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gatortavern · 5 years

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Johnny Jhonny in: A Christmas Calamity

A STORY/IT’S DONE!/ FOR @pjmaxsson ! Happy holidays from your @pnatsecretsanta, and apologies that this was sent out so late! (also as a PS, PJ gets his own gift in an epilogue, which will be coming soon!)

Johnny Jhonny In: A Christmas Calamity

“ARGH!”

Johnny Jhonny kicked one of the small snow piles haphazardly placed along the sidewalk. The holiday season, as with most things in Mayview, had been bizarre so far, with a mild snowstorm being followed by a mild warm front. Only a thin layer of snow remained, save for the large dirty piles left by the snowplows.

“Out of anyone I coulda gotten, I had ta’ get Isabel Guerra? That chick’s impossible to get information on!”

“Well if it’s any consolation, she probably won’t murder you if you get it messed up. Pretty sure Lisa knows I got Violet ‘cause she’s been giving me that creepy smile for the past three days. Plus, I don’t think RJ even got someone from our grade,” Ollie chimed in.

RJ nodded in agreement, their furrowed brow hidden by their hood.

“None of this would even be a PROBLEM if Mr. Garcia had handed out these assignments earlier!” Stephen cried out, waving his hands in an exaggerated motion. “THREE DAYS to deliver a Secret Santa present?! We’re gonna have to do our investigations separately!”

The group, sans RJ, groaned at that. Gift giving for them was nothing to be taken lightly; each member of Johnny’s Gang would meticulously search for, or more often create, something for their target that would have some kind of personal connection for them, a tactic that extended to any poor fool that they got saddled with for a Secret Santa. This, of course, could take a bit of time to gather enough information to make such a gift, which the boys (and RJ) preferred doing together. That plan was now ruined thanks to Mr. Garcia sleeping through the day he was supposed to hand the slips out, on top of his continued forgetting.

There was a nudge on Johnny’s arm, and he swerved to see where RJ was pointing. At the base of the hill they were slowly traversing down was his target, a maroon sweater barely peeking out under a stone grey jacket, mahogany hair lightly nestled at the shoulders. There’s no way Guerra wouldn’t suspect an ambush if the four of them went down, a thought Johnny saw reflected in his compadres’ eyes.

“Go get ‘em, slugger!” whispered Stephen with a shove that was anything but soft, sending Johnny stumbling nearly a quarter of the way down the slope before he caught his footing. Halfway down the hill, Johnny stopped and gave a quick glance at his pals, who gave waves of encouragement and thumbs up as a response.

---

About three feet in, Johnny was able to gather one bit of information on Isabel Guerra:

She had really weird ideas for recreational activities.

After a few close calls, he had managed to tail her into a weird-looking cave mound. The damp walls seemed to eat up any light, as Johnny had soon found it hard to see even a foot in front of him, and the soft ground obscured any sounds he could have used to follow her. The paths were wide (he surmised that Ollie could easily walk beside him) and winding ever downward, and the bully soon realized that there were multiple sprawling paths. Johnny silently cursed himself for not charging his phone the day before. At least there would have been a small light source if he had.

The small, uneven muttering up ahead caught his attention.

“Oh geez. Oh man. D-did I go the right way? How are there so many paths? What if Mr. Max is hurt? What if that thing comes back? Ohhh…”

Slowly, Johnny crept up to the voice, hearing it fret over many things. He squinched up his eyes, trying to think. This definitely wasn’t Isabel-her voice could command the room, confidence would ooze from every sound she made.

“I can’t stay here worrying about this! Mr. Max needs me! But…”

“Who the heck’re you?”

“WAAAUGH!”

Johnny could just barely make out the hazy shape of a boy about his age in front of him, quaking intensely. He wouldn’t have enough time to ruffle this one up, he figured. Got too far away from Guerra already. He’d have to make this quick in order to catch up to her and hopefully hear her let something slip.

“A’ight fella, this is the way it’s gonna work here. I’m feeling pretty generous t’day. Gotta make sure I get the deets on somebody real fast n’ stuff. I’m not even gonna stop ta’ beat ya’ up right now, my mood’s that good. Just tell me where the Guerra chick went.”

“Uhhh…I…don’t know who…that is..?” came the hasty reply.

“Er.. Isabel Guerra? Brown eyes, long brown hair, gray jacket? ”

“…Oh. OH!” The boy seemed to perk up a little upon hearing that. “That’s the scary girl’s name? The one from that weird dodgeball game, right?”

“Hitball, yeah, she was t’ other captain. Besides me.”

“O-oh, okay. I, uh, wasn’t paying too much attention to the game…mostly just watching Max. Ah! Are you the guy Max blocked that ball for?”

That one stung a little. If there was anything that made Johnny Jhonny uncomfortable, it’s someone taking a punishment that should’ve rightfully been his.

“Yeah…that’s me,” he said, the agitation creeping into his voice. “You gonna tell me where the girl went now, or are ya gonna stand here and waste my freakin’ time?”

“Well…I dunno where…Isabel, right? Went exactly…but if she’s in here, that means she’s going to help Max too! Which is good, because this place kinda scares me..”

Great. This kid wasn’t any help at all, Johnny thought to himself as he began to storm off. Well, as best as he could storm in this place, anyway, as the ground muffled all his footsteps.

“Uh, mister sir, you’re heading into a wall,” the boy provided helpfully right as Johnny smashed his face into a bed of dirt. “Are you able to see in here? Because it looks like you’re squinting pretty hard…”

“Oh, so you can see where yer’ goin’ in this pitch black mess?”

“A-a little, mister sir. This place has a lot of weird turns and forks and dead ends. If you can’t tell where you’re going, you could get pretty lost.”

Johnny suddenly had an idea.

“Right then, it’s settled! I can’t see a foot in fronta’ me, and yer’ too scared to fight…whatever it is you came in here fer’, so you get ta’ do the lookin’ and I’ll do the fightin’! I’ll let ya’ pay me back for it later.”

“Uh…ah…oh…kay”, came the uneasy reply. “There’s a path to your left. It’s straight for a while after that, from what I can see.”

And with that, the two set off.

---

Johnny couldn’t tell how long he’d been walking in silence for. At least with the Ed ambush a few days prior, he’d been able to gauge some method of progress by seeing just where Ed was and what he was up to. But here there wasn’t anything to see ahead of him. He could barely hear his own footsteps on the ground if he paid enough attention, but he couldn’t hear the other kid’s at all, even though with a glance he could see the kid steadily at his side.

He wasn’t scared, of course. It was just a dark silent cave, that’s all. Nothing that pathetic could scare Johnny Jhonny.

He was, admittedly, just a little creeped out. He needed something to keep his mind off of this. Besides Guerra, of course. No sense chasing Guerra with some hyped up senses that’d give him away.

“So what’s your deal, anyway? If yer’ so scared of everything, whatcha even come to a spooky cave for?” he asked.

The sad little laugh’s proximity made him jump.

“I was trying to go around with Max a little bit, to see the town again. I thought maybe I could become a little braver, maybe even help in a fight...but then a big spirit came up and grabbed him! I followed it here, but then Max dropped his bat trying to get out of its arms, and I rushed in to help and give it back to him. He can’t fight real good without it… but this is a big cave, and I can’t get the bat to him without going through it, and it’s dark and I got scared…”

Johnny stared at the kid with only the slightest expression of disbelief. “You wanna learn how to fight?” “I have to be able to help out when he gets attacked! So I can have his back! Because that’s what friends do!”

