Chapter 38: Mismatch duo
"It's quite remarkable how Ms. Kristy can manage to remain calm in this terrifying situation, quite remarkable for a female.", Dex commented after seeing Kristy walking into the light.
"Her tenacity surpasses fear.", Eidolon replied.
The faces in the pillar of light started to spin faster and the furniture were trembling like an earthquake was shaking the entire house. When the gang thought the worse was about to come, the entire room went into complete darkness and silence.
"It's over?? What happened??", Jill asked but, except Archon, no one could see a thing.
After a few minutes the wall lamps went on and everyone could see again.
"That's better.", Dex noted.
Kristy was standing save and well in the middle of the hall, staring straight toward the ceiling. She looked down, then toward the gang still standing at the front door.
"That was… impressive.", she commented with a neutral voice.
"Finally found the power source of this theatrical farce.", Shadow chimed in as he was standing on the back of a cough holding two plugs in his hand. "This house is one huge carnival attraction. There are hundreds of projectors beaming different kinds of illusions, not only in this but in many other rooms."
Archon flew immediately toward Kristy to make sure she was all right. "Gorgeous, you gave me quite a scare."
"Sorry about that, Archon. I just had to be sure it wasn't real and find a way to stop it, even though the light was so beautiful.", she said while staring toward the ceiling again as a smile curled on her lips. "In the end Shadow was clever enough to solve the mystery."
"Hm, I could have done the same.", Archon said with clear jealousy in his voice.
"Good evening, visitors.", an unfamiliar male voice suddenly resounded through the hall. The group looked around to see a young adult human standing at the top of the stairs. He was wearing casual clothing, no Halloween costume and a dark chao was sitting on his left shoulder. He came down the stair with a passive look on his face. "We welcome you all in the mansion of Mirage. My name is Daemian Gustav Snyder, the current owner and this is my best friend Seth."
He halted five feet away from Kristy. "My name is Kristy Wildman and this…"
"Kobal saw chao.", rhe chao said as he stepped next to her pointing with enthusiasm.
"Is Kobal.", Kristy changed the end of her sentence.
"Yes Kobal, it's true that you saw a chao watching us through the window.", Kristy told him finally convinced of this odd coincidence. "So, it was…."
"He will answer to me.", Shadow said as he charged toward Daemian, ready to attack him.
"Hold it!!", Kristy commanded as she grabbed Shadow by his cape, preventing him from going any closer. He struggled to break free as Kristy continued talking to him. "Calm down, there is no need to get violent. It was all part of Halloween."
"We shall see about that.", he replied while crossing his arms in frustration.
Minutes later they were all gathered by a big fireplace in the living room where Daemian was talking about his family history or at least he tried despite the constant interruptions.
"Wait, it was all a trick??", Jill asked with disbelief.
"Nothing to feel embarrassed about.", Dex said while giving his glasses a quick polish. "It was a very, very neat trick."
"You knew from the beginning that it was all a trick, right gorgeous??", Archon asked as he was sitting laid-back on Kristy's lap. She didn't find it bothersome, but slightly blatant from the bat chao's part.
After taking a zip from her tea she replied: "I had my suspicions and I also did some research a few years back after hearing so many rumours about this mansion. One thing I didn't mention is that the original owner of this house, Minutiae Mirage, was an illusionist, the best of his time. It's quite logical that he would bring his work home."
"You keep too many important details to yourself.", Shadow pointed out just like she previously didn't mention chaperoning a dark chao gang.
He was sitting on the armrest of the same chair listening to the conversation.
"Well, I didn't want to spoil the Halloween night by saying that this house as a sham. Secondly, I thought it wouldn't be necessary since I told you all to wait outside."
"That was before we saw you fall into that trap.", Archon said. "We were urged to break that promise."
"Right…", Kristy admitted. "But we better listen to what Daemian has to say, shall we??"
"My uncle, actually my great-uncle, was indeed that great illusionist you just mentioned.", Daemian continued. "He spent a great part of his fortune building this very unique house and of course, Halloween was his favourite holiday. The one day of the year that those who presume themselves as daredevils would venture into a 'haunted' house."
"What about you?? You don't sound like you're from around here.", Kristy said after noticing Daemian's foreign accent.
He chuckled briefly. "That's right. Seth and I are from the Mid-East continent. Because of the war afflicting my country, it took a while for the news about my great-uncle's death to arrive. It seems that he made the necessary arrangements for me to put the conflicts behind me and start a new life in a more peaceful place."
