“Gooooood; then let’s see if you can withstand the witches and monsters inside”
“W-w-witches?” Birch asked nervously.
“We’ll be together Birch, don’t worry” Alex said, trying to calm him a little.
“If you are ready, you can enter”
The doors opened with the characteristic sound of the wood creaking. Kizu went first, followed very close by Davin and the others behind. Once everyone was inside, the doors suddenly closed; making the hall darker. The children clung to Alex, Nya and Sonya; Birch did the same with Rune as well as Davin with Kizu; Lena and Stella just laughed a little after the fright. When their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw three paths to follow: left, right and forward, up the stairs on the second floor.
“No way to get back; we have to cross the house” Nya said.
“But which direction we choose?” Sonya asked.
“The one we encounter the monsters” Kizu said; scaring Rune, Birch, Davin and the children.
“I think we should use the door upstairs” Stella suggested.
“Well, whatever direction we choose; we have to stay together all the time, okay kids?” Alex explained.
All of them said yes. Then they heard a spectral sound, making them get closer to each other.
“I heard it in the path on the right; let’s check it” Kizu said.
“A-are you sure?” Davin asked.
“Totally”
“Just don’t wander on your own” Nya said.
“Okay, okay; let’s go!”
Following Kizu, they headed where the sound came. The constantly creaks when they were walking kept the children scared. In case of Alex, he wasn’t too much afraid, because he was scanning his surroundings with his aura; being part of the reason he was in.
‘Do you know where they are?’ Nya asked using telepathy.
‘Yep, but I’ll keep quiet about it; it’s not scary once you know where they’re coming’ Alex commented.
‘True; let’s make sure no one runs away, because I think this place is huge’
Davin stepped into a hidden switch and a cardboard Morgan appeared. Sonya was tensed of that and looked to Alex. He shocked his head and she could relax a bit. Birch was more scared than the rest, since his last encounter with her. Firestar bowed his head in curiosity. Kizu, on the other hand, challenged the imitation.
“You cannot scare me! I’ll defeat you, witch”
But when he tried to catch the imitation, it suddenly disappeared.
“Huh? Where did she go?”
“Away from here; I guess you scared her” Alex said.
“Ha! See? I’m not afraid of witches and monsters!”
‘Don’t sing victory yet; we still have to cross the rest of the house’ Alex thought.
They kept going for a while and other monsters appeared. Alex heard the Haunted house was made not too long, but with the help of other Pokémon and the effects they put into; he felt it was worth it. He even startled in some occasions.
Birch was in the middle of the group with Rune, holding his hand to give him safety. Sometimes he tried to be courageous and in few occasions, he managed to overcome his fear. In others, he covered his head and Rune with Alex and Nya tried to calm him.
Lena and Stella seemed to have a good time even after the jumpscares, because they were discussing on who got scared first.
At first Kizu was excited about entering the house; but when the effects were getting better, his own confidence began to diminish; reaching the point that he didn’t go ahead to face them immediately, but he tried to not show it. Davin used Mist various times when the jumpscares were too close of him.
After an hour, they were almost at the exit. Alex felt two Pokémon near them and kept quiet. Then suddenly, a Linoone skeleton appeared from a trap door below the floor.
“Your bones will be mine now! Nyehehehe!” It said.
All of the children went behind of Alex, Nya, Stella, Lena and Sonya. Kizu stayed where he was, with Davin close to him, trembling. Then the skeleton rushed to them, keeping that laugh. Alex crossed his arms and waited for it to come. Suddenly, it was knocked out by a houndoom skeleton. The Linoone skeleton rolled and its face was in the floor.
“Sorry about that” The Houndoom skeleton said.
“I guess your skeletal brother was too excited to see us” Alex said, knowing that it was Penelope disguised.
Penelope looked at him confused, but Alex made a gesture with his paw when his arms were still crossed and moving his mouth said in silence: ‘Play along’
When she interpreted what he was trying to say, she responded: “You’re right; I keep telling him to not do that, because we have enough bones; but he still doesn’t listen”
“Thank goodness; that means we can get out?”
