A Splatoween To Remember

A night of tricks and treats alike,

Trick-or-Treaters at ages prime, tween, and tike,

Splatoween's treats are aplenty,

But be wary, for the trusting 'twill be tricked times twenty,

And for troublemakers, beware! Stay from the graveyard betwixt earth and starry night,

For there lies a trick beyond boundaries of sun's light.

"Got my Glow-In-The-Dark Dye on… got my costume on… I think I'm set!"

Today was Splatoween! A chance to get sweets for free or play tricks on those who deserved it with no repercussions!

...or maybe some repercussion. Lune, typically stayed away from the more destructive pranks that often made the headlines.

Normally on Splatoween, she would go to apartment with friends and ask for treats but this night would be different. This night she would be doing something special… go to an actual cemetery! Her friends told her that it would liven up their 3rd Splatoween with each other breaking into the old one on Trenchwatch Hill. While the idea of breaking-and-entering wasn't exactly appealing to her, the opportunity-as her friends ended up saying to convince her- to be in a mist-laden cemetery that was EVEN said to be cursed, seemed like a Splatoween to not pass on.

As she walked out the door, she continued to ponder. Now she didn't think the hill was haunted exactly, but the dark atmosphere on a foggy evening was going to give her some chills for sure.

Coming out of the well decorated apartment lobby, was a scene full of festive air. Jelli-kins were everywhere with caricatures carved into their smooth, gelatinous faces, little glow-in-the-dark ghost streamers strung over the streets and on show windows as well as the city's doing in putting "ectoplasm" on the top of a few buildings.

Lune joyfully walked the streets as sea creatures both young and old paraded in their costumes.

It wasn't long until she came across her friend, Zoe. The pink tentacled inkling was wearing a witch's garb with a broom in one hand and a few "elixirs" caressed in the other. She was quick to greet once she noticed the others costume.

"Heya Lune! You're looking quite ghastly today."

"I think you meant ghostly?" This pun earned her an eyeroll from her friend. "Anyways where are Taki and Rachel?"

She brought out her squidphone, scrolling mindlessly until she arrived at her messages. "On the way here," she told her, still eyeing the monitor. "Apparently Rachel took some time to get out of her apartment." This news put Lune on edge. Rachel was known in the square to be a bit of a high rolling prankster on Splatoween. She hoped that's not the reason she was taking so long, their record had been clean so far but…

"Hey Lune, do you think the Curse of Trenchwatch is real?"

Lune looked up to her friend, what an odd question. "Not really, why?"

Zoe pondered the reply with a rap on her broom before responding, "Well it's got me curious that a curse where the ghost of people who perished during the days of The Great Turf War started on Splatoween was taken so far that nobody has even tried to go up to that old hill to disprove it. Maybe they really do haunt the hill and that's why people keep out," she let out a cynical snigger, "Or maybe its old farts being senile and superstitious."

Her friend had a faux look of offense on her face, "Hey! You never know! Maybe it WAS actually something and they thought it was ghosts?"

"Maybe…"

The conversation shifted onto something else and only minutes afterwards did Taki and Rachel show up. Taki was dressed up as a kyonshi, the combination of the seal on his face and the robes he wore did a good job at obscuring most of his features, save for his red eyes and peach skin. Accompanying this vampiric inkling was a pale inkling girl dressed in a contrasting outfit. She wore a gothic black dress covered in fake webs. Lune had to admit that Rachel's mother did a fantastic job with Rachel's makeup. Black beady eye-like marks covered Rachel's head in perfect symmetry. If the inkling's body wasn't so obviously different from an actual spider's she might have attempted to squish her.

"Wow Rachel!" Zoe eyed her, stunned at the makeup's detail, "You're mom does a killer paint job!"

"Well having a mom, so into makeup like she is pays off. You guys ready to hit the streets?"

"We were just waiting on you." Lune replied.

"Alright guys! You remember what we talked about?"

The girls' recited.

"Hit all the buildings on Main Street,

Make the detour to Flounder Heights,

Keep together, pairs at least,

And for goodness sake, keep away from Mrs. Goodby and the Dentist Office."

