Scary House Scrapes
Calem slowly trudged through the swampy waters, feeling the downpour of rain pouring on him as he was trying to figure out where he was supposed to meet up with the others; Shauna had suggested that they check out the Scary House that was located just beside the road leading towards Laverre City, and find out if they could confirm the rumours concerning the place. Calem had never personally put any form of stock into rumours and things like that, but he and the others knew just how eager Shauna was for this, so it seemed that it would be best to follow her lead and find out just what they would discover in the place. As he walked over to where the building in question would be located, he could see Shauna running over to him with an eager smile on her face before stopping in her tracks right in front of him; it didn't take him very long to take notice of her excitement for all of this.
"Come on, Calem! Over here!" Shauna cheered. She then reached over and grabbed his hand before the two made their way over to where Tierno and Trevor were waiting for them. Once they had arrived, the group turned their attention to the building they were going to investigate, and needless to say, saying that the place seemed a little different from how Calem perceived it to be was an understatement. The building in front of them seemed to be nothing more than a small run down house, with fern growing on the sides and a bit on the roof. As the group stared up at the house in silence, Trevor slowly made his way over as he was just behind the others.
"So… this is the place? This is the supposed Scary House?" Calem asked, pointing at the house as he and the others could only stare in surprise. Shauna turned her glance to him and nodded in confirmation. "Yeah; this is it. I've got to be honest, though, it looks nothing like I imagined it would." she replied, staring up at the house in puzzlement as it seemed to be nothing like she thought she would. Calem could only nod in agreement with her at this statement, since he happened to have the same view on this place as well. After a few moments passed, Trevor was the one to break the silence.
"Well… it ISa Scary House, right? I guess that means we should go inside." Trevor stated. Tierno nearly jumped in shock, apparently having realised that coming to find out if the place was real wasn't the only thing they planned on doing here.
"Wait a minute, what? We're actually going inside?! Are you guys serious?" Tierno gasped. Shauna and Calem both turned their heads to him, with Shauna showing an expression of annoyance and placing her hands on her hips upon hearing Tierno's reaction of shock. "Of course we are! We said that we were going to find out if the rumours surrounding this place were true or not, remember? So that means we're going to have to head inside and find out for ourselves." Shauna explained. Tierno was silent for a few moments before he let out a sigh of dismay, seemingly realising that Shauna was right about that. But it was safe to say that he wasn't looking forward to this at all.
While this was happening, it didn't take long for Calem to notice that there was someone in their group who wasn't with them, as he looked around with an expression of puzzlement before turning his head back to the others. "Wait, where's Serena? Shouldn't we wait for her to join up with us?" he asked. The others turned their heads to him upon hearing this, before Trevor was the one to speak up.
"She's off spending time with her Pokemon. So I guess that means we'll have to go on inside without her and find out if the rumours about this place are true…" Trevor replied, with an expression of nervousness slowly showing on his face as if the reality of what they were about to do was starting to catch up with him. Shauna didn't seem to take notice of this, though, because she immediately showed a bright smile and nodded in agreement.
"It looks that way." With her excitement for this investigation growing by the minute, Shauna immediately twirled in excitement before she stopped while the others watched her in surprise. "So what are we waiting for, guys? Let's step inside!" Shauna cheered. With the others following her lead, Shauna made her way over to the front door and placed a hand on the door knob before turning it, allowing the door to slowly open and let the group step inside. As they slowly entered the house, they could see that it was surprisingly dark inside, especially considering that it was still late afternoon at the most outside, even with the ongoing torrential downpour. The only source of light in the house was the view of the outside world reflecting through the two windows located in the back area of the house along with a small campfire that was lit up at the back of the house, and the interior seemed to consist of only a small bed, a TV set, a kitchen sink and stove and a cupboard filled with fine cutlery, tableware along with a small table with a pot of flowers beside it and a small table and chair placed in the centre of the house. The group slowly stepped inside to have a look at the surrounding area, noticing just how little there seemed to be of this place. "Hmm… this place looks pretty empty." Shauna commented as she and Calem were walking side by side, while Tierno and Trevor were just behind them.
"Yeah, and it looks like no one has been in here for a really long time." Trevor added, slowly nodding in agreement as he and Tierno were slowly turning their heads around to the interior. Tierno turned his head down to Shauna and Calem as the four stopped in their tracks to try and figure out what was going on with this place.
