Aaaand I am back with the second chapter! Enjoy you guys! :D
Chapter 2: Curiosity Cursed The Absol
Brittle leaves that covered the ground crunched under three pairs of footsteps as Light, Sonic, and Mega Man made their way into the woods on the chase for their stolen sweets. The blue hedgehog and robot followed the absol as she continued to track the scents of Ashley and their candy. The bright glow of the full moon lit their way for the first minute or two, but it wasn't long until it started to dim down the further they trekked in. Light took notice to this and came to an abrupt stop, prompting Sonic to nearly walk right into her.
"What's wrong? Why're we stopping?" He asked.
"I can barely see out here." Light answered, looking upwards at the trees. Whatever remaining leaves that still clung to the branches were blocking out the moonlight, leaving the rest of the woods shrouded in darkness. "I still have the scent trail but I'm not gonna be able to see what's in front of us, like rocks, bushes, or trees."
"Hm." Sonic hummed thoughtfully as he tapped at his chin. "Did we bring any flashlights with us?"
"No, but...Oh wait!" Light perked up with realization and reached to her side where she had her plastic wizard staff strapped her her cloak. At the end of the staff was a little reddish plastic orb. "We have this! The orb at the end lights up when you flip the switch. We can use this to help us see." As she finished her sentence, rustling noises sounded behind them as Mega Man finally pushed his way through the brambles and bushes and joined the two.
"Jeez, it's almost impossible to walk in these woods." He mumbled, shaking leaves and twigs off his foot. Sonic and Light took notice of the slight glow illuminating from the robot's eyes.
"Hey, we can use Mega Man's eye-lights as well!" The hedgehog added, nudging his friend forward next to the absol, and took the plastic staff in his hands. He flipped a switch on the side of the staff and it quickly shined a bright red. "Alright! Light, Mega, lead the way!" The other two gave a simultaneous nod and the trio continued on their way into the woods as Light picked up the scent tail once more.
"Hey, I see something up ahead." Light spoke up, causing Sonic and Mega Man to come to a stop next to her. About a few yards ahead of them, a faint glimmer of light could be seen through the foliage among the darkness. The trio kept their eyes glued to the little light as they started to take slow and cautious steps in it's direction. As they drew closer, it grew large and brighter and soon revealed itself to have been coming from inside a shed, cascading from the windows. Light, Sonic, and Mega Man relaxed a bit at the sight of the familiar shed, but still kept their guard up as they approached it.
"The scents are a little stronger now." Light stated. "She's gotta be here."
"So Ashley stole our candy and is hiding in the shed out in the middle of the woods?" Mega Man said, looking confused and scratching at his head. "I still don't understand why she would be doing this."
"Well, only one way to find out." Sonic spoke up as he clicked off the light on the staff. "Let's check it out." He motioned for them to follow as he walked around the old shed with Light and Mega Man right behind him. The three circled the perimeter of the small building until they reached a window where the light inside shone the brightest. Keeping as low as they could to stay out of sight, they peered right inside and took in the sight before them.
Two large lanterns were placed at the center of the room, giving off enough light to see. Various glass bottles, beakers, and measuring cups littered the wooden floor with an empty milk carton and a smashed pumpkin strewn in a far corner. In the far left of the room sat a portable stove with a small pot sitting atop of it. A soft orange-ish liquid simmered inside as none-other-than Ashley sat cross-legged next to it, her eyes focused on a large book and the three stolen pillowcases of candy resting next to her.
Now total bewilderment washed over the trio as the whole scene raised more questions than answers. "What is going on?" Mega Man wondered aloud, pressing his face against the glass with narrowed eyes. "What is she even making and why did she steal our candy for it?" As if to answer his question, Ashley placed her book down and stood up, grabbing on of the cases and proceeded to pour all of the candy into the pot, the various sweets dissolving in the liquid. A slight stab of surprise and alarm now struck the three.
"Sh-she's using all of our candy!" Light stuttered out in disbelief. "We gotta do something before it's all gone!"
"Alright, we're crashing this party." Sonic declared and started to open the window with a determined gleam in his green eyes.
Back inside the shed, Ashley dumped the last of the stolen candy into the pot and tossed the empty pillowcases to the side with the rest of the scattered mess around her. Completely unaware to the two Smashers and Rescuer climbing in from the window behind her, she stirred the simmering contents inside the pot with a wooden spoon and watched as the color changed from a soft pale orange to a glowing lavender color.
"It's done." The young witch said quietly with a small smile. Placing the spoon down, she grabbed the handles at the side of the pot and began to poor the liquid into a glass bottle placed at her side. As she filled it to the brim, Sonic walked right up and stopped a few feet behind her, crossing his arms in front of his chest and tapping his foot with a displeased expression as he watched.
"Mind explainin' to us what's going on here?" He finally spoke up, catching Ashley by surprise. She gasped and jumped at the sudden sound of his voice and dropped the pot from her hands, it's contents now spilled all over the floor.