After a stunned silence as his words were perfectly spat back out at him, Taki clapped his hands, "Well, I think everybody's got the memo, let's go." A few girlish giggles escaped from the others as they followed their red tentacled friend out into the streets.

As the group hit house after house, their bags grew heavy with treats and trinkets. Making sure to avoid Ms. Goodby's apartment as well as the Dentist, the four eventually stopped after a lengthy night oh treat gathering and getting spooked by the occasional surprise and gathered together to count their treats and trade.

"Done." Taki said. "Right then, you guys ready to go to Trenchwatch Hill?"

The group nodded, Lune was a lot more hesitant then the other two.

As the group began to walk towards their destination Lune was caught up in her thoughts.

'I know I said we would do this, but what if there IS a ghost up there? What would we do after that? Run? Ghosts can float can't they? What if they cau-' Suddenly Lune bumped into someone. She was a bit too far from her friends for them to notice how far away she way or that she had even bumped into someone at all.

Rubbing her aching shoulder, Lune frowned, "Hey-"

She was shocked to see nobody in front of her but a rather lovely looking charm.

She picked it up and looked it over. The bracelet was golden and shiny, with rather weird looking letters carved on the front section of it. She thought about returning it to the person who dropped it, but she looked around and saw nobody but the fading backs of her friends, so she fastened its clasp around her wrist and took off to keep pace with them anew.

"So, this is Trenchwatch Hill huh?" Taki was looking up at the hill. Save for the flooding fog roiling off the land and through the gates barring entry like a grand waterfall it didn't look all that frightening to the male inkling. "Doesn't look THAT bad."

"Well at least we probably don't have to worry about jumping at every single thing that goes bump in the night." Zoe pointed out, "Though the fog's gonna make it a bit hard to see if it gets any worse."

"Well the fence isn't going to jump itself." Rachel huffed impatiently. "Let's go!"

She immediately pulled out her inkbrush from her gown and lapped the ground with purple paint. She promptly turned into a squid and launched herself over the iron bars.

The other two were about to follow just as Lune caught up to them. She nervously watched the streaks of red and pink soar through the gloomy sky. She looked behind her and in front of her, and to her right into the empty streets, to be absolutely sure no one watched her do this. Then with a shot to the earth and the motions of her body compressing ink. She slung herself into the sky and into the foggy graveyard.

As she rose from the ground, a figure in the eerie fog caused her body to spasm with shock before her eyes clarified its identity to be a statue with and inkling on it. She slowly walked up to it, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one had caught her in her. Her main observation was that the statue was made form a course stone, giving the stature a rather rough texture. She looked over the features of the inkling and what it was doing. The statue was of a female inkling with a newborn child in her hands, looking at the child with a serene look on her face. She looked downward to read a plaque.

A dedication to all of the Great Turf War families whose coral branches crumbled before the war's end

A sense of discomfort stretched over her being here. Should they be doing this?

"Hey!" Lune was snapped out of her thoughts by Zoe who was coming down the hill. "C'mon, everyone's at the top of the hill."

Being led by Zoe, she could see the other two sitting near a tree atop the hill. Minus their presence, it honestly looked like a vintage spooky scene from a movie or children's book. Taki was sitting on the ground in a careful manner, to not get his outfit torn by the course and uneven ground, while Racheal was leaning on a gravestone.

"Took your sweet time." Rachel grumbled. "We were wondering if you got lost."

"S-sorry, I bumped into someone and I aged behind."

"Well, it's fine." She lifted herself away from the grave marker she had rested on. We're gonna have to wait and see if we see any ghosts tonight anyway. And if we don't see any, well I have an idea how to make this night fun.

A sense of unease gathered in Lune's stomach at that. "W-what did you have in mind…?"

"Oh you'll see~" Her spider-dressed friend hummed.

The group of friends waited into the dead of night to see if their phantasm fantasies would come to fruition. Though they waited for nearly an hour, naught but mist came rolling forth from the graves.

"Well it looks like no ghost is coming out," spoke the mischievous spider. "It looks like we can have some fun before going home and treating ourselves."

"Maybe we should just leave…" the skittish specter with her whispered with worry.

The spider shot a most impish grin towards her companions, "C'mon! Where's your Splatoween spirit?! We're just gonna liven this place up a bit. Heck, maybe it'll actually wake up the dead!"