“Yes”
“You heard her kids; we can get out”
“S-S-She is not g-going t-t-to hurt us?” Davin asked.
“Don’t worry; I’ll keep an eye out on her”
“Okay; time to move” Nya said.
When everyone was out, Penelope sighted.
“Tired?” Alex asked.
“It’s not that; I told Kenneth to not go overboard”
“I guess he was too into his character to make it believable”
“Yeah, but why did you not move?”
“Well, Lin Lin told me about it; and even if she didn’t, when you can scan your surroundings with the aura… you kinda auto spoil yourself and it takes all the fun”
“Ah”
“Besides, I was more worried about that none of the children run away from the group”
“I saw that Birch was with you”
“Rune convinced him to come with us; I have to thank her to help us in calm him when he was scared; I think she was the only one who trust the most”
“Yeah; he’s shy when he’s around people he doesn’t know”
“Well, I have to go; they’ll probably think I was captured by the skeletons and turned into one of them”
“Okay; I’ll wake up Kenneth; maybe I shouldn’t hit him too hard”
“You think?”
“Maybe”
“Heh”
Alex exited the Haunted house and headed to the front; where they agreed to reunite. Everyone was there when he counted them. Nana thanked them for watching over the children and took them to eat something, with Lin Lin accompanying her. Then he approached to Kizu.
“So… you got scared?” Alex asked.
“N-No… I’m fine” Kizu said.
“You don’t need to act brave to me; I’m not going to laugh because of that”
“You’re not?”
“Nope; besides I startled sometimes, so you’re not the only one who was afraid”
“O-Okay”
“You want to eat something? Maybe that will calm you”
“Yeah”
“Then let’s head to the Wonder Room”
Then all together headed to the Wonder Room to eat. Horace and Gary joined them on the way. Zack, Jack and the others arrived as well and entered. For their luck, there weren’t many clients at that hour; just Ignis with his father Pyre and a few others. They took their seats and an Emolga approached to them.
“Greetings to the Wonder Room; I am Ethlyn and I’ll be your waitress”
“Good day miss; I am Zack and these are my friends”
“What do you wish to order?”
“Honestly I’m not sure; what’s on the menu?”
“One moment, please” She grabbed menus and distributed them to the group.
“Mmm; I’ll choose this one” Sasha said; showing what she wants.
Then all showed what they wanted and Ethlyn took note.
“Alright; it will take a time” She explained.
“How long?” Nya asked.
“Ten minutes approximately”
“We can wait” Jack said.
While they were waiting, Zack stood up and headed to the bar with Alex behind. A Kadabra was cleaning some cups when they arrived.
“Can I help you?” Caslon asked
“Do you have card games?” Zack asked.
“Of course; we have a good selection of them; as well as strategy games”
Alex eyes shined when he heard strategy games. “Like chess and board games?”
“Correct”
“And do you have ‘The last card’?” Zack asked.
“It arrived not long ago; you know how to play it?”
“OOooooohhhhh yes! Can I pick it when we finish to eat?”
“Sure”
“Thanks”
“Zack, TU – ERES – DIABÓLICO” Alex said chucking.
“That’s something the players will find out, hahahaha”
When they got back, Sonya asked: “What you two were talking about?”
“We have a card game after the food”
“What game?” Sasha asked.
“The last card; it’s more challenging than poker, because of its way to play; and funny when you turn upside down your opponents”
“That sounds interesting” Horace said.
“Want to play? I can teach you the basic; then we can challenge the others”
“Sure” Sasha said.
“I can already tell; the table is going to burn” Alex joked.
When the lunch arrived, they ate without saying much, because they were really hungry. Marth and Robin appeared sometime later to see if they can play some games. Zack mentioned to them they have a card game and if they want to participate, they could. Robin denied the offer as she wanted to play strategy games. Jaina decided to play with her chess.