"I've got to be honest here, guys. For a place called 'The Scary House', this place isn't really that scary at all. I knew they made those rumours up just to try and scare people! It definitely didn't fool me!" Tierno commented, with a bright smile crossing his face. There was silence from the others for a few moments before they started to show bright smiles as well and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, so did I. I didn't put too much stock into those rumours in the first place." Trevor agreed. "Me neither; people will come up with just about anything if it means they can get a good laugh out of scaring others." Calem added, slowly shaking his head as he was starting to wonder just who it was that would make up something like that out of what seemed to only be an abandoned house. Shauna remained silent while they were talking before she let out a soft sigh of relief, to which Calem turned his glance to her.
"Well, that's a relief to hear… I was really looking forward to finding out if those rumours were true, though…" Shauna sighed, feeling a slight hint of disappointment at the fact that she had gotten herself so excited for nothing. Fortunately, this disappointment quickly faded as she showed a bright smile before looking back up to the others. "Well then, since we've confirmed the rumours to be false, let's get out of here!" Shauna stated, and it didn't take long for the others to nod in agreement with her.
"Yeah, good idea. This place was starting to make me feel uneasy…" Trevor nervously agreed, feeling an expression of uncertainty starting to cross his face as he wasn't sure of how long he would want to stay in this abandoned house. Tierno simply showed a bright smile and patted Trevor on the shoulder, causing the latter to let out a scream of alarm before rapidly turning around to notice Tierno standing behind him, and then placing a hand over his chest as he was feeling his heart race from that shock he was given. "Tierno! Don't do that! You gave me a scare!" Trevor snapped, shooting a glare in Tierno's direction while the latter showed a nervous smile.
"S-sorry about that. But on the bright side, we won't need to be in here any longer, so I guess now's a good time to stop thinking about those rumours now." Tierno explained. Trevor showed a smile of relief and nodded in agreement, as he was starting to feel his heart rate return to normal now. So with this, the group of four started to make their way back over to the front door, with Shauna turning her glance over to Calem.
"Hey, Calem?" she asked. Calem turned his head to Shauna in surprise, wondering what was up. "When we get to Laverre City, would you like to come with me to visit the shops there? I heard that Laverre City has a special line of traditional clothing, so I wanted to see what kinds of wardrobe they're selling. And I'm also thinking of paying a visit to the Pokeball Factory that's nearby, so maybe we could do a bit of sightseeing when we get there." Shauna suggested. Calem turned his glance up to think it over for a little bit, with Shauna remaining silent to hear what his response would be, before he turned his head back to her and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! And then after we do all of that, I'll be ready to go for my fifth Gym Badge." Calem replied. Shauna immediately showed a smile of joy at this reply and jumped up in the air from excitement.
"All right! Thanks, Calem!" Shauna cheered before throwing her arms around him while he looked down at her with a smile of amusement. Tierno and Trevor turned their glances to notice the two and couldn't help themselves smiling at each other, noticing just how much the two had been enjoying each other's company ever since they got together. As Tierno approached the front door and was about to touch the doorknob, he was met with a shock as the door slowly started to wobble back and forth like a rippling wave before disappearing right in front of his eyes. Tierno could only stare in stunned silence for a few moments before he immediately took a step back from shock at what he had just witnessed.
"What the…?! How is that even possible?!" Tierno gasped. As soon as the others heard his outburst of shock, they turned their heads to him in surprise to find out what was wrong.
"Tierno? What's wrong?" Calem asked. "What's going on?" Shauna added. Tierno simply stared at the wall in silence as he was starting to shake a little before slowly turned around to face the others, with an expression of anxiety showing on his face.
"G-guys… you're not going to believe what I'm going to say, but…" Tierno fell silent for a few moments before he pointed to the wall where the door used to be. "The door suddenly disappeared!"
"WHAT?!" The others cried in alarm at this exclamation, before turning their heads to each other as they were trying to figure out how that was possible, before Trevor was the one to speak up. "How can that even happen?" he asked. As the group could only stare in silence, Calem slowly walked over to the wall and pressed his hands against it before he let out a gasp and turned his head to the others.