There was a sense of conviction in the kid’s voice that wasn’t there before. A conviction immediately lost when the floor shook and a deep rumble emanated from below, if the higher pitched wailing that came from his position was anything to go by.

Once the rumbling stopped and Johnny confirmed that he could not beat the earthquake into submission, he turned and gently slapped his hand over the general area of his partner’s head. Although he missed his mouth entirely, it still worked wonders in stopping the kid’s terrified babbling.

“Tell ya what, ya picked a good day ta run into me. I’ll whip ya up into ship-shop shape so you can wallop all yer problems while I’m out nerd hunting. A’course, you’ll have to pay me back with interest…”, he said, cracking his knuckles for effect, but secretly impressed that the kid was trying to take initiative.

He was not expecting a shaky, uncertain “thank you” as a response, but it filled him with a weird sense of pride, and soon an exchange of stories began.

----

To the timid kid’s credit, he had kept his end of the bargain.

Johnny soon realized the kid was a good eavesdropper, since he mentioned that he only knew the girl for a few days. He would’ve quicker taken Isabel to be a dog person afraid of spiders than the other way around. Apparently she was close to her spider too, the one that she’d lost recently. Called it a friend. Johnny could relate; the loss of his boxer four years ago still hurt to think about somewhat. She was also Max’s friend, so of course she’d be into the freaky flipping and jumping around he did constantly. Between her and that spiky nerd dude, freaky movements seemed to be something of a requirement for being that kid’s buddy. He made a mental note to himself to practice some moves with his pals later to show him up.

Some of the facts were a bit harder to make sense of. According to him, she had come with some “scary guy with glasses” to help sort out a…evil whale frog the other day? Riding a paper horse? With the kid’s luck he probably found that weirdo history teacher that’s always wearing shades, but with the kid’s track record of jumping at the smacking sounds of Johnny’s hands, he could’ve been scared of pretty much anyone.

And if what the kid was saying was true, he had somehow managed to punch a teacher in the face for “being evil”. Not a bad start to a fighting career, even if he said that he ran and hid behind Max immediately after.

On his own side, Johnny had launched into relaying many of his and his gang’s bouts over the years, placing emphasis on each blow, duck and dodge. What started out as giving advice on which attacks are what, when people are giving them and how to take/sidestep them quickly derailed into making as great a story as possible. Johnny was just too used to framing these stories for his pals. His partner didn’t seem to mind it too much, though, and every hushed “wow” and question of what happened next only served to hype him up further. He told of turf wars and stakeouts, of the gang catching up to a group of cyclists that had bought the last of the candy that RJ had been looking forward to all week, even his battle with Ed and the Great Starch Hunt.

“’An then he gave us stars from his own pocket for beatin’ him, and Ed took off for greater quarry. Gotta meet up with him later to get RJ’s stuff back…an’ mine too, come ta think of it. Then we got thrown inta’ detention.”

“Wow, mister sir, you sure do get into a lot of adventures.”

“Whoa whoa, knock it off with the ‘mister sir’ crap, yer makin’ me feel old.”

“I don’t think you’ve told me your name though.”

“Wha-you don’t know my name? After everything I just told you?”

“S-sorry…”

“The name’s Johnny. Johnny Jhonny. Forget it and I whack ya.”

“Ah, okay mister Johnny.”

There was a small back and forth about not using “mister” and the kid’s inability to get it through his head, followed by a weird silence, until a small question piped up from the compatriot:

“So you were always good at fighting the bad guys and…other guys, huh? I hope I can be that fearless someday.”

Johnny paused. The image of an angry Jeff from a few days before surfaced in his head, mocking him for protecting his buddies and promising a permanent scar. He remembered how that ball came sailing towards his pals and how much it’d hurt them if he moved. How people kept taking shots for him that weren’t meant for them: Dimitri, Max…

…and how readily RJ and Ollie were to take them, too.

“…That ain’t it. Listen, it’s not about never bein’ scared. That Hitball game where everythin’ went nuts? I acted all brave to calm down my buds, but…I was shakin’ inside. But I took that fear and threw it right back at that little punk. You just gotta take all that terror that’s buildin’ in your chest and put it in your fists instead. Pick up all that fear those jerks put in ya and make ‘em take it back tenfold.”

“How do you do that, Johnny sir?”

The “sir” wasn’t much better, but Johnny brushed it aside for now. “Well, you know how you keep screamin’ whenever somethin’ spooks ya? Make it louder. Make it a war cry! Bellow and yell in their face and make em’ pay for makin’ that sound come outta’ your mouth! And when you think maybe you should book it, or get worried that you can’t take the fight, you think of how your friends would be in the same spot as you, and how they’d get hurt instead, and then you beat up that foe for daring to put that image in your head!”

There was a pause before he spoke again with as much mentorly conviction as he could muster.

“Ya’ don’t let those punks hurt your friends. Ya gotta stand by your pals, fight by their side, so they don’t take blows that ain’t their due.”

“Because that’s what friends do.”

“Exactly.”

A few seconds passed without any words. Johnny then piped up again.

“Y’know, I don’t think you ever told me your name neither.”

“Oh. Uhm..it’s PJ. I’m PJ.”

Johnny couldn’t really see the kid’s face at all, but he could feel the smile from where he was standing. Or maybe that was just the small smile creeping up on his own face. He wasn’t sure, but the area felt calmer, the silence almost welcoming.

That didn’t last.

Another rumble cut through the air, and the quakes nearly threw the bully to the ground. Then another noise, just loud enough for Johnny to make out, bellowed from below.

“KKKKKKKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

“That’s the spirit that got mister Max! It’s close!” shouted PJ before a third rumble sounded. Johnny felt loose soil fall into his hair and vigorously ran his hands through his ‘do. He wasn’t exactly sure what a “spirit” meant, or what could’ve possibly made that noise, but it wasn’t going to stop him from following Guerra. He charged ahead.

Straight into a wall of dirt.

“Ahh! The path is blocked off! It must have touched the soil again!”

“Wha..?” came the muffled reply.

“The spirit can touch things! It moved the soil around earlier when I was making my way in!”

Johnny felt hands on his shoulders for a brief moment before he was catapulted backwards. His hands quickly found soft fabric and the two sped away back up the hallway, swerving and curving to avoid pieces of the ceiling falling down around them. The tremors intensified, and Johnny swung back, bracing himself to punch an enemy he couldn’t see.

KLANG!!

It took a minute for his ears to stop screaming at him, but the vibrations underneath him seemed to halt. His foot slipped for half a second over a pit that he didn’t think was there before. As the ringing subsided, his head pieced together what that noise could have been.

“Hehey, that sounded like a solid hit! Looks like ya got more punch than ya thought, lil slugger!”

“Uh…I didn’t actually swing at it…it came up from underneath me and hit the bat with its face…”

“A solid hold then. You held the bat steady while it came at ya.”

“I was more frozen in fear…”

“Dude, take the compliment before I shove it down your throat hole.”

“OK, Johnny sir.”

“NO, it’s just—you don’t have ta—ah, forget it.”

Johnny turned back and felt around the edges of the hole with his shoe. Whatever came up from the ground was huge, as it took him a while to find a part of the soft earth that wasn’t sloping into the pit. He had half a mind to try throwing something in it to hear how deep it went, but the way the ground was, he wouldn’t be able to hear how far something went anyway.

With no other options, the two started backtracking farther up the cave.

---

“Hey, come ta think of it…PJ, are you in your pajamas?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess so.”

“Why’d you come down here in your pajamas when it’s this cold out? You lookin’ to catch a flu or something?”