"Even with the war, it must be hard to leave your loved ones behind and come here.", Kristy said.
Daemian looked down at the fireplace, gazing at the way the flames were rising up and dancing. "By the time I flee my country, there was no one left. The war took them all away.", he finally said.
"Sorry to hear that. I hope you achieve what your uncle had planned for you. I can tell you right now that our city is built upon the ideals of peace and tolerance."
Jill came sitting next to Daemian on the armrest with a very important question burning on her lips.
"It's all a scam, right?? That sinister guy in the painting wasn't real, right??"
"Not real and completely harmless, same goes for the masked man with the axe.", Daemian reassured to Dex and Eidolon. "You took quite scare back then, didn't you?? Sorry about that. Hope there are no hard feelings."
"I'll be ok. I'm sure we can become good friends. New friends in a new place.", Jill said until her eyes fell upon Seth, who was sitting quietly and even more secluded than Shadow, so she decided to greet him. "Hey Seth, I'm Jill. Nice meeting you."
Kobal rudely jumped on Daemian's lap to come as close as possible to Seth. "Kobal happy to meet you too. Kobal nice chao, Kobal friend."
Seth in return was so overwhelmed that he moved back until he fell off his side of the armrest. "I… wow, au."
"Seth, you're ok??", Daemian asked as he scooped him of the floor. The chao nodded quietly while rubbing the back of his head.
"I'm sorry. Seth gets a bit nervous around so many chao. Everything's so new and different for him."
"We are all dark chao, so relax.", Jill said.
"Since… you uncovered the mystery of the Minutiae mansion, you're allowed to see how the illusion comes to life.", he said as he stood up placing Seth on his shoulder.
The group left the living room and followed Daemian through a few corridors until they were standing in front of a wall with no painting or any other decorations. He removed a huge medallion hanging under his shirt and placed it less than an inch away from the wall. Mysterious lines of light suddenly lightened up on the wall illustrating a door with four diagonal lines coming together to a circle in the centre. When the circle was visible, Daemian pushed the medallion on it and the secret entrance finally opened. Daemian stepped aside allowing the others to go in first. The chao gang rushed in first, while Kristy waited a bit.
"Quite original locking system.", she said before walking in.
They entered what looked like the control room of a television studio with a wall filled with monitors, showing different rooms inside the house and even some parts of the garden, like the path going from the gate to front door.
Dex was first to take a close look. His eyes studied every button on the control panel, in a half circle design, going around a single chair and he also checked every single monitor.
"Amazing. The house looks shabby and neglected on the outside, but inside this single room it's all state of the art technology. Monitors are connected to cameras hidden all over the house. This panel is linked to a main computer."
"The computer is programmed to automatically do all the work.", Daemian added.
"Wow… fascinating!!!", the genius chao replied as he continued browsing around.
"I still have a lot to learn about the controls. Once the program starts running I can't stop it."
"This room is the control centre of the coolest shenanigans generator ever.", Archon said while Dex started to test a few holograms.
After a few minutes of browsing Kristy left the secret room to make a call on her cell phone and in the meantime Daemian staid behind with the gang.
"Dex sure is euphoric when it comes to technological things.", he commented to Jill as the others were too busy checking out the control panel.
"Oh yes, a complete computer geek. That's why he's the gang's genius.", Jill replied.
"So, all of you are Ms. Kristy's chao??"
"Only for tonight. Well, she's our Halloween chaperone. Only Shadow is officially her chao."
"The one with the red streaks on his quills, wearing the cloak??"
"Aha…" Jill nodded.
"Doesn't look like it, he's so… serious. He and Ms. Kristy are a complete mismatch."
'The same thing could be said about him and Seth.', Jill thought. She didn't say it out loud not wanting to risk offending anyone.
"Even Archon is a lot more affectionate toward Ms. Wildman.", he added in the end.
Hearing that comment about Archon's gallant behaviour made her blood boil. "He's affectionate alright. To every single female he lays eyes on." Her voice resounding how fumed she was.
"Alright guys, I talked to the Halloween manager back on the island. Due to this unforeseen storm you all are allowed to spend the night here and go back to the island tomorrow morning. The storm will probably cease by then."
The gang cheered blissfully.
"We can now have our own private Halloween party.", Archon pronounced gloriously.
"Enough parties for tonight." Kristy undermined Archon's authority again. "We must leave early tomorrow, so right now it's bedtime."