"I think Tierno's right; I can't see the door anywhere!" Calem said. It didn't take long for the others to show matching expressions of worry as Calem slowly backed away from the wall upon realising that Tierno was right.
"So we're trapped in here?" Shauna worriedly asked. "What are we going to do?" Trevor asked. As the group were starting to look around in worry, trying to figure out how they were supposed to get out of the house now, Calem turned his glance down to think this over before he turned around to face the others.
"All right, let's calm down, guys. Let's not get ourselves worked up just yet; I'm sure that someone here is just trying to play a trick on us. Before we try and think about who it could be, we should think about finding a way out of this place." Calem suggested. The others were silent as they were listening to Calem, before Shauna slowly showed a bright smile as she seemed to understand.
"Yeah, that's right! If I know anything about places like this, they're bound to have some kind of hidden door placed around here." Shauna commented. Tierno and Trevor both seemed to realise that she was right and nodded in agreement; now wasn't the time for them to start getting worried about what was happening in this place. Right now, they had to figure out how they were going to find a way to get out of here. So with that set, Shauna showed a confident smile. "So then, let's get searching!" she stated, giving a wink to show her newfound confidence.
So without a moment to spare, the group of four started to search through the house to see if they could find any clues as to how they could get out of there. Calem and Shauna were searching through the kitchen area, Tierno was having a look at the walls to see if he could find anything and Trevor was inspecting the main room. As Trevor was having a look around the main room, he opened his bag up and grabbed out his camera before hanging it around his neck to be on the safe side. "It doesn't look like there's anything here…" Trevor murmured to himself, as he hadn't been successful in finding any way that they could leave the house from where he was. He then walked over to where the fireplace was to have a look around there. While he was busy with that, he didn't notice that his shadow that could be seen on the floor as he was standing in front of the fireplace somehow started to move on its own before it slowly rose up from the floor to hover just behind him, something that Trevor didn't take notice of as he was busy with his investigation. However, after a few seconds, he suddenly started to experiencing a feeling of uneasiness, almost as if there was something watching him without him realising it. As he slowly turned around, he found himself coming face to face with the shadow of a dark figure floating just behind him, prompting him to jump and let out a cry of alarm. Unfortunately, his panic caused the shadow to suddenly drift away and disappear into the wall, while he could only stare in shock before blinking a few times. "W-what… was that…?" Trevor could only ask as he stared in stunned silence, trying to register if what he just saw was even real. As he just stared at the wall in silence, that was when he heard someone call him.
"Hey, Trevor!" Trevor let out a scream of alarm and jumped before he turned his head to see Tierno walking over to him, and the latter showed an expression of surprise before making his way over. "You okay, Trevs? You look like you've seen a ghost." Tierno commented, showing an expression of concern at Trevor's state of panic. After taking a few moments to catch his breath, Trevor let out a sigh of relief before turning his glance up to Tierno.
"Oh… Tierno, it's just you… For a moment there, I thought it actually was a ghost." Trevor sighed. Tierno simply showed a smile of amusement at this comment, but then the sound of something moving in the shadows could suddenly be heard, causing the two to jump in surprise and turn their heads towards the fireplace.
"What was that?" Tierno asked, showing an expression of surprise. The two were then with a shock as the fireplace suddenly went out, leaving the room they were in to be left in complete darkness, and it certainly didn't help that they could then feel what seemed to be a cold wind blow into the room around them. As Tierno and Trevor slowly looked around the room, Terino turned his head to his friend in increasing worry. "Uh… Trevor? Wh-what's happening?" he asked, while Trevor turned his glance up to Tierno before shaking his head.
"I don't know… But I have a feeling that something's watching us…" Trevor nervously replied. This reply didn't seem to help Tierno feel any better; in fact, it always seemed to make matters worse. As the two kept their gaze on the room to see if they could spot what was causing these occurrences, the shadow of a silhouette slowly floated up towards the window, allowing its figure to become visible. Tierno turned his head to notice this, and he nearly jumped before tapping Trevor's shoulder to get his attention. Trevor turned his glance towards his partner, wondering what was wrong, before Tierno pointed toward the window. Trevor turned his head to find out what Tierno had spotted and he let out a gasp of shock at the sight: there was a figure floating in front of the window, and it just seemed to stay there watching the two as they looked at it in increasing panic.
