Chapter Six: Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts
The six fighters that had made up the rag-tag search team all emerged from their hotel doors at the exact same time, each of them accompanied by a member of the missing six. They looked between each other, somewhat startled by the eerie synchronised timing of their returns.
"Min...!" Ribbon Girl smiled brightly, hurriedly running into her ARMS.
She hugged her back quite tightly. "Was worried 'bout you!" She smiled.
"I-I was climbing the hotel a-a-and there was a storm a-and..." Ribbon Girl stammered out quickly.
"Yikes, a storm? " Min Min looked at her. "Were you alright?" She had plenty of experience with Ribbon Girl's fear of lightning, given the various stormy nights they had shared before.
"K-Kinda...?" Ribbon Girl grit her teeth. "N-Not really, though. I-It was very close - very close - a-and I couldn't grip the hotel well, a-and I fell..." She pointed a thumb back at Bat-Ninjara, who was now chatting with Spring Man. "Ninjara caught me, though! Thank god."
"I guess these rooms were based on our fears..." Min Min muttered, looking back at the doors with their names written on them.
"...Did you see any clowns?" Ribbon Girl's eyes widened.
"Oh, yeah, lots. " Min Min bit her lip. "I'm not doing all that again."
Meanwhile, Twintelle turned to Mechanica and quietly wiped a tear from the young girl's face. "Are you coping alright, with all of that?"
"Mm..." She sniffled again, nervously readjusting the bow on her Carrie Fernandez outfit again. "Th-Thank you, f-for standing up for me a-and stuff..."
Twintelle shrugged. "I hope they don't actually bully you like that. They were far too inconsiderate."
"I-It's usually fine, I-I think. I mean, they're nicer for real. Well, most of them, at least." She smiled softly.
Kid Cobra approached Min Min after she and Ribbon Girl had finished their hug. "Yo, dawg, I've just had the craziest dream."
"You and me both, dude." Min Min shrugged, folding her ARMS. "And Ribs. Looks like we've all been stuck in our own personal little hells.
"Not me." Spring Man shrugged, approaching too. "I mean, I wasn't really happy to watch Kid Cobra suffer, but it wasn't my nightmare."
"That's so unfair." Min Min shook her head. "We get nightmares for comin' to rescue ya? Should have left when we had the chance."
"Well we do have the chance now... " Ribbon Girl butt-in. "We've saved everyone, why don't we all go home?"
Spring Man shrugged. "Usually that's Coyle's call to make. She might have a bone to pick with the ghost thing."
"Yeahhhh..." Min Min sighed. "Why do I get the feeling she does? "
Master Mummy pat Max Brass on the back heartily, who then steadily approached Coyle. "H-Heya, hun."
"Zip it, I'm busy." Coyle wiped off another glob of Helix goo from her shoulder, not even looking at him. She walked over to the more central area of the crowd. "Right! We're all together again but we're not done yet. Someone or something set this all up, and I'm not a fan of its little mindgames. Our first order of business is to find the-"
The lights in the hallway all suddenly cut off again, making some of them gasp.
"Oh please don't snatch more people!" Ribbon Girl whined through her teeth.
A bright blue flash appeared above them as the spirit returned once again. They all watched in awe as it flew around in a figure-eight, wailing and-
Suddenly the spirit disappeared entirely as a cracking sound was heard by the back wall. The lights came back on and everyone - thankfully with no one freshly missing - turned to see Coyle bent down at a small robotic spider-like thing lying by a dent in the wall.
"I should have known..." Coyle sighed, picking it up in her hand. It was broken now - she had kicked it against the wall, apparently. " This is a little projector device combined with some mechanical legs. I'm sure you all remember our recently deceased friend?" She withdrew Springtron's black box from her pocket. "I thought it was strange of him to self destruct for a weak gag. Looks like he built this thing, hid it inside himself, and then launched it into the room when he went bang." She pointed to the large circular lense at the front of it. "This is what was projecting the ghosts we saw. There was never a real spirit."
The rest of them stared at her blankly. "B-But..." Ribbon Girl began. "What about the rooms that teleported us to other places?"
"Those weren't teleports." She shrugged. "They simply knocked you out and gave you a nightmare. Probably some sort of gas in the doorframes."
"No, we saw people disappear when we walked through the doors!" Min Min pointed out.
"And six of us got teleported outta the party, too!" Ninjara added.
"Okay, okay, calm down." Coyle glared. "I don't have all the answers yet, but there's a logical reason for everything. There's no such thing as ghosts. It was probably just a collective hallucination or a joint computer simulation or a-"
Everyone jumped back suddenly as another spirit - this one far more life-like - appeared behind Coyle.