"Oow…"
"Did Ms. Kristy just become the new gang leader??", Dex asked as he realized how Archon's proposals were constantly thwarted by Kristy's disagreement.
"Now that Archon is acting all acquiescent, what do you think??", Eidolon replied.
Dex shook his lowered his head and sighed deeply. "This is so against our dark gang principles. Hopefully it's over by tomorrow."
"What about a Halloween bedtime story??", Daemian proposed as a consolation for the group.
"I can go for that.", Jill said.
"I thought you were frightened enough for one night.", Archon said mockingly. "Don't come clinging to me when you start seeing things again."
As a response the bat chao suddenly felt a fist colliding on his upper arm. "Ow, just kidding, jeesh…."
"There won't be any clinging this time.", Jill warned, showing her fist.
"He had to open his big mouth.", Dex noted while shaking his head.
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
It was close to midnight when Kristy found herself alone in a guest room, preparing to crawl in bed. The gang decided to camp around the fireplace in living room. As she walked out of the bathroom, she was beginning to feel relieved of all the makeup she removed from her face. The gothic vampire look was perfect for Halloween, but still she felt uncomfortable.
Now she had a cleaned face, no wig on and changed her gothic attires into an oversized shirt Daemian lend her for the night.
She puffed on the bed feeling exhausted and ready to fall asleep. She was staring straight into the ceiling when her eyes came across with another pair of tiny eyes watching her.
"So, it's finally just you and me, gorgeous.", a voice said.
"Archon…!! Are you spying on me?", Kristy asked feeling invaded in what she thought was her moment of privacy.
"Ouch, I'm hurt.", he said in a sarcastically offended tone. "Of course not, I was a bit curious of how you look like without the wig and makeup. Curiosity is the main fuel that drives a chao to take certain actions. I also wanted to make sure you were comfortable in this unusual and rather scary place in a stormy night."
Kristy smiled amused of Archon's skill to swiftly make up feeble excuses.
"Thanks for your concern. I hope you're not disappointed with my natural exterior."
"On the contrary, your real appearance caught me on first sight. It surpasses the image I created of you judging by the kindness you showed me and my gang on this Halloween night."
For a second Kristy felt like Archon was totally exaggerating, but she didn't go into it. "By the way, why are you hanging on the ceiling if you're not spying on me? You could have just announced yourself, instead of sneaking in uninvited.", she asked not surprised of seeing a chao doing that, since Archon was a chao-replica of a bat, not only in appearance but also with many abilities.
"My sincere apologies, gorgeous.", he said as he spread his wings and glided toward the bed, landing next to her. "A bad habit that's hard to wean off."
"And why are you calling me gorgeous all the time??" The big question Kristy was putting off ever she met Archon, six hours ago.
"Just a special love name for my beloved.", he said as he gently caressed Kristy's arm staring with dreamy eyes.
"Okay.", Kristy said smiling shyly as she pulled herself up and away from Archon.
'Now I know what the Halloween event manager meant with dangerous gang leader in a non-lethal sense. She wanted me to find out by myself what kind of chao Archon is or, she didn't want me to change my mind about taking them out on Halloween night.'
As she felt cornered by the mini love wolf, she made up an excuse trying to make him to leave in a polite manner. Archon's closeness felt more uncomfortable than the Halloween make-up.
"Now that you know I'm fine for the night, shouldn't you get back to your gang?" Kristy formulated her question cautiously.
The bat chao smiled deviously. "They had my time and attention all day. Right now I prefer to spend a lovely night with you. Just you and me alone."
After hearing this Kristy felt her skin crawl. 'I never thought I would admit this, but I can no longer fool myself. Archon IS pretty bold for a chao when it comes to flirting. Are all male dark chao like him, except Shadow of course, when it comes to impressing a girl?'
Kristy's train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted when she heard a knock on the door. 'Saved by the bell.', she thought relieved as she stood up to open the door, despite Archon's protest not to pay attention to whoever was interrupting their moment together.
"Hey, Mi…… Kristy." The intruder was Daemian. "I was going to bed and wanted to ask if you might need anything else."
Kristy blinked a few times of how caring everybody was acting. First Archon and now Daemian. "No, I'm fine. Thanks for asking. Hey, I have one little favour to ask though. Wait here.", she said as she remembered something.
She quickly turned around back into the bedroom. Daemian stared surprised as she reappeared in the doorway and placed Archon in his arms.