After they finished, Zack picked the card game and with Alex, explained to Sonya, Horace, Marth and Sasha how to play. When they finished; a Charizard and a Fearow came to play a card game. Calson pointed to Zack and they came to them.
“Will you play poker?” The Charizard asked.
“Nope; we’re playing ‘The last card’, want to tag along?” Alex asked.
“Sure, why not? It will be easier if you can explain to us in what consist” The Fearow said.
“No problem; I’m Zack and they are Alex, Sonya, Horace, Marth and Sasha” Zack said.
“I’m Hydro and she is Ace” The Charizard presented.
“Well, sit down; we’re about to start”
“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” A Pokémon asked.
They turned around and saw a midnight form Lycanroc with some kind of ring in his left ear and a belt. He was with crossed arms and showing his charming face. ‘Oh rayos; tenemos UN encantador’ Alex thought resigned.
“No, I think not; we have enough players” Zack said unamused.
“Uh… really?” The Lycanroc asked with an affected tone.
“Nah! I only want to see your face after saying that; damn it, why we didn’t bring the camera to save that moment?”
“You can come in; no one is rejecting you” Alex said.
“Thanks; allow me to introduce myself; I am Silas DeRosa; a professional Bounty hunter”
“I am Zack and Alex here and Jack there are the Shadow foxes; an independent team from Claytren kingdom” Zack presented.
“Are you from Hinolia, by any chance?” Alex asked.
“No; I don’t know that place; why do you ask?” Silas asked.
“It’s because of your name; I heard similar ones when I lived there”
“Then I guess my name is special, right?” He posed like he was taking a compliment.
“Not sure; names are a way to identify between us; special or not is relative”
“Well, we can leave the philosophical conversation for later; time to play” Sasha said, ready to kick some asses.
But then another Lycanroc came. This one had a shiny coloration and some kind of antlers. When Jack looked at it, he tensed as his eyes were covering completely in red. The same thing happened with it the moment its eyes met his.
“Zack; it’s happening again” Alex whispered.
“Not good; we have to calm down both of them before they fight to the death”
Zack headed to Jack and Alex to the Lycanroc. The aura it was emanating was pure anger in that moment, so he had to be really careful of the words he had to use. When he was near it, it turned its head to him, looking Alex and Jack respectively.
“You can leave your fight to another day; it’s not the place and time for that” Alex suggested.
The Lycanroc growled a little.
Alex rolled his eyes. “You can play a card game with us; just don’t spill blood for now, it’s hard to clean it”
After a while, it said: “Okay”
“Thanks; what’s your name?”
“Wynter”
“Okay; let’s go”
Zack was able to calm down Jack and asked to Nya and Jaina to keep an eye out of him while they do the same with Wynter. The presence of the shiny Lycanroc made nervous the rest; even Sonya commented in whispers to Zack that he probably is a witch and he told her to not mention anything.
After explaining the basics again to Hydro, Ace, Wynter and Silas; they started the game. Ignis and Pyre approached to watch as well as others. After some turns, the frustration started to appear when someone threw a 7 and chose the one with fewer cards, when the color or number didn’t appear and keep accumulating cards, denying turns, the +2 cards accumulating, the challenge of the +4 cards, miscalculations; throwing 0s, changing all the players cards and more. In one moment, Silas said ‘The last card’, getting close to win; but Sasha in two turns ahead, threw a seven and changed her 13 cards with him.
“How can you do this to me, my lady? You’re hurting my feelings” Silas said in a sad tone.
“Sorry, but in this game; I win, you lose; there’s no room for feelings here” Sasha said with her ego up.
And they kept going. Zack had to rearm the card deck, which was large enough for 12 players, two times. If Marth wasn’t with his mask, the irritation would be visible like the others; it was the first time a card game was using the exchange of hands between players, something he didn’t like at all. Even Wynter found out that he couldn’t cheat like any normal card game, because when he tried, he only received more cards, making him more anger. Alex intentionally used a 7 from time to time to exchange cards with him, just to make sure he didn’t flip the table.