"Ooh… w-w-what is that?" Tierno worriedly asked, pointing at the figure as he and Trevor were starting to shake from fright. Trevor couldn't find a way to give an answer, as he was just as clueless about this as Tierno was. Getting an idea, Trevor brought his camera upwards to snap a picture of the figure. The figure continued to watch the two for a little, before it immediately lunged at them, causing the two to let out matching screams of panic before running straight out of the room to try and find Calem and Shauna.
Meanwhile with the pair in question, they were inspecting the cupboard before they could suddenly hear the sound of two screams and turned their heads to each other. "Did you hear that?" Shauna asked, showing an expression of alarm.
"Yeah; that sounded like it was Tierno and Trevor!" Calem replied, nodding in confirmation. Without a moment to spare, the two started to rush over towards the room Tierno and Trevor were searching, only to be met with the sight of the pair running over to them with matching expressions of panic before stopping to catch their breaths. "Woah… what's gotten into you two?" Calem asked as he and Shauna could only stare in surprise at the sight of the two almost out of breath. After a few more moments to catch their breaths, Tierno and Trevor turned their heads up to the two.
"Guys… you're not gonna believe this… there was this figure… watching us… in the other room…" Tierno gasped. Calem and Shauna both showed matching expressions of surprise at this explanation. "What are you talking about? There's no one else here besides us." Calem replied, placing his hands against his hips while Shauna simply nodded in agreement with him. Since he had a feeling that they would be sceptical, Trevor lifted his camera up.
"I'll show you what we mean." Trevor said. With this, he turned the camera around to show the screen where the photos could be seen and the others leaned over to have a closer look. Sure enough, the image of the last photo Trevor had taken appeared on the screen… and it happened to show the figure in front of the window! As soon as Calem and Shauna saw this, they both showed matching expressions of shock.
"There's someone there! But… what could that be?" Calem asked, looking down at the picture in bewilderment. Unfortunately, seeing that picture seemed to be more than enough to convince Shauna, as she had an expression of worry on her face as she looked back up at Tierno and Trevor.
"You guys need to show us where you saw this!" she gasped. Tierno and Trevor promptly nodded in understanding, so without a moment to spare, they made their way back to the room they had been in, with Calem and Shauna following not too far behind them. But as the four arrived inside, they found that the figure was nowhere to be seen. Noticing this, Trevor showed an expression of puzzlement.
"This doesn't make sense… It was floating just in front of that window, and the fireplace went out while it was here." Trevor said, pointing to the window while he and Tierno spotted the figure before scratching his head in bewilderment as he was trying to make sense of what was going on. Shauna started to shake in worry as she was listening to this, something Calem took notice of as he turned his glance to her in concern. But before he could have a chance to ask her what was wrong, she immediately spoke up.
"Guys… do you think… there could be a ghost here?" she worriedly asked. Calem showed an expression of surprise at this question, while Tierno immediately ran over to the nearby wall.
"Well, I don't want to stick around long enough to find out! We've got to find a way out of here." Tierno blurted. As he leaned against the wall, he was met with a shock as a part of the wall seemed to open up and he was sent tumbling into a hidden room before the wall closed, causing the others to stare in shock at the sight.
"Tierno!" The three gasped in unison. Without a moment to spare, the three started to run over to the wall, but they were stopped by the figure suddenly appearing in front of them. As Calem and Trevor stared in shock, Shauna showed no hesitance in pressing herself against Calem for protection, to which he immediately responded by wrapping his arms around her while she held on tight to his jacket. There was silence as the figure watched them before letting out a mischievous laugh, to which the three could only stare in silence.
"This is really starting to creep me out…" Trevor nervously commented as he and Shauna started to show matching expressions of worry seeing the figure simply standing there and watching them. After what seemed like forever seemed to go by, Calem showed a firm expression before he was the one to speak up.
"All right, who are you? And why are you playing these tricks on us?" he asked. The figure remained silent for a few moments before it let out another laugh and then turned around and disappeared into the wall, much to the group's surprise as they watched on. "Whatever it is we're dealing with, it really looks like it's having fun with this…" Calem commented, while Shauna started to let go of his jacket once she took notice of the fact that the figure had disappeared. Once they saw that nothing was in their way now, the three rushed over to the wall that Tierno had been leaning against.