For the most part her goading convinced all but the little ghost to actively partake in most roguish glee.

If it is Splatoween, perhaps I shall respond with a trick on my own for such brazen trespass.

"Guuuuyyysss…" Lune whined. She did not like this. She felt like she was being watched and that this was about to become a big mistake. She watched as her friends were going at the graves with cans of spray paint. "We shouldn't be out here defacing the graves!"

"Lune, will you just relax!" Rachel huffed, "Nobody's out here but us! This place hasn't been touched in years. In fact, I bet the gravekeeper's away doing creepy graveyard stuff right now!"

Lune looked around, suddenly reminded that these grave wouldn't be left alone. "Then maybe we shouldn't make more work for him!"

Racheal shrugged and kept up with her "Halloween decoration." By now they had done so with several tombstones.

Taki looked almost as gleeful as Rachel doing this while Zoe did a few before she decided to stay by her nervous friend's side.

"Hey…" Zoe cooed soothingly, "We're just playing a little trick." This didn't do much to stay her friend's worries, in fact her brows had furrowed as she wore a log of indignance.

"Dude, this isn't ok…"

Zoe sighed and grabbed the bridge of her nose. "Ok, if you don't wanna see us do this, you can go ahead of us. I'll try and grab Taki and Racheal before they get too wrapped up in their holiday mischief."

Lune's body expanded has it has softened its posture. "You sure its ok?"

"Yeah, go on. I'll catch up when I get them to follow."

Lune began to walk down the hill, but as she made her way to the foot of the hill, the fog got thicker to the point it has the density of soup It wasn't long before she found herself even more lost .

"Huh?!" She wandered straight, despite this the gate was nowhere I site.

She could feel her hearts pound in trepidation as the fog continued without end; something was wrong. 'I'm sure the hill ended a while ago. Where is the gate?'

A sudden boom resounded in her ears and a crackling, green pillar of light illuminated far behind her. As she heard screams come from there, her adrenaline kicked in she shifted in squid form, meaning to squid jump from her location. Her body was met with resistance as she felt like a heavy presence held her down and her mind hazed. Instinctively, she shifted back and the disorientation died.

Ok, that was a bad idea. She felt it was best if she ran for now.

Running as fast as she could in a bedsheet towards the light column, she tried to make out her surroundings as she sprinted past. There was nothing else her except the fog and a multitude of graves.

'This place isn't that big, what's going on?'

When her path became sloped, she had to slow down in order to keep her balance as she ascended. At the top there was an eerie looking light emanating from a gravestone. Her friends were nowhere to be found.

"…guys…?" she panted out. Her weary frame heaved as she continued to walk towards the pillar. Did they…?

"Oh! I missed one." A voice of down and needles sent prickling chill to her hearts, from the grave rose an apparition: A small girl and yet her face depicted someone no younger than 18. She was wearing a torn ad decaying sundress. Lune stumbled backwards in a panic "Perhaps I should play a prank on you too?"

No. Nononononononono, this can't be where she died. She continued to scoot away as the specter approached her in a sauntered gait, grace beguiling a malicious intent.

"No! NO-!" Lune shrieked as she tumbled down the hill. The girl was quick as she stretched out her arm to hold Lune in place mid-tumble. Lune felt ill as it felt like her lunch didn't appreciate being tossed around like that. Despite that, she struggled in vain against the ghost's supernatural grip.

"Now now dear, you'll be sick doing that." The ghost beckoned her forth and like magic Lune began to levitate towards her captor. "Though now I suppose you'll be joining me here in the hereafter. You're friends won't be as lucky though," she sneered. "Disrespecting the dead has its consequences after all."

Lune had gone pale, "W-w-w-what…what do y-y-you plan to do with me?" She asked, her voice now in a mewling whisper.

"Why tell you when you're going to be chatting with me anyways as a ghost? Whoops! Well now you know!" She snapped her fingers and a warm feeling came over Lune, and she screwed her eyes shut as she waited for something horrible to happen to her.

But it didn't.

"What?" the ghost girl stood aghast. "Why aren't you transformed?"

Lune chanced a peak at her before looking at herself. Nothing happened, but why?

