In time for Halloween. A chapter that could've been used in DE instead of that "To Be Continued" one, that found a home here in SC.

The Challenge:

October 31, classified location, Unova…

White whistled to herself as she read over the document on her laptop. It was time for the end-of-the-month evaluations of her employees and her companies' financial standings.

And for the first time in seemingly forever, everything looked to be in fantastic state. The net income was through the roof, and all of her employees have worked really well this month. In fact, she was going to give raises to a lot of them.

White smiled brightly. She was in such a good mood today! Nothing could ruin it. She quickly typed up the evaluations of her employees. Most would be covered by the vice presidents and their assistants, but she always typed up some evaluations personally.

White glanced at the clock. It was noon, and she was almost done with all of her work today. After she finished… she didn't have any plans. Maybe she'd rest by watching the television, or just… nap.

There was a small blip from her computer as she received an email. She opened it and quickly read it. Hmm… apparently, those responsible for the delivery of some Pokéstar Studios products were involved in an accident and were unable to deliver. 200 packages would not be delivered at this rate.

White frowned. Those packages had to be delivered by today, or her company's reputation would fall. Well, it looked like she was going to have to handle the delivery personally. She replied to the email, stating that she would handle the delivery herself and resumed her work.

By the time she finished, her Xtransceiver beeped as it received a call. She pressed the button to receive the call and Black's face appeared on the screen.

"Hi, Black!" White said with a beaming smile, happy to see him. "What's up?"

"Hey, Miss President," Black said with a smile too. "I just wanted to see if you were doing anything today."

"Yeah… it looks like I have to deliver 200 packages to customers," White answered with a sigh. "The delivery guys were in an accident, so… I have to cover for them."

"Oh. That sucks. Need help?"

"That would be nice," White said. "Even with aerial transport, delivering 200 packages is… quite tiresome."

"Oh, I have an idea!" Black said. "Why don't we… have a little competition?"

"Like what? See who delivers their half fastest?"

"No, no. It's more like… I give you a challenge, and you give me a challenge. Whoever finishes their challenge first wins. And the loser gets to do whatever the winner tells them to do."

"… Okay… what kind of challenge?"

"I'll deliver all 200 packages for you," Black said. "By today. That's my challenge. And for you… how about… you beat a video game that I give you?"

White let out a laugh. "So let me get this straight," she said with a grin. "You have to deliver 200 packages to customers scattered around southern Unova, ALL before the day ends, and all I have to do is… beat a game?"

"Yeah," Black said. "And whoever loses has to do whatever the winner says."

"Isn't that a bit unfair?" White asked with a slight frown.

"Maybe you're right," Black said. "After all, we all know how terrible you are at video games. This little game might take you 3 weeks."

White's eyes twitched a bit. "Oh, we'll see about that!"

Black kept his smug expression. "Let me know if the game gets too hard and you want to give up."

"Hmph. Yeah, right."

"So we have a deal?"

"You bet. You're on!"

"Great! I'll see you in a bit. You can give me the list of addresses and what packages I'm delivering, and I'll give you the game."

"Alright. I'll see you soon!"

White hung up and stretched her arms and legs. Now that the delivery was taken care of, she suddenly felt so relieved. Again, nothing could possibly ruin the day.

Black came to her place an hour later, as promised. By then, White had received the packages that needed to be delivered and the list of addresses.

"So this is all the stuff, huh?" Black asked as he stared at the handful of large boxes stacked in White's living room.

"Yeah. The package is just a small box of merchandise," White said. "But 200 of them. For transportation, the small boxes are placed in larger boxes, which are placed in even larger boxes, which are then placed in the giant transportation boxes."

"So we got a box in a box in a box in a box. I got it." He suddenly put on a smug expression. "So. Are you ready to lose the bet?"

"Pff. Yeah right. Bring it on."