"Tierno? Are you there? Can you hear us?" Shauna asked, pressing an ear to try and see if she could hear Tierno's voice on the other side. Unfortunately, she couldn't hear any answer and she slowly stepped away from the wall in worry. "Guys… I can't hear him. You don't think that… he's been abducted?!" Shauna cried. As soon as she realised what she just said, she immediately let out a gasp of alarm. "Oh no! What if this is the ghost of someone who used to live in this house, but then some kind of tragedy took place and now it wants to haunt anyone who comes in here? First it took Tierno… what if it comes after the rest of us?!" Her explanation didn't seem to do much to help matters in the slightest, as Calem could only stare in shock while Trevor immediately felt chills crawl up his skin. Luckily, Calem was the first of the two to recover as he walked over to Shauna, taking notice of her increasing worry, while she turned her glance up to him as he stopped in front of her.
"Then that means we'll need to find a way out of this place before it does, but not before we find Tierno. Besides, there's still the three of us; I'm sure that whoever it is that thinks pulling these kinds of stunts is funny, they'll have another thing coming so long as we find it before it finds us." Calem explained, showing a reassuring smile at Shauna to try and let her know that they would be okay. Shauna slowly showed a small smile at this and nodded in agreement.
"Okay… I hope you're right, Calem." Shauna quietly replied. Calem simply nodded at this reply, so the three started to walk away to see if they could find another way to catch up with Tierno. "I hope we'll be able to find a way to catch up with Tierno. I mean, what other traps could this place possibly have?" Shauna asked. Little did she realise that she would regret asking this question, as the figure was watching the now group of three, before making its way to the cupboard and opening its doors to see a button placed in the very back of the cupboard before pressing it, setting off an alarm.
From where they were, the group immediately stopped in their tracks upon hearing the alarm and looked around in surprise. "You guys hear that?" Calem asked. As the three were turning their heads back and forth to see if they could figure out where that alarm came from, Trevor was met with a shock as he felt like he was standing on mid-air. He slowly looked down to find out why that was… only to be met with the sight of the floor having opened up under his feet. Once this registered in his head, he let out a scream as he dropped into the hole while Calem and Shauna watched in alarm. "Trevor!" Calem gasped. He and Shauna immediately started to run over to the hole, but it didn't take long for it to close up again, leaving the two staring in shock before they turned their glances to each other. "Now Trevor's gone too…" Calem nervously commented; it was safe to say that these mysterious occurrences were starting to put him on edge as well. As Shauna bent down to look at the area where the hole had appeared, an expression of worry slowly crossed her face as she stood up and started to back away towards Calem.
"That leaves just us…" Shauna worriedly added. Just then, the sound of a laugh echoed through the house, prompting Shauna to jump from panic before running over to Calem. "And it sounds like it might come after us next! Calem, what do we do?" she asked, turning her glance to him with an expression of worry. Calem was silent for a few moments before an expression of determination crossed his face and he placed his hands against Shauna to hold her close to him.
"Don't worry, Shauna. If that… thing finds us, I'll make sure it doesn't get you. Even if I get taken, the only thing that matters to me is making sure you're safe." Calem calmly replied. Shauna slowly showed a grateful smile at this reply, but even with having each other for protection, the two couldn't help themselves worrying about where Tierno and Trevor were, and what had happened to them.
Meanwhile, down in what seemed to be an underground area of the house, Tierno was slowly making his way down what seemed to be a very long hallway; he could see that there was nothing around him except the walls and the long tunnelway leading forward. "Man, what kind of place is this? How is there even a tunnel like this underneath such a small house?" Tierno wondered, scratching his head in puzzlement as he was trying to make sense of what he was seeing. But then, he could suddenly hear the sound of someone screaming and stopped in his tracks. "Huh? What's that?" As he turned his glance back and forth in surprise, that was when he figured out that the scream could be heard from above and he looked up… to be met with Trevor plummeting down towards him.
"Incoming!" Trevor warned. Tierno started flailing his arms in panic at the sight before he scattered out of the way, leaving Trevor to crash onto the floor while Tierno simply watched in silence. After a few moments passed, Trevor slowly sat up and started to rub his head. "Ow… that landing was harder than I thought it'd be…" Trevor groaned, turning his glance upwards to try and gain some idea of his bearings. While he was occupied with that, Tierno quickly showed a bright smile upon seeing him.