“I can’t really…touch anything unless it’s possessed. …or a spirit… …or Max…or people with special powers.”

“Whaddya mean you can’t touch things? You’re holding Max’s bat. You just touched me like five minutes ago!”

“This is Max’s special weapon with special powers! I can touch it because it’s full of magic.”

“Yeah, well I ain’t no freaky jumpin’ wizard with wizard tools, and ya touched me, so there. What the heck are you talking about with ‘spirits’ anyway? You saying this cave is full of ghosts or something?”

“I don’t think spirits are the same thing as ghosts… they’re weird. They can be really big, or small, and they all have powers, and they can have legs.”

“Ha! Now I know yer’ bluffin’! Stephen told me that ghosts look like super see-through people with a faint bluish tint on ‘em. Only the ones from other places don’t got feet.”

There was an awkward silence. Johnny couldn’t see the face of his partner beside him, but he could tell that the look on his face was one of confusion.

“…You’re new to this, aren’t you?”

Before Johnny could ask him what the heck that was supposed to mean, the rumbling returned. The large, soft chunks of dirt rained down on Johnny’s shoulders, and the ground beneath him quickly lost stability. Small hills of soil quickly piled up near his feet.

The place was caving in.

Johnny quickly found PJ’s arms (though there was little need, as his hands had already found Johnny’s wrists as soon as the rumbles had begun again) and booked it back up the path. He soon found it hard to block out the burning running up his side, or his lungs crying out for air, or the urge to remove all the dirt from his hair, but the twists and turns the path soon divulged helped distract him ever so slightly.

There was only one brief stop, when two other shadows crossed their path, one yanking the other forward in a similar manner. The long hair fluttering into the other shadow’s face was a dead giveaway for Guerra, but when Johnny tried to follow her, he ran into another wall. The place must be coming down fast if he was blocked off that quickly, he thought, and scrambled back as fast as he could to get the heck out of Chrysler.

After more twists and turns and dodges, a blinding light made its presence known. Johnny raced forward, the screaming in his sides unmatched by the crumbling walls becoming more evident from the light. As the exit loomed nearer and the snowy woods came into focus, he noticed the archway begin to buckle. He forced himself forward as fast as he could muster as the shiny white window to the outside became polluted with fallen sediment. He could feel the cool air on his skin and in his lungs, soothing his aching….well, everything. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the roof give entirely. He threw both of his arms forward in desperation, only dimly realizing that the grip he’d felt on his arm had vanished.

Suddenly he felt a hard shove from behind, and everything went white.

---

Johnny lied on the ground for a few seconds, allowing the small layer of snow to soothe his burning limbs. Each inhale brought both pain and relief. Slowly, he got back up to his feet, rubbing tiny patches of nearby snow underneath his pant legs to numb them ever so slightly and surveying the ground.

For the most part, the woods looked about the same as when he had entered, though he hadn’t been paying much attention to the ground at the time. Every track in the snow looked fresh, so it hadn’t snowed any further after he had entered the cave. A massive gouge in the frozen fluff confirmed that someone had been dragged into the mound, and he could see his shoeprints from his stalking mission, his wavy treads trailing just behind a far smoother and slightly smaller boot print.

He paused, then looked around the marks again. There were only two types of prints in the snow. Unless the kid had trod over the haphazard gouge, that was one type too few.

A small gleam caught his eye, and as he registered what was giving off such a glare, his eyes widened.

Lying three or four steps away from his position was an aluminum bat.

His head quickly snapped up to the cave’s entrance. The once great gaping maw that had lead down to the damp dark underneath had been entirely filled with moist brown soil.

There was no sign of life nearby.

He tried to scream for his cave companion, but his voice flickered in and out like a match refusing to light. Within seconds he was at the cave’s entrance, frantically clawing out bits of earth, searching for an opening, his trembling legs and pinwheeling arms providing the howling his throat could not produce.

As he opened his mouth to attempt crying out a fifth time, another scream filled the area for him.

“KKKKKKKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Johnny stumbled over onto his back, scrambling back into the snow while keeping eye contact with the thing. It was a gigantic mantis, about a few heads taller than a bus, with glowing white eyes the size of the globe Mr. Garcia had in his room. A viscous purple permeated its form and gleamed in the light as if it was made of Jello, and it shimmered like some form of mirage.

It noticed him instantly. Quicker than he’d ever expect a mantis to move, it raised a violet-tinged talon and swung its biological guillotine towards him. The light streaming through the bug caused Johnny’s eyes to water, and he braced himself.

Another familiar sound struck through the air, and his ears cried out in protest.

Johnny blinked away the tears to see another purple shape floating just a few feet in front of him. While the consistency still looked around the same, this one took the form of what looked like a twelve year old kid. A squint revealed what looked to be some form of shirt with a collar and wrist cuffs. There were no sign of legs; instead, the torso tapered off to a wispy serpentine tail. As Johnny stared at the apparition with a quivering mouth and eyes wide as saucers, the purple boy struggled to retain his position. The redhead mentally shook himself and peered beyond the kid; the mantis’s front claws had locked on to the bat the kid was holding and was attempting to push it out from underneath him.

“Aaah! The spirit’s too strong! I can’t keep this up!” the ghost exclaimed as the mantis lowered its head to his eye level, chattering large mandibles that would look less out of place on an ant. Its voice sounded familiar, Johnny thought, and oh sweet merciful Punch why did it sound so familiar, it couldn’t be--

“Please, mister Johnny! Heeelp!”

Johnny glanced from the purple boy to the purple bug and back a few times, his breathing becoming more erratic. It was then that his voice finally burst through in full force.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

For a brief second, the boy turned his head just a bit to look at Johnny. He had the same glowing eyes the bug did, as well as a small curl of hair sticking from his top. A look of panic and confusion soon snapped into realization, and the boy turned back and joined in the din.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

It was barely audible above the combined noise of Johnny’s and the bug’s screams, but it was a valiant war cry nonetheless.

Through the wails, Johnny noticed the ghost slowly pushing back upwards against the mantis. The redheaded rogue shot himself to a sitting position and shoved the ghost forward, and the insidious insect buckled. The cold metal of the bat reunited with the behemoth’s face, and as it reeled backward, PJ raised his volume just a little bit, pitched his arms back, and swung the bat right into the creature’s eye. After another round of shrieking, the mantis waved one arm in front of them, and with a tepid “peh”, it retreated back into the earth.

Johnny stared at the spot the mantis had been a second ago in shock, only turning back to the ghost as it floated back in his direction.

“We did it! We beat the bad guy with …uh…violence! And friendship! And violent friendship!” PJ exclaimed as he neared Johnny, his grin somehow resting on the verge of just off-looking enough to be intimidating.

The bully tried to get up, or scramble away, or anything, but his body betrayed him. A fist slowly and haltingly tried to meet the ghost, but even that only made it halfway to its destination before stopping, the limb quaking uselessly in the air. The seconds passed as the ghost stared at the shaking fist until finally he clasped his hand around it.

Johnny’s voice failed him once again, only letting out a small squeak. He could only stare.

After a few minutes, the pajama-clad lad let out an “Oh!”

“I think that’s Isabel and Max over there!”, he exclaimed. Johnny barely managed to turn his head to see a large smoky red arrow a few yards away. “I have to hurry home too, I sort of didn’t tell Lefty where I was going again and he’s probably going to be real mad if he finds out I left.”

“Bye Johnny! Thanks for everythiiiing!” the ghost cried as he flew away.

Johnny just stared forward for a few minutes, his body completely spent. His head tried to come up with reasons for what just happened, but to no avail.