Black held up a small data storage device. "The game's on here. But be sure to put on headphones and turn the lights off before you play. With headphones, you'll get to hear the subtle hints much better, and with the lights off, you'll see the subtle movements on screen much easier. You'll need all the help you can get."

"Just give me that," White said as she snatched the device from him. "You won't be so smug when you lose the bet!" She gave him her house key. "Here's my key. That way, you'll be able to come in here to take the next batch of packages without needing me to open the door."

"Thanks. Now, ready, set, GO!"

White quickly rushed up to her room while Black dragged a giant box closer towards the front door. Once White shut the door to her room, Black clamped a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from bursting into laughter. Oh, she fell for it! This was going to be amazing.

Black opened the front door and had his Emboar carry the giant boxes outside one by one. He had called in a little favor from Skyla. And the Mistralton Gym Leader had sent a small squadron of assistants over, who would help him with the deliveries. Of course, White didn't know about this, so the squad had to wait outside until Black gave them the signal to start delivering.

Black gave them the signal and took the several small boxes that he would deliver personally. He still had to make it look like he worked, after all.

Meanwhile, White did as instructed. She shut the lights off in her room, and shut the blinds and the curtains. Her room was now really dark, to the point where she wouldn't be able to see anything, if her laptop wasn't running. She sat down on her chair and put the headphones on also as instructed.

She stuck the data storage device into her laptop and opened it up. She saw the game executable and double clicked.

"I can't wait to wipe that smug smile off of his face," she muttered as the game loaded up in fullscreen. She jumped in surprise when the game's music blasted in her ears, and lowered the volume a little. "That's better." With a sigh of relief, she clicked the option to start a new game, and another rather scary sounding burst of music blasted in her ears. And at that moment, a thought flashed across her mind. '… Did Black just give me a horror game?' White blinked a few times as she read and heard the opening lines of the game. '… Yes, he did. … Oh no… … That jerk…'

…

Several hours later, 11 pm…

…

Black slowly and carefully inserted the key into White's front door lock. He took his time, as this visit had to be perfect. He paused for a moment after each tick the lock made, until the key was fully inserted. He pressed his ear to the door. No movements inside. Good.

He carefully and quietly opened the door and entered. He took a few seconds to stand idle and focus on his hearing. He could hear White whimpering from upstairs. Yep. It was happening.

With a snicker, Black quietly closed the door and locked it. He took off his shoes and slowly crept upstairs. This had to be done perfectly quietly. He quietly approached White's room and again, spent a few seconds focused on his hearing. He scratched at the door with his fingernail and waited. No response. Good. Once he was sure that he wouldn't be detected, he quietly opened the door. The room was dark, as White had kept the lights off. As instructed.

He spotted the girl at her desk, with her shoulders bunched up. She had headphones on, so Black wasn't going to be heard. She was looking at the computer monitor, and even from behind, he could tell that she was terrified. But she kept playing the game. She was either super stubborn, or was determined to win this challenge.

Black clamped his hands over his mouth to stifle a laugh. Oh, this was just… hilarious. Of course, she wouldn't think so. But that was a later concern.

White suddenly let out a scream. In the game, she started to run as fast as she could manage. She glanced backwards in the game and spotted a… freaky figure chasing after her, and she screamed once more.

"No, no, no! Leave me alone!" White shrieked out. The figure lashed out at her and the screen went red as she took a hit. "AHHH! No!"

She let out another shriek as she was killed in the game. She then let out a whimper like groan as she stared at the dark screen. Black waited until the game resumed.

"Stupid game," White mumbled, her voice quite hoarse after a full day of screaming at the top of her lungs. "This is impossible… but I can't lose to Black…" With a sigh, she began to move her character in the game again.

Black waited until White's character had advanced further into the game before making his move. He slowly went up close to her and let out a dark, inhuman growl next to her ear. White gasped and froze. And for a moment, it looked as if she was trying to determine whether that growl was from her headphones or… from something in her room. Black silently snickered for a little bit before he growled even louder and put his hands a little roughly on her waist.