"Trevor! It's great to see you! How did you get down here?" Tierno asked. As Trevor slowly stood up, he turned around in surprise and was met with Tierno standing right behind him, showing a bright smile as he was thrilled to see that Trevor was here too.
"Tierno! You're down here too?" Trevor asked. Tierno nodded in reply as Trevor started to brush off any dust from his clothes after the hard landing. "Yeah. It turns out that wall led into a secret room, so I thought I'd look for a way out and find where the others were, but it turns out there's nothing but this long hallway! I've actually lost track of how far I've been walking down this hallway." Tierno explained. As Trevor turned his head to Tierno, he showed an expression of surprise.
"There's a secret room here? Do you think it could lead us out of this place?" Trevor asked. Tierno turned his glance up to think it over, but before he could give an answer, the sound of a laugh could suddenly be heard echoing through the hallway, causing the two to stare in shock. "Did you hear that?" Trevor worriedly asked, with Tierno simply nodding in agreement. As the two slowly looked around as they were wondering where the laughter was coming from, they were met with a shock as the figure that had been watching them since they arrived suddenly appeared in front of them, and it seemed to be in the shape of a chandelier floating just in front of them. There was silence for a few moments as Tierno and Trevor stared at the figure in worry, the two of them slightly shaking in worry, before light purple flames that were light blue near the end started to light up on each of its arms, and bright pupil-less yellow eyes shone in the darkness to watch them while they could only stare in shock. After a few moments, the figure flew past them before disappearing into the wall, while Tierno and Trevor stared in silence before turning their heads to each other. "What… was that?" Tierno asked.
Trevor grabbed out his Pokedex to have a look for himself and it didn't take long for the image of the figure they had seen to appear on the screen for him and Tierno to see. "Look at this! That figure we've been seeing since we arrived… looks like a Chandelure." Trevor commented. As he had a look at the Pokedex entry, it didn't take long for an expression of intense anxiety to cross his face, while Tierno simply stared at his friend in surprise.
"What? What's wrong, Trevs?" Tierno asked, showing an expression of concern. Trevor didn't give any kind of response; instead, he simply pointed to the Pokedex screen. Tierno leaned over to have a look at the screen and it didn't take long for him to spot what it was that had Trevor shaking so much: Chandelure's Pokedex entry. The entry in question read as follows:
Chandelure, the Luring Pokemon. The spirits burned up in its ominous flame lose their way and wander this world forever.
There was nothing but silence for what seemed to be an eternity as the two stared at the entry in shock, before they slowly turned to each other. "Trevs… a-are you s-seeing t-this…?" Tierno shakily asked, slowly pointing at the Pokedex screen as he was turning his attention back to the entry. Trevor slowly nodded in agreement, as he was starting to shiver in fright almost as much as Tierno was. Needless to say, seeing that one entry seemed to be a discovery that they regretted making immediately, as it meant they had a huge problem to worry about, and the only thing they knew for certain was that they had to get out before that Chandelure found them. So that in mind, there was only one course of action they had in mind.
"Let's run!" Tierno blurted. Trevor promptly nodded in agreement with this idea, so without a moment to spare, the two started to rush off down the hallway to avoid getting caught by the Chandelure.
Back with Calem and Shauna, the two of them were keeping a lookout for any signs of the figure that had been picking each of them off one by one. Shauna felt herself starting to shake slightly as she was showing an expression of worry, while Calem was turning his glance around the room to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. After a few moments passed, Calem showed a bright smile before turning his glance to Shauna. "I don't see anything. It looks like that thing finally decided to leave us alone." Calem commented. When Shauna heard this, she showed a smile of relief before letting out a sigh.
"Thank goodness… now we just need to figure out how we're going to find Tierno and Trevor so we can get out of here." Shauna replied. However, neither of the two seemed to realise just how wrong they were, as the Chandelure was watching them from behind the curtains of one of the windows, and it seemed to have an idea as it watched the two, knowing exactly what move it was going to pull now. Calem and Shauna didn't notice this, though, as they had their priorities focused elsewhere. "I just hope nothing bad has happened to them…" Shauna added, showing an expression of concern as she was wondering what had happened to Tierno and Trevor.