It took about ten minutes for his legs to finally work again, and as he made his way back home to complete his mission, the thoughts nagged at his mind.

He fought…something. With a ghost. He had Friendship Fused with a ghost.

He had befriended a ghost.

He shook his head back and forth to try to clear his head. He got what he needed out of the…ghost…and now it was time to put his newfound knowledge to good use.

Operation Season’s Beatings was a go.

---

All things considered, the Activity Club had a rather uneventful morning. Early patrol had consisted of dealing with one minor spirit with a compulsion to spread gift wrap everywhere, and Isaac’s small kicks of wind made quick work of the litter.

The lunch bell rang, and Isabel hurried to her locker to put away her books. The four of them had promised to eat lunch together outside and possibly share what they had gotten with the others. She thought about how Isaac would try to play it off as if he hadn’t looked at his gift yet when he had been keeping the plush ninja bunny really badly hidden in his jeans pocket all morning and grinned.

Upon kicking the locker door open, she was greeted with what looked like a shoebox with red Santa wrapping paper awkwardly balancing above her books. The spectral quickly glanced around to see if she was being watched and just barely caught a glimpse of red retreating. Shrugging it off, she grabbed her prize and headed to the schoolyard.

Unsurprisingly, Isaac was gushing about the bunny, his eyes reminding her of those “canine eye inflation disease” posters her grandfather had put up in her room. It was a well-crafted rabbit, from what she could see, and the black ninja garb combined with a small metal headband was a nice touch.

“Oh man Izzy, you’re gonna love what Max got,” Ed chirped as she plopped down beside the three.

“I’m serious, whoever told my Secret Santa about this is dead,” Max groaned as he revealed a model train set from his box. Isabel laughed heartily. “My dad is never going to stop running this thing! It’ll be puffing around upstairs until Halloween!”

“How long did it take Stephen to figure it out, by the way?” she asked Ed, who mirrored her devious grin.

“Two periods and I’m pretty sure Ollie was in on it.”

“Do I even want to know what awful fate you brought upon that fool?”

“Hey, when I told him the alien was right behind him, I wasn’t lying. And the Velcro stuck pretty well, all things considered.”

After hearing Isaac gush about the bunny some more (she recalled a scant few times where his voice reached that high of a pitch) and watching Ed reveal his gift of some art supplies and an Optimus Prime robot, the kids turned their attention to Isabel’s red box.

“The tag just says ‘Guerra!’ on it with no sender, so we’re off to a good start already”, Max said dryly as she carefully tore at the paper.

Isaac complained that he wanted to use that paper for later, so Isabel removed it carefully as to make it as whole as possible. Soon the box was bare, and the kids shot each other gleeful looks. Isabel ripped the box open.

Everyone paused. The boys shot uncertain glances at their friend, who stared at the contents with the blankest look on her face any of them had ever seen.

The box was filled with spiders of various sizes, colors and materials. Felt spiders with pom-pom bodies and googly eyes stared innocently upwards, a drawing of a spider eating a dog was taped to the side of the box, and spiders crafted with pebbles and glue stubbornly stuck to the bottom.

There were three origami spiders scattered throughout the box, each done in a different style. One of them had red eyes, saw-tooth fangs and an oddly misshapen head.

There was a handwritten note taped to the lid.

“Guerra,

I heard you lost your spider pal. Having somebody you love leave you stings something awful. So I made you a bunch of spiders that will never die on you ever. Plus to give you something to remember your friend by.

PS. They eat dogs”

“They didn’t even write their name on it?” Isaac murmured as Isabel picked up the red-eyed origami spider, slowly turning it in her palm.

“Izzy?” Ed asked gently as his friend traced an hourglass shape into the spider’s body. She stole a glance behind her of the red-haired idiot she’d seen earlier, propped up against a tree just within her line of sight, doing what looked like his best not to fall asleep. “You OK?”

She turned to her friends with a small smile, tucking the odd spider into the deep pocket of her jacket.

“Yeah. I’m just fine.”

#paranatural #pnat #pnatsecretsanta #isabel guerra #johnny jhonny #pj

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pnatsecretsanta · 5 years

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Johnny Jhonny in: A Christmas Calamity

A STORY!/ IT’S DONE!/ FOR @pjmaxsson! Apologies for getting this out so late, I hope that this little tale brings you a bit of belated Christmas cheer, and more! Without further ado, here is:

Johnny Jhonny in: A Christmas Calamity

“ARGH!”

“Out of anyone I coulda gotten, I had ta’ get Isabel Guerra? That chick’s impossible to get information on!”

RJ nodded in agreement, their furrowed brow hidden by their hood.

—

About three feet in, Johnny was able to gather one bit of information on Isabel Guerra:

She had really weird ideas for recreational activities.

The small, uneven muttering up ahead caught his attention.

“Oh geez. Oh man. D-did I go the right way? How are there so many paths? What if Mr. Max is hurt? What if that thing comes back? Ohhh…”

“I can’t stay here worrying about this! Mr. Max needs me! But…”

“Who the heck’re you?”

“WAAAUGH!”

“Uhhh…I…don’t know who…that is..?” came the hasty reply.

“Er.. Isabel Guerra? Brown eyes, long brown hair, gray jacket? ”

“…Oh. OH!” The boy seemed to perk up a little upon hearing that. “That’s the scary girl’s name? The one from that weird dodgeball game, right?”

“Hitball, yeah, she was t’ other captain. Besides me.”

“O-oh, okay. I, uh, wasn’t paying too much attention to the game…mostly just watching Max. Ah! Are you the guy Max blocked that ball for?”

That one stung a little. If there was anything that made Johnny Jhonny uncomfortable, it’s someone taking a punishment that should’ve rightfully been his.

“Yeah…that’s me,” he said, the agitation creeping into his voice. “You gonna tell me where the girl went now, or are ya gonna stand here and waste my freakin’ time?”

“Well…I dunno where…Isabel, right? Went exactly…but if she’s in here, that means she’s going to help Max too! Which is good, because this place kinda scares me..”

Great. This kid wasn’t any help at all, Johnny thought to himself as he began to storm off. Well, as best as he could storm in this place, anyway, as the ground muffled all his footsteps.

“Oh, so you can see where yer’ goin’ in this pitch black mess?”

“A-a little, mister sir. This place has a lot of weird turns and forks and dead ends. If you can’t tell where you’re going, you could get pretty lost.”

Johnny suddenly had an idea.

“Uh…ah…oh…kay”, came the uneasy reply. “There’s a path to your left. It’s straight for a while after that, from what I can see.”

And with that, the two set off.

—

He wasn’t scared, of course. It was just a dark silent cave, that’s all. Nothing that pathetic could scare Johnny Jhonny.

He was, admittedly, just a little creeped out. He needed something to keep his mind off of this. Besides Guerra, of course. No sense chasing Guerra with some hyped up senses that’d give him away.

“So what’s your deal, anyway? If yer’ so scared of everything, whatcha even come to a spooky cave for?” he asked.

The sad little laugh’s proximity made him jump.

“I was trying to go around with Max a little bit, to see the town again. I thought maybe I could become a little braver, maybe even help in a fight…but then a big spirit came up and grabbed him! I followed it here, but then Max dropped his bat trying to get out of its arms, and I rushed in to help and give it back to him. He can’t fight real good without it… but this is a big cave, and I can’t get the bat to him without going through it, and it’s dark and I got scared…”

Johnny stared at the kid with only the slightest expression of disbelief. “You wanna learn how to fight?”