Dang it! She said to herself upon seeing the spilled mess, but quickly took her attention away from it and toward the blue hedgehog as Light and Mega Man now joined him and stood at his sides. All three looked very, very miffed.
"U-Uhh..." She mumbled in a shaky voice but quickly collected herself and turned to fully face them. "It's none of your business!" She told them with defiance edging her voice.
"Uh, I think it is our business if you stole our candy for...whatever it is you're doing." Mega Man shot back then motioned toward the mess. "What are you even doing?"
"I'm making something." Ashley replied simply, her arms now crossed.
"Like?" Sonic replied.
"Something you wouldn't understand."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
"Can you just tell us already?!" Mega Man interjected in slight frustration. "And how did you even take our candy anyway, we saw you go toward the courtyard back at the Mansion!"
"I hid in the bushes." Ashley answered nonchalantly.
While the little squabble had been initiated between the three, Light drew her attention away and focused on the little bottle of the glowing lavender liquid. Tilting her head and looking back at the others as they tried to reason with the witch, she stealthily walked away from them and approached the bottle. Sitting back on her haunches, she picked up the bottle and inspected it with squinted eyes. She swirled it around and watched as what looked like little shimmering sparkles rose up from the liquid. Now fully intrigued, Light lowered it and smelled the strange contents. An extremely sweet and pleasant scent hit her nose and her red eyes widened and shined with an impressed gleam.
Now even more curious, Light glanced back at Sonic and Mega Man as they continued to attempt to reason with Ashley. Seeing as no one was paying any attention, she tilted the bottle ever so slightly until the lavender liquid was near the nozzle and stuck in a claw and dipped in. Retracting it, she took a hesitant, but experimental taste and the weird drink. Her eyes now glowed and a small smile spread across her muzzle as a delicious taste spread across her tongue. With very little thought or control in her mind, Light wasted no time to pour about half of the bottle into her mouth and drank it down.
"Guys!" She finally announced, addressing the others and interrupting their argument. raising up the half-empty bottle with a wide smile. "This stuff's actually pretty good! I'm honestly not even mad about the candy anymore." Questioning looks spread across Sonic's and Mega Man's faces, but pure panic flashed across Ashley's wide eyes.
"No! Don't drink-" She didn't have time to finish her sentence when Sonic swiftly sped up next to the absol and took the bottle in his hand. Just like Light, he tipped a little bit of the liquid into his mouth and tasted it.
Surprised by it's flavor, he smiled as well. "Whoa! That was good!" Mega Man glanced at Ashley as she now buried her face in her hands and then looked back at his friends with growing concern. "Uh guys, I don't think-"
Once more, Sonic proceeded to drink the rest of bottle with little control before the robot could his sentence. With the glass bottle now empty, the absol and hedgehog rejoined the other two and approached the young witch. "Really though, what was stuff?" Light asked curiously.
Ashley removed her hands from her face and pinched the ridge of her nose. "A big mistake."
"Wha-?" Sonic began to ask, but immediately went silent as both he and Light suddenly froze up, their eyes widening. Pain shot through their bodies and they doubled over as it increased. Soon a bright, purple-ish light surrounded their bodies and proceeded to shine brighter and brighter until they were completely shrouded by it. Mega Man could only stand stiffly and looked on in horror as this happened, eyes wide and mouth agape. Ashley, on the other hand, only stood and watched with a deadpanned expression, as if looking at someone who clumsily broke something.
A few more seconds passed until the glowing light began to die down until it was now completely gone. Once it did, Light slouched and swayed on her paws before collapsing on the ground. "Aaauuugh, Arceus..." She groaned in pain as she rolled over on her side and lifted her head. "What the hell was that?" Blinking her eyes, she squinted at Mega Man and Ashley and took notice that they both had their eyes focused on something behind them. Confused, Light twisted her head to follow their eyes sight and gave a loud, flabbergasted gasp. Sonic was, shockingly, in his werehog form, his costume ripped and ruined from his growth in size. He rubbing and shaking his head and opened his eyes, but once seeing that the other three had their gazes glued to him, he lowered his hand.
"What?" He asked in confusion. "What are you guys looking at? Do I have something on my-" Sonic cut himself off when to took notice of his hand, which was now larger and had claws. Eyes widening in disbelief, he inspected the rest of his large and darker colored body. "You gotta be kidding me, again?!"
And that wraps up this chapter! I also got a little announcement about the updating schedule of this story. I've deciding to update this story every other day so I could pace myself with typing it out and not rush myself since the chapters from here on out will be bit lengthy. Also, in the Author's Note from the first chapter, I said I had five chapters planned. Weelll, after a bit of a change on how I wanted to pace out the first two chapters, there's now going to be six chapters. I also apologize if this chapter was a little short because of this. *sweatdrop* But, there's now six chapters planned for this story, so look forward to that!
That's it for now, so I'll see you guys on Saturday for the next chapter! See ya!