White let out an absolutely bloodcurdling scream and curled up into a ball. Black burst into laughter as he couldn't hold it in anymore. For a while, he laughed to his heart's content, as White slowly realized what was going on. She took off her headphones and swiveled around in her rotating chair.

Black saw her murderous glare, but couldn't stop himself from laughing. White slowly rose to her feet and took a step towards him. Black slowly stopped laughing, but had to try really hard to prevent himself from bursting into laughter.

"You JERK!" White screamed as she furiously slapped him on his arm. "You jerk! How could you do that to me?!"

"I'm sorry!" Black said while laughing again. "I couldn't help it. You know what day it is today!"

"You monster! You almost gave me a heart attack!" She took a glance at the game. "… You win, Black! I can't play that anymore. Alright? You win the bet!"

Black snickered some more as he tried his best to not laugh. "Uh… about that… I cheated. I got Skyla to help me in the deliveries. With the help of her assistants, all 200 packages were delivered… 6 hours ago. And since I cheated, you win by default."

White's mouth gaped open. "… What?! You… you made me play that game for NOTHING?!" She resumed furiously slapping his shoulder. "You monster! I'm going to have nightmares thanks to you!" She pressed her hands on her forehead and closed her eyes. "Ugh… I won't be able to sleep tonight…" She glanced at the clock and groaned. "Oh, no! It's so late! I have to go to sleep now! But… I can't thanks to you!"

"Sorry." Black cleared his throat. "Well, you won, Miss President. So now you get to tell me what to do! Not that THAT is anything new. Am I right?"

"You're so mean…" White said with a sigh. "… Look… Can you just… spend the night here? Just sleep over. Because I won't be able to sleep alone today."

"If you wish," Black said. "Since I lost the bet, I have to obey."

White grumbled something incoherent before she shut off her computer and went to sit on her bed. She cast a quick glare at Black. "You sleep on the floor."

"Yes, Miss President."

Several minutes later, White had finished preparing for the night. She gave Black just one sleeping bag, obviously still feeling a bit angry at being tricked into playing a horror game for absolutely nothing. Black accepted the sleeping bag and fell asleep provokingly quickly.

For a short while, White glared at him before she tried to sleep as well. But every time she closed her eyes, she imagined being chased by that monster from that game. … This was going to be a long night.

A couple of hours later, Black woke up from his sleep. He slowly turned towards White's bed. The girl seemed to have finally fallen asleep. Black slowly grinned as a dastardly prank came into his mind.

He let out his impersonation of that dark evil growl from the horror game. He continued until he heard White gasp and quickly pretended to be asleep. He could hear White moving around on her bed and pinched himself from inside the sleeping bag to stop himself from snickering.

"Black?" came White's voice from the side. Black kept pretending to be asleep. "Black? … Did you hear that?"

Black didn't respond, and soon heard the girl getting off the bed. She gently shook him. He pretended to snore.

White let out a sigh of relief. Maybe that growl was just Black's snores. She certainly wanted to think that.

She was about to crawl back onto her bed when she noticed that Black looked really happy while asleep. She smiled a bit as she watched him. He looked quite cute… She couldn't resist the urge. She slowly reached towards his cheek with her hand…

Black suddenly opened his eyes and jumped towards her with his arms stretched out, and shouting: "BOO!"

There was a deafening scream that probably woke up everyone within a 5 km radius. And as Black covered his head with his hands to protect himself from White furiously whacking him with her pillow, he realized that… just perhaps, he spent a little too much time hanging out with Gold and Emerald.

The thought of this chapter occurred as I watched a playthrough of a horror game, with the player screaming and swearing really loudly. And I thought: "what if Crystal, White, or Y were… tricked or forced into playing this kind of game?" And thus the chapter was created. Could've been better with Gold & Crystal. But I have a feeling that THAT would result in broken bones at the end.