"Could you please bring Archon back to his friends? He came to wish me goodnight and I don't want him to get lost in this huge place on his way back."
"Uhm, sure…", Daemian replied puzzled to find Archon here.
Kristy moved her lips to Archon's left ear and whispered something only for him to hear. Archon's bat ears stretched up almost an inch, than with a smirk he replied: "Don't forget, gorgeous, my offer still stands."
Kristy smiled back and went back into her room. "Sweet dreams guys. See you tomorrow.", she said before closing the door.
"What was that all about?", Daemian wondered dumbfounded, as he didn't understand what just happened..
"She's a girl to my heart. Gotta lurv her.", Archon reacted with glee.
"What??", Daemian shrieked as he overheard what the chao just said.
Archon gave a short cough and glided off his arms to the ground and started to walk into the dimly lighted corridor.
"Don't worry about me, D. I can find the living room all by myself. Good night.", he said without looking back.
He was almost at the stairway when someone swiftly grabbed him and pushed him against the wall lifting him about two inches above the floor.
"Ahh!! Hey, what's your problem?", Archon complained until his eyes came across a pair of blood-red eyes glaring at him. "Shadow…"
"What were you trying to do to Kristy?", Shadow enquired in a livid tone.
"What are you talking about?", he said sounding confused.
Shadow pushed even harder on his chest. "Don't play the fool with me. Today, on several occasions, I saw you staring deep into her eyes like you were trying to hypnotise her. You will answers my question or else?"
"Hey, hey, take it easy. You know, you shouldn't be threatening a fellow Dark Chao. We're allies, like brothers in life.", he pointed out trying to sound more calm than nervous.
"Nonsense...", Shadow said as he readied his right arm for the first hit.
Archon's eyes widened as he began to panic. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you. Just let me go, please."
Shadow complied with his request and released him, letting him fall flat to the floor. Archon wasn't surprised by his rudeness. He walked a few steps away, crossed his arms and turned half way toward Archon, waiting quietly. As the bat chao was regaining his breath and coughing from the suffocating grip, he revealed his strategy.
"As you may have noticed already, I'm a bat chao.", he said calmly. "This means that I'm genetically bonded to a bat, a male bat to be more specific. Either way, that's not relevant."
Shadow kept glaring at him in complete silence.
"The point is; bats are the most cunning among the anthro races. Both males and females can easily deceive people to achieve their egocentric goals but each gender does it their own way. Females rely on their beauty and alluring ways, hiding their fighting skills as a last resort. Males posses a stronger fighting skill but when it comes to beautiful females, no matter which race, they prefer to employ their 'charm'."
"Charm?!?", Shadow echoed as he clearly noticed there was a deeper meaning to the word in this case.
"That's how it's called among bats. The ability male bats possess to reach into a female's mind and seduce her into total control. Since I'm genetically bonded with a bat this ability was passed on to me, and it was until I evolved into a mature chao that I became able to use it."
"So I was right. You were trying to hypnotise her.", Shadow concluded, pointing angrily at him.
"Male bats are easily tempted by beauty and I'm no exception.", Archon admitted without feeling any shame then he sighed unhappily as he lowered his head. "But unfortunately my move failed.", he finally added.
Shadow's eyes turned a little shocked and Archon noticed that right away.
"That's right, Shad. This ability has a flaw. It doesn't work on strong spirited females. A very rare kind of female, if you ask me, yet they do exist. I exercised my skill on many in the past and never encountered a female who could withstand me, also without even realising what I was trying to do."
Shadow looked down for a moment to think. "Must be from all that martial arts training and meditation she does.", he finally assumed.
"That must be it. So it's true that martial art trains your mind and body into one strong harmony.", Archon nodded then he sighed again even more depressed. "I know that for sure now."
'Harmony...' The word triggered a memory of what Kristy once told him. 'I meditate every day to bring harmony into my chaos…'
As Archon assumed he complied with Shadow's interrogation so he turned around to go back to his gang.
"I wouldn't be so concerned about your guardian if I were you, Shad. She can clearly take care of herself, or else she wouldn't have become your guardian in the first place.", he said while walking away.
His comment triggered an even greater shock in Shadow's mind. Without realising it he was about to beat him up to protect Kristy and this wasn't the first time. Only today, on several occasions, he jump in action whenever it looked like Kristy was being threatened. Did he really care so much about her or he adopted a distrustful attitude since he's surrounded by a chao race with a bad reputation, his own race. Finally, he shook his head trying to remove these unusual thoughts out of his mind.