"Yeah, so do I. I'm sure those two are handling themselves, though." Calem replied. Shauna nodded in agreement as he had a feeling that she was right about that. Just then, the sound of a laugh could suddenly be heard echoing through the room causing Calem and Shauna to jump from surprise. "What was that?" Calem asked, turning his glance back and forth rapidly while Shauna rushed over to him before grabbing hold of his arm tightly. As the two were looking around to try and figure out where that laugh was coming from, Shauna was in for a shock as she suddenly felt herself being lifted up into the air, causing her to scream in alarm and start flailing her legs rapidly.
"AAAHHH! What's going on?! Help!" Shauna cried. Upon hearing her screams of panic, Calem quickly turned around to find her being lifted up in the air by an invisible force. "Shauna!" Calem gasped, with an expression of shock crossing his face upon realising that she was in danger. As Shauna looked down to see Calem staring in shock, she then turned her glance to the force lifting her up, shooting a glare at whatever it could be.
"Put me down, whatever it is you are! If you've done something bad to our friends, I'll teach you a lesson for it!" Shauna snapped. As she watched the force lifting her, she was met with a surprise as the figure slowly made itself visible, and she let out a gasp of surprise upon seeing it was. "A Chandelure?" she asked. Chandelure simply let out a laugh at its own mischief before making its way over to the nearby wall, dragging Shauna along with it. "Calem, help!" Shauna called, reaching her arms out to Calem while he watched in alarm.
"Don't worry, Shauna! I'll get you down!" Calem replied. Without a moment to spare, he gave chase after the Chandelure before managing to catch up with Shauna and grabbing hold of her hands. Unfortunately, it seemed that Chandelure was stronger than the two expected it to be, as it was able to carry the both of them without any visible strain. As Calem and Shauna watched on in shock, Chandelure vanished into the wall, taking them with it.
Back with Tierno and Trevor, the two were continuing their run down the hallway to avoid getting caught by the Chandelure before it found them. However, the two were met with a shock as the Chandelure suddenly appeared through the wall in front of them with Calem and Shauna in tow, prompting the two to stop dead in their tracks from surprise. "Calem! Shauna! You made it here too?" Tierno asked.
Calem and Shauna both turned their glances to see their friends standing there and it didn't take long for them to show matching smiles of relief that they were alright. "Guys! You're okay!" Shauna exclaimed. "We wanted to make sure that figure chasing us down didn't find you. Unfortunately, it looks like it found us first." Calem commented. He and Shauna then turned their glances up to the Chandelure, who turned around to face them before tossing the two towards where Tierno and Trevor were, leaving them to land on the floor just in front of them. As Tierno and Trevor watched in alarm, Calem and Shauna quickly stood up before they turned around to see the Chandelure floating over towards them, to which the group of four could only watch in increasing worry.
"Oh, this is bad… What are we going to do, guys?" Tierno asked, turning his glance to the others to see if they had any ideas. After a few moments, Calem slowly started to make his way over to the Chandelure, to which Shauna showed an expression of shock before running over to him and grabbing his arm to stop him, to which he turned his head to her.
"No! Calem, stop! We don't know what that thing wants to do to us." Shauna stated, showing an expression of worry. Calem let out a sigh as he knew that Shauna was right, before turning around to face her. "I know. But we won't know for sure what will happen unless we find out." Calem replied. Shauna was silent for a few moments before she slowly nodded in understanding. Calem showed a small smile at this gesture, and he was about to continue walking before Shauna spoke up again.
"Calem?" she asked. Calem stopped in his tracks and turned his head to Shauna in surprise, wondering what was up. There was silence for a few moments from Shauna before she spoke again. "Be careful." Calem simply showed a bright smile at her concern before nodding in understanding. So with this, he made his way over to the Chandelure floating in front of the group, while the others watched in uncertainty.
"All right, you. Just what do you want? And why have you been messing with us like this? Why do you consider it okay to scare us like the way you've been doing?" Calem asked. There was silence for a few moments as Calem and the Chandelure stared at each other, while the others could only watch in increasing worry, and then they were met with a surprise as the Chandelure started to laugh.