Soon they both had their answers. The aura of whatever power had cause Lune's body to heat up had transferred into her arm and into the charm she had kept for the night.

"Well aren't you a prepared one…you absorbed my curse. I suppose I won't be having a chit-chat with a new friend." The ghost had huffed and levitated them both down, with her crossing her legs on the ground, in a supposed pout. Lune gently was put down. Now that she had control of her body, she took the time to try and calm her body, as she was huffing and puffing and, most of all, trying to process all that had just happened.

"I-I…you…you…" she clutched her stomach and mouth. If she had extra hands, she would bring them both to her head, to massage a headache.

"Kind of hard to understand you when your gibbering like that, you know? Maybe try to calm your nerves before you speak, girl."

"MMM!" She took several deep breath as her poor nerves wracked stated began to wear on her body. "Ok…ok…I-I THINK I'm as calm as I'm going to get."

"Good. Now I bet you have a lot of questions." As Lune went to talk, she held up a finger. "I'm only going to answer 3, so ask accordingly."

"Ok…who are you?"

The ghost nodded and smiled approvingly. "Manners, manners… your already much more polite then your friends. My name is Seraphina, you may call me Sera."

"So, Sera…what did you do with my friends?"

She laughed and looked Lune in her eyes, "For such a good girl, you have most troublesome friends. Yes, most troublesome and naughty…they had to be punished. And so, I paid defilement with defilement. Their bodies have changed into what they paraded themselves as," Lune gasped as the thought dawned on her, but didn't say a word. "A most fitting punishment for little monsters like they I say."

"You hurt them-"

"Ahaha…no. I didn't hurt them, I merely used a spell that would… release their inhibitions. I'm sure they're enjoying themselves pranking the living with their new forms," she paused briefly, seeming to contemplate something. "You have one more question and I would like to offer a proposition after that."

Lune gazed at her quizzically before going ahead with her final question. She'd save any other question for another time if she got the chance.

"How do I get my friends back?" Seraphina's eyes danced with mischief and glee at her question. Lune barely noticed her body got rigid in response to her a creeping feeling of unease.

"Why aren't you the chivalrous one!" she giggled, sporting a catty grin "I'd almost think you wouldn't have asked. This falls under my proposal, so I ask you to listen if you want your friends back safe and sound."

Lune leaned in expectantly, she had to rescue her friends. Even if they brought her into this place in the first place…

"To answer your question, you can save them by going back into the world of the living, bring them back to their senses, and guide them into the cemetery. I'd like to charge you with finding them myself as both goodwill and to break century-aged monotony."

Lune grimaced, "So if I'm understanding you right, you're not exactly doing this out of the kindness of your heart."

"One shouldn't seek pittance when planting a bed of spite." She purred. "Though I'm not completely heartless, and I'll repay your courteous conversation and entertainment with their reclaimed senses. And then you leave, and never blacken the graves with your tricks ever again. I say it a fair deal."

Lune sighed. She couldn't exactly argue with that since she was the main person who wanted to get out as soon as the spray cans came out. "You're right. Fine. I'll play your game."

"Excellent! Now then… You'll find the covenless sorceress in the forests surrounding the hill. She's concocting a most heinous brew for naughty children to fall in line."

"Ok then…" despite the way she worded it, Seraphina's hint was clear: Find Zoe in the woods.

"Now go! You have until sunrise to find them or they'll be stuck like this for eternity!"

"WAIT WHAT-?!"

Lune's vision had gone white as Seraphina brought her back to the hill. The ACTUAL hill. The fog had cleared and the midnight scene had returned to normal. Lune had to take a moment to think about things. So to recap events: Her friends angered a ghost and now she's trying to prevent her friends from being turned into creatures of the night forever. Yep. This was definitely not a night she was expecting when they agreed to meet in the graveyard.

"Alright focus. To the woods. Hopefully I'll be quick and not get lost."

Lune was unfortunate enough to land in a thicket of bushes when she landed into the forest.

Hissing in pain, she tried to unravel herself from the branches. With a harsh tug at her ghost costume, she managed to free herself. She fell to the ground with a thud and slowly got up to take in her surroundings. Above, the raven arms of trees stretched out toward the full moon whilst below a fog draped the floor with arboreal torsos rising in scattered patterns outstretched as far as the eye could see. Lune couldn't see any hint of her friend, so she started walking in one direction, hoping there was a clue amidst the misty forest.