"I will say this only once.", Shadow said to the bat chao who paused and looked around. "The name is Shadow. Don't ever call me 'Shad' again." He turned around into the opposite way and left.
Archon smiled with the slight hunch Shadow was about to say something different.
"Fine…", he mumbled to himself as Shadow already disappeared in the dark corridors.
-- -- -- -- -- --
"I can't believe this.", Kristy whispered to herself as she was nearing the kitchen table with plates filled with different breakfast menus. The next morning she was first to wake up, or so she thought. After a little tour around the house last night, she was able to find the kitchen by herself. Archon and the others were still sleeping in and Shadow would eventually pop up whenever he was ready to leave or became hungry.
"He woke up long before me and even prepared breakfast for all of us.", she said drown by the delightful scent. She took a piece of one of the waffles. "Amazing and it's tasty too. But where is he now??"
Withstanding the temptation of the delicious morning meal, Kristy decided to find out where Daemian was first. Her first guess turned out to be the right one; the garage, located at the back of the house. As she was nearing the door she could already hear voices on the other side.
"I still don't understand why you bought that rusty piece of junk." Seth's voice pointed out.
Kristy could also hear Daemian's voice but couldn't understand a word what he was saying as he was talking in his native language.
"I don't feel like going there. What if they don't like me??", the chao opposed.
The eavesdropping was too one sided so Kristy decided to walk in to find Daemian working on a motorbike. She immediately understood what Seth meant with the statement 'piece of junk', but she didn't quite agree with it.
"Nice bike.", she complimented as her entrance wasn't noticed right away.
"Miss Kristy… Good morning.", Daemian said surprised.
"Morning. Please, drop the formalities and just call me Kristy."
"Sorry, it's hard to go against the way I was raised."
"It's ok.", Kristy nodded understandingly. "So you like motorcycles."
"One of my many passions. This is one of the first things I bought since I came here."
"You made a good choice.", Kristy said as she moved closer to have a better look of the two-wheeled vehicle. "A bit rusty and old on the outside but that can be fixed. The engine is one of the best designs and kept in really great state, just a little maintenance and it's ready to burn some rubber."
Daemian was dumbfounded. "Why do I have the feeling I'm not the only one here with motorcycle knowledge??"
"Oh, I saw and learned a few things long ago. A good friend of mine is also into motor vehicle stuff, but he's a lot more focused on driving fast cars. His father is one of the best mechanics around."
"Oh your boyfriend?!?", Daemian assumed.
"No, he's just a friend.", Kristy clarified accurately.
"Sorry I misunderstood.", Daemian said a bit embarrassed.
"Don't worry. I can give you the mechanic's phone number if you want. You can use some help finding replacement part."
"Sounds great."
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
So far Daemian was a very pleasant person to talk to. Kristy didn't mind his heavy accent at all. She always had a great regard toward people from other countries. They had a lot of fascinating things to tell.
"So, are you planning to stay in town, Daemian?", Kristy asked as she was having breakfast in the kitchen.
"Yes. I haven't found a buyer for this house and according to the real estate agent it's going to take a while.", he explained sounding more happy than worried about it.
"Well, it's not like I'm in rush to go somewhere else. I was planning to visit the city and allow Seth to meet other dark chao.", he said while sitting down at the table and looking at his chao.
"And what about you, Seth??", Kristy addressed the chao. "Are you looking forward to spend some time on the island??"
"No. I don't know how to act when they're around me." He didn't sound optimistic at all.
"All you have to do is be yourself and let them know you." Kristy gave him a simple advise.
"I don't know if that will work. Excuse me.", he said while lowering his head. Then he turned around, jumped off the elevated chair and left the kitchen.
It was until the chao was gone when Daemian started to talk. "I'm worried about him." Concern was written all over his face. "His entire life he grew up among humans and didn't have the chance to even once be with other chao."
"How did you two find each other??", Kristy asked, wanting to hear the entire.
"Once, when I was a teenager, I went into an abandoned warehouse looking for canned food or other useful stuff I could bring to my aunt. The place turned out to be a storage place for poachers. There was a special room where they incubated dozens of chao eggs and between many empty egg shelves there was one egg left."
"Seth."
"Right. He hatched right in front of me and I took him with me, I saved him. We've been together ever since, although I had to hide him at all time. In my country you don't see people walking around with a chao like they do here and I was afraid that if people found out about Seth, they would take him away from me."