“I have to be able to help out when he gets attacked! So I can have his back! Because that’s what friends do!”

He was not expecting a shaky, uncertain “thank you” as a response, but it filled him with a weird sense of pride, and soon an exchange of stories began.

—-

To the timid kid’s credit, he had kept his end of the bargain.

“Wow, mister sir, you sure do get into a lot of adventures.”

“Whoa whoa, knock it off with the ‘mister sir’ crap, yer makin’ me feel old.”

“I don’t think you’ve told me your name though.”

“Wha-you don’t know my name? After everything I just told you?”

“S-sorry…”

“The name’s Johnny. Johnny Jhonny. Forget it and I whack ya.”

“Ah, okay mister Johnny.”

There was a small back and forth about not using “mister” and the kid’s inability to get it through his head, followed by a weird silence, until a small question piped up from the compatriot:

“So you were always good at fighting the bad guys and…other guys, huh? I hope I can be that fearless someday.”

…and how readily RJ and Ollie were to take them, too.

“How do you do that, Johnny sir?”

There was a pause before he spoke again with as much mentorly conviction as he could muster.

“Ya’ don’t let those punks hurt your friends. Ya gotta stand by your pals, fight by their side, so they don’t take blows that ain’t their due.”

“Because that’s what friends do.”

“Exactly.”

A few seconds passed without any words. Johnny then piped up again.

“Y’know, I don’t think you ever told me your name neither.”

“Oh. Uhm..it’s PJ. I’m PJ.”

That didn’t last.

Another rumble cut through the air, and the quakes nearly threw the bully to the ground. Then another noise, just loud enough for Johnny to make out, bellowed from below.

“KKKKKKKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Straight into a wall of dirt.

“Ahh! The path is blocked off! It must have touched the soil again!”

“Wha..?” came the muffled reply.

“The spirit can touch things! It moved the soil around earlier when I was making my way in!”

KLANG!!

“Hehey, that sounded like a solid hit! Looks like ya got more punch than ya thought, lil slugger!”

“Uh…I didn’t actually swing at it…it came up from underneath me and hit the bat with its face…”

“A solid hold then. You held the bat steady while it came at ya.”

“I was more frozen in fear…”

“Dude, take the compliment before I shove it down your throat hole.”

“OK, Johnny sir.”

“NO, it’s just—you don’t have ta—ah, forget it.”

With no other options, the two started backtracking farther up the cave.

—

“Hey, come ta think of it…PJ, are you in your pajamas?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess so.”

“Why’d you come down here in your pajamas when it’s this cold out? You lookin’ to catch a flu or something?”

“I can’t really…touch anything unless it’s possessed. …or a spirit… …or Max…or people with special powers.”

“Whaddya mean you can’t touch things? You’re holding Max’s bat. You just touched me like five minutes ago!”

“This is Max’s special weapon with special powers! I can touch it because it’s full of magic.”

“I don’t think spirits are the same thing as ghosts… they’re weird. They can be really big, or small, and they all have powers, and they can have legs.”

“Ha! Now I know yer’ bluffin’! Stephen told me that ghosts look like super see-through people with a faint bluish tint on ‘em. Only the ones from other places don’t got feet.”

There was an awkward silence. Johnny couldn’t see the face of his partner beside him, but he could tell that the look on his face was one of confusion.

“…You’re new to this, aren’t you?”

The place was caving in.

Suddenly he felt a hard shove from behind, and everything went white.

—

He paused, then looked around the marks again. There were only two types of prints in the snow. Unless the kid had trod over the haphazard gouge, that was one type too few.

A small gleam caught his eye, and as he registered what was giving off such a glare, his eyes widened.

Lying three or four steps away from his position was an aluminum bat.

His head quickly snapped up to the cave’s entrance. The once great gaping maw that had lead down to the damp dark underneath had been entirely filled with moist brown soil.

There was no sign of life nearby.

As he opened his mouth to attempt crying out a fifth time, another scream filled the area for him.

“KKKKKKKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Another familiar sound struck through the air, and his ears cried out in protest.

“Please, mister Johnny! Heeelp!”

Johnny glanced from the purple boy to the purple bug and back a few times, his breathing becoming more erratic. It was then that his voice finally burst through in full force.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

It was barely audible above the combined noise of Johnny’s and the bug’s screams, but it was a valiant war cry nonetheless.

Johnny stared at the spot the mantis had been a second ago in shock, only turning back to the ghost as it floated back in his direction.

Johnny’s voice failed him once again, only letting out a small squeak. He could only stare.

After a few minutes, the pajama-clad lad let out an “Oh!”

“Bye Johnny! Thanks for everythiiiing!” the ghost cried as he flew away.

Johnny just stared forward for a few minutes, his body completely spent. His head tried to come up with reasons for what just happened, but to no avail.

It took about ten minutes for his legs to finally work again, and as he made his way back home to complete his mission, the thoughts nagged at his mind.

He fought…something. With a ghost. He had Friendship Fused with a ghost.

He had befriended a ghost.

He shook his head back and forth to try to clear his head. He got what he needed out of the…ghost…and now it was time to put his newfound knowledge to good use.

Operation Season’s Beatings was a go.

—

“Oh man Izzy, you’re gonna love what Max got,” Ed chirped as she plopped down beside the three.

“How long did it take Stephen to figure it out, by the way?” she asked Ed, who mirrored her devious grin.

“Two periods and I’m pretty sure Ollie was in on it.”

“Do I even want to know what awful fate you brought upon that fool?”

“Hey, when I told him the alien was right behind him, I wasn’t lying. And the Velcro stuck pretty well, all things considered.”

“The tag just says ‘Guerra!’ on it with no sender, so we’re off to a good start already”, Max said dryly as she carefully tore at the paper.

Everyone paused. The boys shot uncertain glances at their friend, who stared at the contents with the blankest look on her face any of them had ever seen.

There were three origami spiders scattered throughout the box, each done in a different style. One of them had red eyes, saw-tooth fangs and an oddly misshapen head.

There was a handwritten note taped to the lid.

“Guerra,

PS. They eat dogs”

“They didn’t even write their name on it?” Isaac murmured as Isabel picked up the red-eyed origami spider, slowly turning it in her palm.

She turned to her friends with a small smile, tucking the odd spider into the deep pocket of her jacket.

“Yeah, I’m just fine.”

#Ooo! A fic!#Cute!#submission #fic #pj #johnny #ollie #rj #stephen #jang #izzy #max #ed #isaac #ac

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three-houses-text-files · 5 years

Text

leonie/raphael

c-a support + paired ending

Raphael: Hey, Leonie! Are you just getting back? Whoa! What's with the bag? It's huge! Leonie: Oh, this? Ha... I thought I'd get all my chores done at once. Guess it got a little out of hand. L: Sorry to be a pain, but could you help me out? R: I’m happy to help! Where'd you go to get all this stuff? L: Well, first it was just the cloth scraps from the tailor, and then it was the used oil from a restaurant in town... L: After that, it was the books the scholars didn't know what to do with. I mean, that was just on the way. R: Whoa. It sounds like you did a lot of running around today. L: It wasn't so bad! I just figured it would save time if I did it all in one trip. R: You planned all that out? Impressive! R: What are you gonna do with all the stuff you got? L: The scraps will be good for dish cloths, and I can make soap from the oil. The books are just to help with my studies. R: You really can't let anything go to waste, can you? L: Nope. Can't stand the idea. R: Who knew you were so thoughtful! I mean, with actual thinking ahead. R: You’re so generous to everyone and always making me food. I never knew how much thought you must put into it! L: I cook to relax. And it's nice seeing how enthusiastic you get about eating what I make. L: Whatever I give away is just the stuff that isn't useful to me. I pick up all sorts of things when I'm in town. L: Giving things like that to people who need them, or who can actually use them, makes sure they aren't wasted. R: That makes sense. You've gotta use up the stuff you've got, after all. R: Hey, do you think you're like this because you didn't have much growing up? L: I guess times were tough, now that you mention it. The folks in my village definitely aren't rich. L: My dad had to go through a lot of trouble to get the recommendations I needed to attend the academy. L: That doesn't mean I've grown up to be stingy. It just means I don't like to squander. L: Anyway, enough of that. It's in poor taste to go on about your own hardships. L: I've always got time for a meal with a friend. And it so happens I picked up some choice meat today. Why don't we share it? R: Now you're speaking my language!