It was maybe half an hour before Lune could see orange light clash amongst black shadows. The cautious gait she took when she first started picked up to match the hope she felt that she had found Zoe. She carefully edged towards a tree when she was on the edge of the light's reach. There, in the center of a glade, was a bubbling cauldron. Lune made to get closer before she noticed a figure rise from behind the cauldron. It was hard to make out from here distance, but she was quite certain, this figure was Zoe.

"…double toil and trouble…" she only barely make out her chanting as Zoe was seemingly making something.

"Zoe?" she called out. "Zoe, is that you?"

The figure turned around, and sure enough it was her friend, though there was something off about her that Lune couldn't quite put her finger on.

"My, my. A child of the town. Be you an unwitting wanderer of the forest, or a troublesome soul, seeking to make mischief this night?"

Lune could only offer confusion. What was Zoe talking about?

"What do you mean?" Lune's question was met with a harsh and unrestrained cackle.

"I suppose unwitting it is. Well either way, I don't appreciate your trespass in my forest!"

An orb of energy coalesced into Zoe's hand, and a pit of dread formed in Lune's stomach. She tensed her body.

"And you and the other brats of the town will be taught a lesson soon enough!" She launched the orb at Lune, who deftly dodged out of the way.

She ran out of the clearing and into the forest, running for her life. As she turned her head to see if she was being chased, she felt a new spur of motivation when she saw Zoe not only chasing her, but swiftly making to get to her on a BROOM.

"HA HA HA!" she cackled. "You can't and you can't hide! You'll be sent down to the grave tide!"

Another energy orb was being conjured up and it took noticing it and a hard pivot to her right to dodge it. As she continued her sprint, she looked around for anything that could help. She couldn't run forever, and that broom would catchup eventually, so she had to think.

Unfortunately, she had tripped on a rock and tumbled into the dirt. Hurt and terrified, the witch finally caught up to her.

"NO!" she cried out. She looked away as Zoe was preparing one final spell to finish her off. She couldn't stop herself from crying and sobbing in her final moments, what a terrible ending to her life.

"Lune…? Lune are you ok?" That wasn't the sound, nor the feeling of her life ending. As she looked up, she saw that Zoe's eyes had softened considerably and she had a soft and concerned hand on her shoulder. "I-what happened?"

"That's kind of what I want to ask you… you were just trying to hunt me down a second ago."

"Really? I don't remember."

"Ah yes, this is all fine and well dears," The voice Seraphina echoed in their minds "But you should really come back to the graveyard before the curse kicks back in, unless you want to actually be calamari."

"Ok then, can you walk?" Lune asked.

"Of course I can!" Zoe replied in a panicked manner, "I should be asking you the same thing."

"I just tripped, I'll be fine." She lifted herself up, despite the mild aching. "Let's go."

As the two friends had landed into the graveyard, the fog had steepened and a eerie pillar of light has rose to the sky.

It didn't take long for Seraphina to arrive. "I will remove the curse now, but it will take some time. In the meantime, I'll point you to the direction of your vampire friend." She jabbed a finger at the city proper. "He's in the city as we speak, lurking in an abandoned building at the piers. If I were you, I would hurry."

"Right. Take care of Zoe for me please."

"She will be fine, I shall send her home afterwards."

"Actually," Lune was hesitant to make requests of Sera, but figured it would be easier to do this rather then inexplicably have her be in her bed or on her doorstep. "Could you transport her closer to my place instead? It would be easier to convince my mom to have everyone spend the night, rather than have then go home."

"Very well. Now go, your time is growing short."

Lune had arrived at the pier with a few jumps across the city. The area was sparsely filled but that didn't mean that nobody was in danger. Lune went into the industrial district of Inkopolis. If there was any hope of Taki being here. It would be in one of the deserted buildings there.

Lune travelled through quiet streets looking for anything out of the ordinary. The streets seemed calm enough, but if she didn't find her friend, there's no telling what a kyonshi could do to the city, not to mention what would happen if her friend was dubbed a monster…

She had to bar her mind from that train of thought. She wouldn't let it come to that. Not if she could help it.