"Huh? Is it… laughing at us?" Trevor asked, as he and the others could only turn their glances to each other in surprise. Calem didn't seem too thrilled by this, as he crossed his arms with an expression of annoyance. "What's so funny? We've been scared stiff this entire night! What do you find about it so amusing?" Calem questioned. The Chandelure simply continued laughing for a few moments before it flew over the group's heads and started to head down the hallway, while the group could only stare in surprise.
"Where's it going?" Shauna asked. "Well, wherever it's heading, I guess this means we better follow it." Trevor replied. So with this, the group started to make their way through the hallway to follow Chandelure, and figure out where it was leading them. After a few minutes of walking, the group soon came to a small room: they could see that it seemed to be remotely empty, with no visible items in sight. The group could only look around the room in surprise, taking notice of just how desolate it seemed to be.
"Oh.. the place looks pretty empty here, doesn't it?" Tierno asked. Noticing the Chandelure floating just in front of them, Calem walked over to it while the others followed in surprise. "Why did you bring us down here?" he asked. Chandelure turned around to face the group, before turning its glance over to a door at the end of the room, which the group were quick to take notice of.
"What could that door be doing here?" Trevor asked, pointing at the door in surprise. Figuring that it would be best to find out, Calem slowly walked over to have a closer look and pressed his hand against it. Upon seeing that it was indeed real, he then grabbed the door knob and opened the door to reveal that it was leading outside. Once he saw this, Calem showed a big smile before turning his glance to the others.
"Guys, we can get out through this way! This door leads outside!" Calem stated. The others immediately showed matching smiles of delight at this news, since it meant that they could finally leave this house.
"All right!" Shauna cheered, leaping up into the air from excitement. "That means we can finally get out of here!" Tierno happily commented. "I didn't feel like staying in this place for much longer myself." Trevor added. So with this, the group started to make their way over to the door so they could step inside, but before they could do that, they turned around to face the Chandelure watching them.
"I don't get it, though. How come you were pulling all of those stunts on us to scare us? You were just trying to have some fun with your new guests, weren't you?" Calem asked. Chandelure simply nodded in confirmation, to which the group couldn't help showing matching smiles of amusement. "Well, I think it's safe to say that it worked. You really helped make our visit an interesting one." Calem replied.
"We'll make sure to visit again sometime." Shauna said. "But the next time we come, please don't pull any of those crazy stunts again. They were more than I could handle for one night." Tierno added, showing a nervous smile. "Yeah, me too. I don't know if I'd be able to handle something like that again." Trevor agreed, slowly nodding.
Chandelure simply nodded in understanding as if to say that it would keep that tip in mind. So with this, the group slowly stepped out through the door to head back into the outside world. Once they found themselves back in the swampy area that was leading towards Laverre City, they could see the rain clouds were starting to clear up. As Shauna turned her glance up to the sky, she quickly showed a big smile. "Guys, look at that!" she cheered, pointing upwards. The others looked up with her to see that the clouds were clearing up and they could see the morning sun shining brightly in the sky. "Wow… it's not very often that we can see the sun in this area." Shauna commented, staring up at the sky with a smile of awe. As the others nodded in agreement, they could suddenly hear a voice calling them.
"Guys! Hey, guys!" The group turned their heads to see Serena running over to where they were, so they made their way over to her while she stopped in her tracks. "Oh, morning, Serena! It's great to see you finally caught up." Shauna happily commented.
"There you are, guys! I've been looking for you all night! What happened to you guys? Did you find out about whether or not the rumours about the Scary House were true?" Serena asked; judging from the expression of worry on her face, it was clear to see that she had been afraid that something had happened to the group while she was gone. The group turned their glances to each other before they looked back to Serena, all of them showing bright smiles.
"Well, it's quite a story, Serena. We'll tell you all about it on the way to Laverre City." Calem replied. Serena showed a smile of excitement in response, as she was looking forward to finding out what had happened to the group during their visit. So with this, the group started to make their way towards the path that would lead them to Laverre City.
It was safe to say that for Calem and the others, it had been quite an eventful night at the Scary House, and as much as they couldn't believe that they were thinking this, they were eagerly awaiting their next visit. And that time, everyone would be here to enjoy the fun.