——————————————————————————————

L: Oh, it's Raphael. What's he doing at that desk? R: … L: Hey! Are you studying? I thought you'd given up on it. Nice to see you're... R: Waaaugh! L: What the?! R: Oh! Leonie! L: What's wrong? Why are you crying? R: I-I just got a thank you letter from my little sister! L: OK, maybe start from the beginning. R: My little sister lives with my grandpa now. R: She’s had to deal with so much since I decided not to take over the family business. L: You might have to back up a bit more before this starts to make sense to me. R: Our parents were merchants, but they died in an accident. We had some money saved at first, but... R: But Grandpa isn't healthy enough to work, and I'm not smart enough to work a job that requires... much thinking. L: That's really tough. Hard to make a fortune with just your strength, I'm sure. R: I had to sell all our valuables just to pay my way here so I could become a knight! L: Wow. That's a lot of pressure. R: My sister wants the best for me, but— R: She’s the smart one in the family! She's the one that should be here! R: When I ask if she needs anything, she always says she's fine. R: She doesn't want to ask me for anything 'cause she knows I'm having such a hard time here! L: She sounds like a great kid. So, what did the letter say? R: It said she's happy and thankful for all the study materials I sent her. L: That's good, right? Wait...where did you find extras? R: I couldn't find any, so I just sent her mine. It's like you said, right? R: It’s better to give them to someone who will use them instead of letting them go to waste! L: Um, don't take this the wrong way, but don't you still kind of need those? (pre-skip) L: Um, don't take this the wrong way, but don't you think you've still got things to learn? (post-skip) L: Well, I guess if it makes her happy, it's worth it. Maybe I can scrounge something up for her too.

——————————————————————————————

L: Hey! Writing to your sister again? R: You bet! Gotta reply to these things as soon as they come in! L: You had one last week too. It's great to see you're both so good about staying in touch. L: It's especially important when there's a war going on. R: Yeah. Oh! That reminds me! My sister wrote to say how much she loved the painting supplies you sent! L: Good. I'm glad gathering those pigments paid off. R: You even made her a brush! I really appreciate you doing all that for her. L: I was fascinated with painting at that age. L: I was a pretty artistic kid, if you can believe it. Not a lot of time for it when you're hungry though. R: Sounds like you had a pretty tough time growing up too, huh? L: I guess so. We never thought of it that way. L: But it's true the children in my village don't usually get to choose their futures. L: Any one of us could have had the talent for artistic genius and never even noticed. L: I was one of the lucky ones. I only got to follow my passion thanks to my father and all the other folks. L: That's why, once I come into my own, the first thing I'll do is head back there and help the other kids. R: Oh, wow. It's like all the kids in your village are counting on you. L: Haha, no need to exaggerate it. L: Besides, it's not like I'm unique. You're working hard for your sister's future, aren't you? R: Yeah. It's like me and you are both carrying big weights. R: We should try sharing the weight with each other! You know, lighten both of our loads! L: Huh? R: If we share our problems, then we only gotta carry half the weight, right? It works out for everybody! L: It's...probably a good thing you didn't try to take on your family's business. L: If you take half of my burden, and I take half of yours, the total's still the same. R: Nah. That doesn't sound right. Everything's lighter when you don't gotta carry it alone. L: ... L: Hahaha, on second thought, you might be right. L: With the right attitude, and the right partner to share the burden, maybe it is only half the weight. R: Now you're getting it! It's a waste of energy to struggle alone when there's someone who can help you! L: That's true. And I do hate waste, as you well know. R: So when it comes to working toward the future you're after, you know I won't fall short. L: Great! And you should never fall short on sharing a big meal with me too! R: Deal!

——————————————————————————————

paired ending

Leonie took over the mercenary company formerly led by Jeralt. She ran out of money constantly, however, due to sending all of her earnings back to her village, and so developed a reputation for unpaid tavern tabs. When she came upon the inn that Raphael had been helping to run with his family, she was overjoyed to finally find a place that would trust her enough to open a new tab. In her years frequenting the establishment, she accrued such a massive debt to Raphael that the only way to pay him off was to work for him. By the time the debt was finally paid, she had moved in with him. They lived together happily for the rest of their days.

#fire emblem three houses spoilers #fe16 spoilers #fe3h spoilers #leonie x raphael #raphael x leonie

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giftfromthesleepprincess · 5 years

Text

Chapter 6-The Eternal Sorceress; Scene 4

Gift from the Princess Who Brought Sleep, pages 221-225

Just has had been written in the newspaper, the road leading to Toragay from Aceid had been completely shut down by the World Police.

“…Looks like it’ll be tricky to slip through here after all,” Elluka muttered while gazing at the hastily made check station from afar. After all, they couldn’t just talk their way through now that they were wanted criminals. “Can’t be helped. We’ll go right to Calgaround as planned, Gumillia.”

They would head to Merrigod Plateau without passing through Toragay for now. It was a bother that they would have to go through the unmaintained mountain path rather than the main road, but they didn’t have any other course of action.

“…Oh?”

It sounded like some kind of quarrel was going on at the check station. Several officers were circling someone, and they were harshly arguing with them.

Elluka and Gumillia moved to get a little closer, and listen in to contents of the conversation.

“—But I’m a resident of Toragay! Why won’t you let me through?!”

“We told you. Toragay is plagued with an epidemic right now. We can’t allow anyone entry or exit.”

“All the more reason to let me go! My mother is still in there. If this keeps up, she’ll die! I have to get her out of there now—"

“You can’t. If you did, then the contagion might spread to outside of the town. It doesn’t matter who, no one can leave now.”

“…You’re bullshitting me! It’s just my mom…You’re telling me to just let her die?”

“…I’m sorry, we have no choice. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

“…You son of a bitch…son of a bitch…”

It sounded like someone was trying to enter town, and being stopped.

She recognized that voice. –The coachman. The innkeeper’s son.

“…Arrgh!”

“--! The hell!? –Seize him!”

The coachman suddenly went wild, attacking the officers.

It was sad, but there was nothing they could do about it now.

“Let’s go, Gumillia—Gumillia!?”

When she turned around, Gumillia was no longer behind her.

A thunderous roar shot through the air. It was coming from where the coachman was. When Elluka looked back, she saw Gumillia knocking one of the officers unconscious with her fireworks gun.

“--!? Who…It’s her! Heidemarie!”

“Arrest her!”

The policemen all got out their matchlock pistols.

Sigh…Good grief.

She felt like lately Gumillia had gotten much more violent in temperament than she used to be. Over a hundred years had passed since she’d changed from spirit to human and started living in human society. Perhaps she’d been influenced by people in some way during that time.

Elluka spread her arms wide and summoned up a wind.

The manipulation of wind was her most favored “spell”.