In the corner of her eye she saw movement. Immediately she walked in the direction of whatever had moved. What she saw was probably worse then finding just a kyonshi here.

Now there was a kyonshi and a group of kids here.

"Caaaarp." Lune rushed over. "Hey! You guys! You need to leave!"

One of the kids, a squid dressed up as a pirate, looked her over with annoyance. "Don't boss us around, lady."

"Yeah." Said another.

"Look, if you know what's good for you, you'll get out of here for tonight."

The pirate inkling stood up from the rusting garbage can he had sat on and got right up to her face. "I don't see how you're gonna make us. Who died and made you queen?"

"I-" Lune shifted her ears slightly, the rustling sound and, perhaps, what could be made out as the sound of two feet colliding with the pavement in rhythmic hops guided her to her mark. She turned to the direction it came from. Taki was at the far end of the street, but he was most definitely looking different. Despite his distance, she could make you that his eyes were heavily glazed over, as if death had taken him and spat him back into the world of the living, his body was decomposing and barely holding itself together and his skin was a pale green. He hopped over to her location.

"H-hey kid…I mean it, if you don't run we're both gonna be in trouble."

He let out a tsking noise and shot her a cynical grin. "So, you're just gonna try and scare us out of our hangout spot? Nice try lady, but we ain't going nowhere."

Lune let out an exasperated sigh, she was going nowhere, and Taki was getting closer. She grabbed the young inkling and spun around, shoving his face in the direction of the now very close corpse of an inkling.

"Run." She said with a very frantic expression. He knew she wasn't messing around at this point, and his face reacted in kind.

The pirate boy's ink began to prickle, rise and turn white "Let's beat it!"

The others saw how pale their friend had gotten, like that of seeing a ghost and took it as a sign to scatter.

"Wait!- Ugh…" she hoped the others didn't run into Taki elsewhere; he was hoping towards her and she needed to find a way to trap him.

She dashed behind him, evading a swipe of chilling, rotten hands. She flipped her self around, "Bet you can't catch me!" she taunted. Her friend turned to her and let out a hellish gurgle. He began to hop around in an effort to turn to catch her.

Lune looked around for anything she could use to halt Taki's movement. There was nothing there, so she ran towards the docks.

"There's gotta be a net or something I can use…" she said looking around. There were ropes, there were definitely ships of all shapes and sizes, but nothing she could see that would make pinning Taki from a distance.

"Wish I did scouts…" she muttered. Frantically, she grabbed the ropes. Feeling a chill suddenly breach through her clothes, she frantically looked to the buildings.

Nothing.

Just to be certain, she looked around the ships and carefully inched away before resuming her frantic work to make a knot.

A sudden shift in temperature and a noise right behind her made her roll to her left. An icy hand barely missed her nose as Taki had swiped at her. Where did he come from?!

"Taki, please snap out of it!" She pleaded. His eyes were cold, and he had the gaze of undeath. She probably couldn't cry her way out of this one. She tightened the rope's knot and created a lasso.

Praying her aim was good she tossed the rope at the kyonshi. She snagged his left arm and braced herself as she ran past him, trusting her sprint would be enough to keep her out of arms reach. Before he knew it, he was yanked down by a swift pull of the rope.

Lune looked back at her dazed friend. He was stunned, but not restrained. Not wanting to be close to him and get grabbed, she wrapped the rope around a nearby post, essentially leashing him to the dock. Once she had caught her breath and her tensions eased, she could only look at her friend. What happens next?

She looked at the problem before her. The only way to break him out of his deathly trance was to make him remember her, but how was she going to accomplish that.

Steeling herself she inched forward, shivering with anticipation of every move of his, "…Taki…?" she breathed, the cold of the evening suddenly becoming very apparent as her body instinctively urged her to fly from this undead creature. "Taki, do you recognize me…? It's me, Lune."

He only responded by lunging fiercely at her. Fearfully she stepped back as he strained against his bond, the lasso being the only thing barely holding him there.

Lune frantically wracked her mind in an effort think up a way to snap him out of it, suddenly a fond memory had he have an epiphany.

Lune grabbed a torn piece of canvas, and a crusty, faded marker and laid it out in front of him.