She raised an eyebrow, and turned over her shoulder. Her eyes lit up and she jumped back far. "A-A-A REAL GHOST! " She yelped.
They all quickly ran off, their legs becoming figure-eights as they ran. Max Brass, at the front of the line, kicked down a door that said 'stairwell'. They all ran through and up the stairs, leading straight onto the roof.
"G-God, that thing was not a p-projection!" Min Min panted, scared out of her skin.
"I-I-It was pr-probably j-just..." Coyle rattled, trying to think of something, as she looked around for it coming after them.
Suddenly the spirit reappeared overhead - it looked like an old man, but far more ghoulish, with long white hair and dark pits for eyes. It floated above, shining green, as it spoke to them all. " ." It wailed.
"Y-Yeah?" Kid Cobra glared. "Well, here comes the real future Snakeboarding World Championship champ!" He swung at it, but his ARM simply phased right through it.
"Wh-What do we do?" Ribbon GIrl asked, directed mostly at Coyle but happy to take an answer from any of them.
"I-I don't know! " Coyle stammered, looking up at it.
"H-How do we go about fighting an evil spirit...?" Mechanica squealed. "W-We'd need some sort of good spirit on our side... We'd need-"
"THE MISANGAN SPIRIT IS WITH YOU!" Bellowed Misango, emerging from the stairwell doorway with excellent timing, his purple-and-pink Brite Bomber costume reflecting in the moonlight. "AND THE MISANGAN SPIRIT COMMANDS..." He struck a finger to the ghost above. "...THAT YOU TAKE PHYSICAL FORM! "
The ghost screeched, and suddenly began to flash. The green glow surrounding it dimmed until it was no more, and the being looked more solid .
"That's more like it!" Max Brass grinned. "Hey, oldie! " He called out to it, pulling back a fist. "I AIN'T AFRAID OF NO GHOSTS! "
The spirit scrunched its face in anger, and suddenly an electrical field shot out around the fighters, dropping Max's punch before it could reach its target.
It laughed as it hung over them all, with their ARMS laying limp on the floor. Mechanica turned quickly to Twintelle - the only other fighter present who had a pair of regular arms too - but Twintelle just shrugged at her.
Mechanica gulped. "Alright, then... I guess it's up to me. " She unclipped a ribbon from the side of her dress and whipped it over at the ghost. It struck it hard, sending the spirit falling to the floor.
The electrical field dispersed and everyone regained their ARMS again. Punches shot forward, colliding with the spirit in several mighty hits. More of them pulled back to send their ARMS out, but were cut off suddenly by the spirit begging for mercy.
"Wh-Whait, please!" It called out in an oddly normal voice. "Ph-Phlease don't hit me noh more!"
They lowered their ARMS puzzled, before Master Mummy slowly walked forward. "Hold on... I recognise that voice!" He grabbed the spirit by the head and pulled - removing a Halloween mask.
Kid Cobra gasped sharply, and everyone turned to him. "...Wait! Wait, no..." He muttered. "No, I have no idea who the hell that is. Whoops." The others glared at him.
Master Mummy pointed at the 'spirit's' face. "This is the guy that I reserved the hotel from! He's the hotel owner!"
"Gahhh, ya ghot me!" He sighed. "I was tryin' to give the hotel a spookier vibe, thought it'd mhake for a ghood story... Buisness has been pretty bhad recently. No guests bheen comin' in... I couldn't even afford ta kheep the other staff members!" He shook his head sadly. "I fhigured some ARMS fhighters tellin' shcary shtories 'bout the place might liven up buisness a bit..."
Coyle stared in awe. "That... That sounds like a plot from-"
"Ahnd the whorst thing-" He continued. "Is that I whoulda gotten away with it if it weren't for yous meddling kids! "
Coyle briefly considered jumping straight off the hotel's roof, but narrowly decided against it.
"So, wait, how did you do all those things? " Lola asked, an eyebrow raised.
He shrugged. "Mhostly a mix of teleports ahn' nightmare gasses..."
Coyle considered jumping again.
Suddenly a bright array of red and blue lights shined out from below. They peered over the roof's bannister and saw a whole station's worth of police cars, with BYTE & BARQ at the forefront.
"Guess that sorta that out, then." Min Min shrugged. "TAKE HIM AWAY, BOYS!~" She called out.
"I mean, has he actually committed any crimes...?" Ribbon Girl asked. "Like, legally?"
Min Min shrugged. "I'm just trying to get home faster, honestly. I'm sick of seeing Misango dressed like that."