The swirling wind headed for the officers.

“--!? Waaaugh!”

Among the six officers, three of them were blown away by the wind, slamming into the ground and fainting.

--In the old days, Elluka would have been able to rouse up a larger wind that could round up all of the officers.

It seemed her power level had dropped from what it used to be. She didn’t age…so she’d always thought, but apparently she was wrong. While it may have been much slower than that of the average person, it seemed that time did actually have an effect on Elluka.

Elluka’s current body was not her original one. It was a body she’d swapped for from a woman named Lukana Octo about five hundred years ago. This was something that Elluka could do, as she knew the “Swap Technique” herself, and as she understood it the body that she’d obtained had, like her soul, become something that didn’t deteriorate. –But, that wasn’t necessarily the case. The “Swap Technique” was not something she’d been taught, but a spell that she’d recalled at some point. So Elluka herself didn’t yet understand everything about it.

At some point she’d probably need to get a new body.

--Oop, I guess now isn’t the time to be thinking about something like that.

The remaining officers stood there in a state of unrest, unable to understand what had just happened. Taking advantage of that, Elluka quickly moved closer and spoke up to Gumillia.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Uh, but—”

“Just get over here! –Hey, you too.”

Elluka grabbed the coachman’s hand as he sat in place in amazement, and then left with him and Gumillia. She could hear shouting and gunshots from behind them, but paid them no mind.

When they’d gotten out of range of both the officers and the check station, Elluka stopped.

“…We should be safe now.”

The coachman, who had been staring at them in a state of utter bewilderment, finally gave a shout of “Aha!”, as though having realized something.

“You’re Miss Hanne! –Have you dyed your hair?”

“…Yeah, just for a change of pace.”

“Your eye color looks a little different too…”

She had periodically changed her eye color to green using magic, but it was about time for that spell to be broken.

“Well, yeah, whatever. Anyway, trying to get into Toragay right now would be absurd.”

“But my mother is in there…”

“There’s nothing you can do by going inside. Miss Brigitta may already be infected--But we might have a method for curing that. Leave it to us for now, okay?”

“…I don’t know, but if you say you can help my mother, then I’ll aid you. Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes…We need to get to Calgaround; can your carriage cross the mountain path?”

“…If we’re going by carriage, there’s a much closer road than the mountain path. A route that goes east around the mountain. There’s an animal trail that only veteran coachmen know about.”

“Outstanding. Then, we’ll have you take us.”

“Good—if we go now, we should make it by nightfall.”

<<prev------directory------next>>

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kaitoujokerscans · 7 years

Text

Reminiscence Diamond Memory CH7

<7> Partners, Break In!

"Kyo kyo, it's coming into sight!" shouted Dark Eye as they piloted the biplane. Hachi and Roko looked out from the passenger seat and caught sight of the entirety of Prism Island. Festooned with beautiful neon lights, it looked like a completely different place from the desolate daytime.

"Where do you suppose those two are being held..." Hachi pondered.

Beside him, Roko looked down at the island. "It'll be hard to search out a place this big... but Hachi-kun, are you sure you should have left Joker to come here?"

"I have nothing to do with someone that heartless! Let's hurry up and look for Spade-san and Queen-san already!" Hachi raised his voice, still irate.

"Kyo kyo, I'll get in a little closer." Dark Eye began to drop altitude, right before the sound of a siren came from the island. Searchlights illuminated the biplane that the three of them were in.

"...What's going on!?"

"Looks like they're watching us."

"Kyo kyo, please hold on tight." Dark Eye chortled fearlessly from beneath their bandages as they turned the wheel. The biplane rolled around, and so did the island.

"Waaaugh!" Hachi and Roko clung to the seat.

Behind them, several remote-controlled helicopters appeared. "W-What are those!"

"Probably part of the security system. They'll shoot down anything careless enough to come too close."

"Kyo kyo, it seems they have rather shady dealings here."

Rat-a-tat-a-tat! The next moment, the remote helicopters started to fire their machine guns.

"Uwaaaah!" A bullet shot right by Hachi's cap. "Are they serious!?"

"Kyo kyo, please get down!" Dark Eye pressed the wheel in for a sudden descent. Roller coasters were nothing in comparison to this. Hachi felt his body being pulled up and he lowered his head as he desperately clung to the craft. The biplane was falling straight down, and the remote helicopters were right on their tail. Hachi glimpsed forward for a moment only to see the dark surface of the water right ahead of them. "Waaaaaah, we're going to hiiiiit!"

But just as the biplane was about to plunge into the water, Dark Eye yanked up on the wheel. The biplane's nose tilted up and they skimmed across the water's surface like a hovercraft. The pursuing remote helicopters were unable to turn in time, and dived into the ocean one after another. Several pillars of water rose up where they fell.

"Whoa, you did it!"

"Kyokyokyokyo♪" Dark Eye chimed, right before a remote helicopter splashed out from one of the pillars of water and flew towards them with intense speed.

"Waah!"

"Kyo kyo!"

Its machine gun clicked as it began to spin. "We'll be hit!"

Roko jumped out from the passenger seat and stood snarling toward the rear. "Rroooooo~wwwwwww!" he bayed. Supersonic waves issued from Roko's mouth. There was a special organ in his throat that had evolved beyond a regular dog's howling capabilities, allowing him to emit supersonic waves that were inaudible to the human ear and also destroy physical objects within range. The waves hit the remote-controlled helicopter, causing it to go out of control and tailspin down into the ocean.

"You did it!"

"Whoa there!" Roko lost his balance and was about to fall, but Hachi firmly grabbed his leg. "Thank you, Hachi-kun."

"You're welcome. I knew you could do it, Roko-san!"

Stillness returned once more as only the biplane's engine reverberated through the night sky. Dark Eye turned the wheel, gently turning the biplane's course. They could see a roller coaster lit up in a stunning yellow neon ahead of them.

"Wow, it's like a yellow dragon..." Hachi admired. Just then, a tiny light flashed and the boom of an impact shook throughout the plane's rear.

"Kyokyokyo!" Dark Eye hurriedly turned the wheel to stabilize the craft.

"Oh~~~ ho ho ho, I'll get rid of you trespassers!" echoed a shrill voice from above the biplane. Looking up, there was Flamingo, using her electric scooter's jet propulsion to hover in air. Flamingo brandished her pliant whip, which glinted like lightning in the darkness of night.

"Kyo kyo, that's!"

"You know them?"

"That's the person who captured Spade-sama. We need to be careful of that electric whip!"

Flamingo's long whip cracked like a supple lasso. It hit the plane's fuselage again, causing a shock to run through it.

"If she's that far away, my supersonic wave won't reach!"

"Really? Are you serious!?"

"Kyo kyo! If the engine's hit any more, we'll crash!"

"Ho ho, that's what I'm aiming for!"

Flamingo flourished her electric whip and waved it with a sidearm throw. The whip's tip was aimed straight for the biplane's engine! But then-- Craaack! The whip made a rattling sound and was flung back. "What!?"

Hachi's katana had made the whip bounce back. Hachi was standing in the passenger seat looking distressed as he held his katana against Flamingo. "E-E-Electricity won't work on my katana!"

"Ghh... How are you doing that with a metal katana!?"

"I may not look like it, but I'm a phantom thief's assistant! I won't lose in a match of brains!" Hachi's katana was covered in a thin film. He had hastily covered his katana in Image Gum to block the whip's electrical current. "Now come if you will!"

"Bah, I don't know what trick you used, but it doesn't matter as long as I destroy the engine!"