Taki was the leader of the group and, while he was pretty much down to do anything, he called the shots during turf wars.

She scribbled an extremely rough caricature of Skipper Pavilion, looking up at her vampiric friend occasionally to make sure he stayed put. Curiously, he actually seemed more focused on what she was drawing, then on his potential prey. He had at least stopped struggling.

After her sketch had been finished she stated, "So if we were to start from spawn and ink up the turf from our side we could create a solid foothold."

"That wouldn't work," said Taki, his voice a bit hoarse but otherwise sounding as he had before his transformation. She looked up and smiled as the Inkling before her eyes seemed to gleam with renewed energy, "If the enemy are aggressive, they'll just push us into the spawn's shield and if that happens then we'd have to fight even harder to just take out terri…tory…?" He looked around, suddenly aware of his surroundings, his skin seemingly almost a little less moldy and dead-looking. "Uh, Lune where are we, why aren't we at the grave and why am I tied down to a dock?"

"Trust me bud, it's a long story. Let's just head back to the graveyard."

A super jump and a few close calls later, they had arrive back to Seraphina who had collected Taki from the Lune.

"Well done!" Sera clapped, her voice was awestruck, "How did you know that would work?"

She scratched at her nape and looked away, "Well…I remember I wanted to learn how to plan along with Taki, so I spent all night working on something to impress him and wrote him a plan for turf." She gave Sera eye contact once she was sure her cheeks weren't hued with deep green. "It wasn't that great…" she chuckled nervously, "But Taki was willing to use it, with some revisions and letting me know where my plans weren't exactly strongly suited for our playstyle. He's a passionate tactician, and a great friend."

Seraphina's eyes glowed with interest with Lune singing such high praises to this inkling vandal. "He must be a good friend and truly an amazing Turf War strategist to have you in such admiration. I will cure him now; the spider has made her web in a "Haunted House", specifically the one not to far from this graveyard, I suggest you find her before she decides she is hungry."

Hungry? That's not good.

"And you better be quick…" Seraphina told her, looking over the horizon, "The sunrise comes soon."

That was, definitely, not good. The minute she was transported out of that plane, she rocketed her way into the sky.

The house she had landed at was a dilapidated old mansion, it looked 3 days away from being condemned and a faint smell of mold. She walked onto the dry-rotted porch and reached for the door. As she jostled its doorknob, rust fell from the corroded metal. With a yank and a metallic squeal, she was able to force the door open. The rusty hinges screamed open as she worked the door to swing out. As she peered inside the eerie black, stepping through the maw of the desolate house, she knew that this could only end two ways. She could only walk forward with a trembling body and a throbbing heart as she was surrounded by darkness. She could barely see anything before her rationale kicked in and she fumbled for the power button of her phone. The shellphone released a bright beam of light in front of her, illuminating an ancient yet grandiose staircase in front of her. Sweeping the light from left to right, she looked for any signs of life.

Skitter.

She twitched the flashlight upwards. Nothing.

Skitter-scratch.

She twitched it in another direction. She couldn't see anything.

If she was going to catch her friend, she'd have to make sure to flip the script somehow.

She cautiously walked inside, making sure she wasn't going to get pounced on.

She entered the Mansion's furthest most room on the right side, which happened to be the kitchen. She smiled, she at least could find a tool or two if she happened to be in a pinch. She looked through the drawers and managed to find a dusty, rusty ladle that seemed moments from crumbling. Better than nothing; at least she could probably get one or two swings in before it was completely useless. She looked in here for something else. There was a small jar of cinnamon in the back of the cabinets and a wooden plank. Another weapon. She turned to leave before she saw glowering white orbs piercing into her own.

She recognized the figure's animalistic stance, hunched over and stilling its breath. Lune figured she had maybe a minute at best before, what she could assume was her transfigured friend, pounced on her and attempted to have her for dinner. She slowly took the ladle in both hands and waited.

What could be assumed to be Racheal finally took its chance and leapt at her only to get rewarded with a thwack to the skull by the rusty ladle. Lune nearly lost her balance as the rattling blow shattered the dingy tool like a fine china and sent the shards and accumulated rust everywhere.