"He's really lucky to have you looking after him."
"I wish I could have done more. At this point of his life, he's totally disconnected from his kind."
"Looks like the Mischief gang dropped in just in time. It's not too late. With their help Seth will have a great start on Chao Island.", Kristy said trying to change Daemian's regret into new hope.
"Are they are willing to help him??", he asked not truly convinced.
"Sure, just leave it to me."
Daemian didn't quite believe Kristy would succeed with this big favour since she knew the gang less than a day, according to what Jill told him.
"Morning everyone." Archon's cheerful voice chimed as he landed gracefully on the table. "And a special good morning goes to you, gorgeous."
"Morning, Archon. I hope you slept well."
"Like I just hatched out of my eggshell." That was Archon's equivalent to the statement 'sleeping like a baby'. "I even had an amazing dream about you and me."
"How sweet. You can tell me all about it as soon as you wake up your gang so they can all eat breakfast at once. I promised you all would be back on the island by noon."
Archon made a humph sound, crossed his arms with a stern look on his face. "If I didn't know better I could swear you're trying to get rid of me."
"If you all excuse me I'll go back to the garage to check on Seth and finish a few chores.", Daemian said as he stood up.
"Sure, go ahead.", Kristy replied. She waited a bit until she was left alone with Archon to resume the conversation. "I don't mean to sound uncaring. I really had a wonderful time with all of you last night."
"So, why can we make that wonderful time last a bit longer??", Archon wondered as he started to take a peak under the covered plates on the table also caught by the delicious scent.
"How much longer??"
"Uhm, a day or two. Why not a week??"
"Don't push it.", Kristy said noticing Archon's boldness.
"Alright, I can be a bit slower.", he said before stuffing a mini waffle in his mouth. The spike ball on his head turned heart shaped showing the delight caused the delicious taste.
'Am I talking to a chao or to my boyfriend??', she wondered in silence.
Kristy decided to change the subject as the cat and mouse chat could last forever. "So Archon, can I ask you a favour??"
"I'm listening.", he answered eagerly.
"Could you please help Seth when he goes to visit Chao Island?? It would mean so much to me."
"That guy?? I'm not even sure he's a true dark chao.", Archon said with a disapproving tone while crossing his arms again.
Kristy was now the one intrigued by Archon's reaction. "What do you mean??"
"It's all about vibes, gorgeous. Chao can sense each other's vibes, so we know if we're dealing with a chao of our own race or someone different or even opposite to our nature."
"The Hero Chao.", Kristy concluded from the indirect statement.
"Correct. That Seth character doesn't emit the vibes of a true dark chao. His attitude is also way too soft."
"Give him a chance. He just came out of living in a rough environment. He only had Daemian his entire life and never got the chance to interact with other chao."
"I see, that explains a few things.", Archon said reconsidering his statement. "Maybe I'm too judgemental. I should give him a fair chance." He paused for a few minutes before continuing. "Alright, I'll show him around, introduce him to the other chao on the island and maybe he'll make some friends."
"Thanks, Archon. I knew I could count on a nice chao like you.", Kristy said gratefully.
"So, what about rewarding me with a kiss??"
"Oh, look at the time. I have to start getting ready to leave. Don't forget to wake the others. Oh and I hope you like Daemian's breakfast since you're already nibbling on it.", Kristy said in a rush, while getting up, putting her plate and teacup in the dishwasher and leaving the kitchen without looking back.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
"So, the Mischief gang is back home. The Halloween adventure is officially over.", Kristy told Shadow as the two were walking on the bridge between Chao Island and the city, on their way home.
"Finally…", Shadow commented short.
"Oh, it wasn't that bad.", Kristy pointed out noticing a slight tone of frustration in Shadow's voice. "We even got to visit a quite realistic haunted mansion."
"It wasn't that realistic."
"Hm, apparently there is more needed than a haunted mansion to impress you."
"And there is more needed than a haunted mansion to scare you."
"Who said I wasn't afraid??"
"You didn't act that way."
Shadow could hear a deep before words came through her mouth again. "I won't let fear take control of me, ever again." Her voice suddenly sounded different, cold and distant.
That moment Shadow realized he might have stroke a sensitive subject in Kristy's life, something from her past.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
A/N: I know, not much action here. But it's coming… Btw, I uploaded a special art of the Mischief gang on my deviantart gallery. For those interested, the link is the homepage link in my profile.