"I won't let you!" Hachi desperately blocked Flamingo's cracking whip. With the three of them aboard, the biplane started to circle the Island's skies at breakneck speed as it fled the scooter.

§§§

BANG! The sound of something heavy hitting the ground rang in the dark. It was Owl's hammer-like weapon. Queen and Spade moved and evaded just in the nick of time. The hammer swung down right beside Queen and hit the wall of the passage. A small spark flew. "Blast..."

For a moment, Owl's face was visible -- and Queen didn't miss it. Owl was a ghastly-looking man with a large build. He was not wearing goggles or anything else of the sort, yet had averted his eyes to the bright spark. In other words, he could see. He could see where Spade and Queen were in the darkness with his naked eye. Owl's own movements were tumultuous enough that Queen could tell his general position by his muffled steps and breath as well as movements in the air.

That too was thanks to Silver Heart's rigorous training. Part of the three apprentices' training was to escape pitch-black caves that they were thrown into, which they practiced countless times in the past. Joker always cheated by sneaking in light-up cards in his pocket, but Queen had taken the training seriously. She knew that she wasn't as physically strong as Joker or Spade, so she tried to avoid fighting her opponent as much as she could. To do so, she needed to figure out the opponent's location as quickly as possible and move to a guarded position.

Queen focused her ears once again. There was the sound of agitated exhaling -- Spade. Queen focused in on the other presence. This one also seemed a little stressed, taking deep, hushed breaths. Still, it was most definitely approaching the two of them. Then the sound of footsteps disappeared.

"Spade, to your right!" The noisy sound of flapping clothes as well as that of a heavy hammer's impact sounded out in the next moment.

"Gah!" moaned Spade.

"Spade!"

"I-I'm okay... just grazed my leg."

"Ho ho ho..." The eerie laugh rang through the darkness. "I failed to finish you off just now, but you're already mine. He won't be able to move quickly anymore." Apparently Spade's leg had been injured. "Missie, it seems that you can figure out where I am. I suppose I'll start moving more carefully..." Once Owl's voice dropped off, his presence was gone without a trace. His breathing was completely inaudible.

"Darnit!" Queen braced her legs and set off running, holding up Spade's body.

"Queen..."

"Quiet. Let's get as far away as we can!" Queen darted blindly through the darkness. She had to buy at least a little time.

Owl's voice came from behind the two. "Ha ha ha, just try to run away. I can see you perfectly well..."

After running a while, Queen came to a stop. She let go of Spade and kneeled down.

"Sorry. I'm causing more trouble for you..."

"It's fine. Anyway, we have to think of a way to beat him..."

"I do have an idea about that..."

Queen leaned in to hear him. "What's the plan?" Spade whispered into her ear. "I get it..." Queen nodded and popped Image Gum into her mouth.

Spade began to talk to Owl. "Why are you doing this? Does the owner have something on you?"

Owl's voice echoed back in the darkness. "Ho ho ho... Like the owner, I too am addicted to gambling. I lost a major bet, and in recompense I had to harm my own body and lose the light from my eyes. Ever since, I've only been able to live in the darkness. Even so, that doesn't mean I'm willing to lose a bout there..."

"So that's why..." Spade quietly replied.

"It's about time to end this..." The moment Owl was finished speaking, absolute silence descended. Owl had completely erased his presence.

"..." The two of them held their breath and searched out his presence. Just then, there was the sound of cloth flapping behind them. "There!" Spade turned around.

"It's too late!" Owl shouted as he rushed towards them. The massive air current let them know that he was swinging his hammer.

Queen crouched to the ground and pulled something with all her might. Then came the ripping sound of something being torn apart, and a light shone.

"Gwah!" Owl wailed as he covered his eyes. The light was too strong for his eyes. At this moment, he shouldn't have been able to see anything. Spade rapidly held down Owl's body.

"Ghh... W-What did you do...!" Owl groaned in pain. "You shouldn't have had anything that could emit light...!"

"True, we don't have playing cards that light up like Joker does. But we have brains." Spade began to explain. "Have you ever hear of triboluminescence? It comes from the words for 'rub' and 'light'. If you put two pieces of tape together and rip them apart in the dark, you can see just a bit of light at the edges. It's a phenomenon where energy generated by friction causes an emission of light. That's what we used. While I was talking, Queen stuck Image Gum to the floor. When they were stuck together and then pulled at the same time, their strong adhesion caused triboluminescence to occur."

"Even so... how did you know where I was..."

"I made an educated guess on where you'd come from and threw my coat behind us. I could tell where you were by the sound of you stepping on it."

"How did you know I would come from behind...?"

This time, Queen offered a response. "We didn't think you'd have the guts to come from the front. We got a full glimpse of your personality from the way you were acting. That's why Spade and I decided we'd be fine by just watching our backs."

"Blast..." They didn't need light to see that Owl was making a bitter expression.

"A blind bet won't win you anything. Be attentive, gauge your opponent's attitude, and make a decision -- that's how you make a winning wager." Queen grinned wide. Charming as her smile was, it was wasted in the obscurity where nobody could see.

§§§

A tiny shock of electricity ran through Hachi's hand. "Ghh...!" In the skies above Prism Island, Hachi continued to take Flamingo's endless assault. "I'm at my limit!" The gum coating on his katana was starting to flake off.

Then came a crackling over the biplane's radio. "Hello... can you... hear?" It was Queen's voice.

"Queen! We hear you, where are you!?" Roko jumped up front and barked into the mic.

"Kyokyokyo! Where's Spade-sama!?"

"Roko... and Dark Eye too? I'm... fine, Spade is too!" The signal was weak or her voice wasn't picking up, but either way, the two seemed to be safe.

"We're in Prism Island's airspace right now!"

"Really? We're about... to go... outside..."

"Kyo kyo, understood! We'll stay in the air for a while," Dark Eye shouted back.

Then Flamingo appeared right in front of their eyes, having gone around. "I won't let you!"

"!!"

"This is the end!" Her whip curved sharply as it came from the side at a rapid speed.

"Guh!" Hachi held out his katana and blocked a direct hit to the engine. But at the same time, the whip wound around the katana, holding it in place. The whip was pulled taut between Hachi and Flamingo. "O-Oh no!"

"Ho ho ho, you've been saved in the nick of time up till now, but now it's time for your punishment!" Flamingo shrieked.

"Dark Eye-san, fly up!"

In response to Hachi's cry, Dark Eye pulled the wheel, lifting the biplane higher in the sky.

"You aren't getting away! Maximum current!" Flamingo fiddled with her whip. That was the moment.

"Now!" Hachi yelled, then leaped.

"Kyo kyo!"

"Hachi-kun!"

"What...!?"

Hachi instantly began to descend. A stinging current ran through his hand. "Just a little more!" Hachi held his katana straight down and aimed it directly at Flamingo's scooter. "I'll pierce iiiit!"

"!?!?"

§§§

Just after, Hachi's katana made a heavy, clashing metallic sound as it ran through the scooter's engine. "I did it!" Just when Hachi let go of his katana, the whip's current ran through the engine and exploded with a bang.

"W-What just happened!?" The engine continued to blow up in sputters, and the jet propulsion stopped. At the same time, Hachi was falling through the night sky.

"Hachi-kun!" Roko yelped, head poking out from the biplane. Hachi looked up towards him and smiled wide. His small index finger was pointed up, sending a message of "good luck with the rest". Just like Joker...

Right afterward, while Flamingo screamed, both the electric scooter and Hachi disappeared into the black forest that spread out below.

#kaitou joker #light novel

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