Taking the plank and cinnamon with her she ran past the writhing creature and up the steps. She veered into the room opposite to her, stumbling over wreckage and leftover furniture all the while.

She stopped short of a crumbling floor, looking behind her to see if Racheal recovered.

She disappeared.

She took the time to scan the room. Wait, was that-?!

She saw an unused box of fly paper across from her and she got an idea. Pulling out the board and measuring it she carefully tried to push the board across, making sure not to lose it. She balanced herself on the plank, traversing the gap.

She carefully edged herself to the other side touching her feet down to the other side gently.

She swiped the box and began to make her way across when she saw the skulking she-spider in the doorway. Unlike last time, Racheal wasted no time in chasing her down. She leapt to one of the walls and latched on, scrambling towards her at with an unnatural gait.

Lune didn't need much encouragement; she launched herself over the gap this time, thudding into the wall. Despite the accumulating soreness in her right arm, she was able to grab the board and smash it against the predatory she-spider. The board, instead however, got caught in the hidden chelicerae oh her friend's face. Wincing at the gnawed wood that was ripped from her grip she went to the nearby window and conducted her plan. Lune could her the sound of a wooden plank getting torn apart and saw some of the remnants of said board be chucked off the second floor. Three arms grabbed onto the doorway and shimmering eyes peered from them hungrily. The spider inkling crept towards the silhouette of Lune's sheet covered shadow and pounced!

Right into the trap. Just then the she-spider realized the mistake she had made! A determined Inkling's emerald eyes flew above as the inkling rocketed past in squid form. The lunging spider girl who had planted herself into the desiccated curtains that were now lined with cinnamon-dusted fly paper. With Racheal disoriented, Lune took the chance to gloat.

"How's that for a prank Ray-Ray?" she panted, a cold sweat forming on her skin. She knew she probably could have been spider food in the moment if she had been any later.

The figure of Rachel's transform body began to shutter violently as she chittered in fits before it became clear to Lune with each passing second that the chittering was actually… laughter?

Racheal's laugh's eventually died down and Lune could roughly make out between the fangs that made short work of the plank not long ago was Racheal's spell twisted mouth, smiling with a less-than-inkling beak.

"You got me…" Racheal looked around. Her pretty face was tearing up, though if it was from the cinnamon of the fact she was trapped on fly paper and her tentacles were ruined, she couldn't tell. "Man, I thought you didn't have the tentacles to prank anyone, but it looks like you can when you're motivated. I'm impressed."

"Wow thanks Rach-"

"Now before anything, you mind getting me down from here before this stuff messes up my tentacles?"

Yeah that's her.

"Well well well!" Sera said as the two climbed up the graveyard hillside, "You got them all." Sera collected the spider girl from Lune. Well then, while I cleanse my curse off her, why don't we chat the time away.

Lune looked at her with slight suspicion but decided to humor her.

Sera let out a hearty chuckle. "I appreciate the trust all things considering."

As Racheal was having her body reverted, Lune looked down at her now-filthy sheet. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"You know I have to say, for a reluctant troublemaker you sure were quite brave about this whole thing," Lune raised a brow but kept focus on her feet. "I. wouldn't have expected to save the people who tried to convince you to do what you didn't want to do. More so, after I had my fun with them."

"…they're my friends. I'd do anything for them…"

"Well all things considering, you nearly became a specter here, had you not have that charm with you. Who gave that to you anyways?"

Lune thought back to before her adventure when she found it. Back when someone bumped into her and seemingly vanished then and there.

"I honestly don't know."

"Well," Sera sighed exasperatedly. "I suppose that will be something I contemplate for the rest of my slumber." She finished her task and looked to the two of them.

"Go! And never return to this realm of the dead till your time has come!"

Racheal had muttered something along the lines of, "Don't have to tell me twice!" And faded out of this realm.

As Lune prepared to leave she could here Sera whisper into her ear.

"…be… well…"

Lune seemed to wake up from a trance as she realized she was behind a bush. She wondered why she had been standing behind a bush before she realized what happened to her and her friends. Going up into her apartment, she looked at the beautiful charm that was given to her, it's gold frame with small garnet spheres set into it glinting off the Splatoween moon.

Smiling to herself, she opened the door and greeted her mom and friends.