There were more laughs and frustrations, until in a mistake from Sonya, Zack threw a blue 1, winning the game. They took approximately one hour and half. A general groan could be heard from the players and Wynter banged the table, even if he ended in second place.
“Okay; this game is unfair in so many ways” Ace said. Accepting defeat was not her style.
“That’s the point of it; you rely completely on luck and it’s a good way to break some friendships” Zack explained and joked.
“I cannot say I didn’t enjoy it” Sonya admitted.
“I want a rematch, now” Wynter said.
“Me too; this will not stand” Silas said determined, because he ended with 9 cards; less than Alex, who ended with 11; being the ones with most cards in their paws.
“You want a round two? Bring it in, doggie!” Sasha said.
“That was a little rude, miss”
“Don’t worry; you’ll get used to this kind of miss”
“Hmpf”
‘You figured out that flirt does not have effect on her’ Zack thought.
Alex, Zack, Marth and Sonya decided to return with the others, while Ryan, Pyre and Anibal replaced them. Robin had won three times, tied and defeated once by the distraction the others were generating and with Jaina were playing again.
“I called it; the table burned” Alex said.
“Hahahaha; yeah, I still remember those nights we played it” Nya said.
“Y-You know h-how to play, too?” Yang asked.
“Oh yeah; one time, it took us 3 hours straight to finish it, because we were more” Zack commented.
“It takes that long?” Sonya asked.
“As Zack said; is purely luck” Nya said.
“Anyway, we can get out and see what else we can do; I don’t think the others will finish the game soon” Jaina suggested.
“Yeah; Jack, you can go wherever you want, but stay away from Wynter for now” Zack said.
“Hmpf, fine”
“How about going to the beach?” Sonya asked.
“You want to… to go there?” Isabel asked.
“Yeah, because… well, I want to see the sea”
“You haven’t been in a beach before, have you?” Zack asked.
“No; and I didn’t want to go at first, because of… you know”
“Well; we’ll see what we can bring with us and enjoy the rest of the day there” Jaina suggested.
“C-can you bring a c-cool berry tea drink?” Yang asked.
“Sure; and I can bring some things, too” Alex said.
“Marth, can we go there, too?” Robin asked.
“I’m not so…” Marth started, but the face she was putting was the begging face.
“Please?” She asked in a pity tone.
“I… I…”
“Marth; you cannot say no to that, and it’s just one time; besides, you don’t have anything else to do, right?” Alex said.
He looked to Alex, and then to Robin, who got closer and grabbed his paws, now with the ears down and the sad puppy eyes.
“As Alex said; just once”
If there is one thing that can convince him to go against his will, it was her, unfortunately. “*Groan* fine; we’ll go”
“Thank you so much”
As they were exiting the Wonder room, Alex felt a strange presence. Being careful and discrete, he looked in the direction of the dark aura, spotting a shiny Spritzee with glowing yellow eyes in the roof of a nearby house. From its posture, he assumed it was watching someone. Following its line of sight, Alex posed his eyes on Marth and Robin. ‘That dude is watching them? But why? And how Marth wasn’t aware of that?’ Alex thought.
The feeling of the dark aura disappeared, meaning that the Spritzee was gone, but for how long? At least it didn’t find out it was discovered, because there was no fear related.
Another thing he caught up his attention was the aura of Prier when he was passing. Something was really wrong in him. He commented that with Zack using telepathy and Jack stood beside him sniffing the air.
“He smells like Morgan’s potions; almost unnoticeable, but the scent is still recognizable”
“*Sigh* Prier, what did you do this time?” Alex said.
“If he did what I think he did; we’ll have to take aggressive measures in case we have to stop him” Zack said.
“I hope we don’t have to do that”
“That depends if you can convince him to stop before he reaches the point of no return”
Jaina approached to them when she saw that they stopped.
“Something wrong Alex?” Jaina asked.
“Nothing yet” Alex answered.
“What do you mean?”
“We’ll talk about that later”
