She walked alone through the forest, her breath shaking nervously.

All around her, the trees stood tall, their branches outstretched like claws reaching out to snatch prey, devoid of the leaves that lay upon the ground with the color orange in the place of their usual green.

Melony looked around herself, cold chills crawling up her spine. She was on a nature walk; she needed some time alone to think.

It had been several days since the battle with Zero, since she and the others lost him. And Melony never forgot, she was the one who delivered that fateful blow, she wasn't strong enough to save him from the virus's grasp. The events often haunted her, every waking hour, even in her dreams as well.

Despite recovering from what had happened, Melony had vowed she would do what she could to keep her friends safe, to avoid a repeat of what happened to Axol.

She walked on, exploring the woods, testing the limits of her bravery of walking alone. She may have had the mentality of a young girl, but she was older, she'd changed a lot since her days as a watermelon that wore Inkling headgear. Melony was more capable of anything than ever, who gave a damn about her mentality?

Dark clouds rolled across the orange sky, the sun was fading behind the mountains and the stars were emerging. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the air felt chilly, a breeze floated through the woods and leaves flew past Melony as she shivered from the chills she was getting.

'C'mon, Melony. Relax...' The watermelon-turned human told herself, 'There's nobody out to get you.'

OWOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Sharp battle reflexes kicked in, Melony wheeled around, eyes wide. Her sword appeared in her hand, she waved it around, her eyes glancing left and right as she looked at the forest surrounding her. There was that feeling, someone was watching, preparing to attack...

Or it was just her nerves.

Melony soon relaxed and sheathed her weapon; she turned around and kept walking through the dark forest. The experienced fighter breathed slowly to calm herself, she didn't have to worry about anything for right now. It was just her trauma messing with her, it had to be or she was just nervous out of her mind.

Then, she saw it...

Through the trees, standing atop a small hillside, Melony could see a large mansion, in the middle of nowhere. Usually, that was odd and would raise all kinds of warning signs. Luigi had spoken of his haunted mansion experiences in the past, but Melony was curious about the place.

A wooden sign near a tree caught her attention, Melony brought out a flashlight and looked at it.

"Freddy House." The sign read, "Beware the Bear."

"Huh?" Melony raised an eyebrow.

Creeeaaaaaak!

She wheeled around, the front door of the mansion had slowly opened on its own, and Melony hadn't approached it. She then noticed lights flickering through the windows, whatever this place was, maybe she could investigate and get some haunted mansion experience of her own, test her courage so to speak.

'No.' Melony's instincts warned, 'Turn back, don't go in there!'

And yet, she didn't.

Melony walked up the hillside towards the mansion, her green hair rippling in the evening breeze along with her hoodie. The heels of her boots stepped upon the leaves, making a small crunching sound with every leaf the young girl stepped on as she walked further.

Slowly, steadily and nervously, Melony set foot on the steps of the mansion's front porch, the floorboards creaking softly under her boots.

Without a second thought crossing her mind, despite her instinct's warnings a short notice ago, Melony made her way to the front door and walked through it with her flashlight in hand. She looked inside the foyer of the mansion, shining the beam of light around the hallway as she peaked around the area.

Feeling a teensy bit nervous, Melony took a small step forward over the doormat. She found herself breathing heavily, whatever this place was, it was very creepy.

Ka-Thunk!

Caught by surprise, she turned slowly. The door had closed shut, all by itself, just as it had opened for her even before she'd made her way to the doorstep. Darkness filled the hall, the windows covered in cobweb-ridden red curtains. Melony looked up, seeing a large painting that depicted a red wolf with an eyepatch up above, and shone her flashlight on it.

Ominous shadows danced across the walls, looming over Melony as if a phantom was getting ready to attack its prey at any moment. The watermelon girl whimpered and her gaze darted around the room, she felt like someone was stalking her.

Perhaps, someone was watching her.

She looked up at the painting, the wolf's eye seemed to have moved. It was looking downward, the wolf appeared to be gazing down at something. Melony wondered what was going on, frowning with confusion. She shrugged and looked away, then her eyes widened. Was the picture looking at her?

Melony quickly turned to look up at the painting again, the wolf didn't seem to be gazing downward, it had reverted back to normal.

'Get a grip on your nerves.' She thought.

She turned around and headed towards the stairwell, filled with more curiosity than ever before, feeling tempted to explore the place. The best course of action was to leave, but this mansion was eerily curious and Melony was wondering what this place really was, aside from being just a mansion.

Creeeaaaaaak!

Melony gasped aloud and turned, seeing a door next to her creak open, all on its own. This place, this mansion, was more weird than creepy.

Wait, what was that?

Her eyes locked onto the sight of a red wolf-looking statue right by the door, it looked just like the one in that painting. Wait, how?

She looked back at the painting behind her, the wolf was still there. It couldn't have moved, the subjects of paintings didn't just magically come to life, leave their paintings and walk off somewhere without anybody noticing. That was stupid.

And yet, Peach's Castle was full of magical paintings that served as portals to various landscapes in the world.

Melony smacked herself on the head and turned around to face the open door again. When she did, the wolf had vanished. Melony was alone in the foyer again, nobody else was there but her...

She slowly walked across the hall, towards the door, and shone her flashlight inside the room that awaited on the other side. An inch closer and Melony could see that the place was a laundry room, a pair of clothes sat on a rack, covered in dust.

Someone had not been doing the laundry.

"Pizza."

Confusion, bewilderment, startled. Emotions welled within Melony, she'd heard someone say something, something about pizza. That... that didn't make sense.

Listening closely for the voice, Melony shone the flashlight around the laundry room, looking around carefully. She then saw a strange yellow-colored chicken statue standing by the washing machine, holding a pizza box in its hands.

It had to be fake, but that chicken almost had a robotic look to it and it seemed to be wearing a "Let's Eat" bib around its neck.

Melony looked down at the floor, wondering if she'd stepped on a switch. That statue couldn't have said something on its own, not unless it was rigged to something like a switch. Whomever set up this mansion, they had... a very odd mind.

She took a closer look at the chicken, studying it all over, from its design to anything else that the watermelon-turned fighter could potentially discover. She kept her ears open, listening for that thing to open its beak again.

A shadow loomed and Melony looked up, her flashlight glowing brightly as it shone in the direction she looked in...

That red wolf had appeared again! And this time, it was in the same room as the chicken.

Caught off guard, Melony stifled a gasp and looked at the wolf. Her knees shook, her hand quivered and gripped the flashlight tightly. The red wolf's beak was open, exposing sharp teeth, and it had raised an arm with outstretched claws.

"Piiiizzaaaaaaa!"

She gasped and turned; the chicken was moving. The pizza box in its hands dropped to the floor with a thud, the chicken looked at Melony with eerie red eyes and raised its strange feathery hands as claws emerged. Melony screamed and drew her sword, ready to defend herself.

Chica slashed at the watermelon-turned human, attempting to graze her flesh, and snarled viciously. Melony ducked and rolled between Chica's legs, standing up right behind her. She wheeled around and swung her sword, the blade cut through the living chicken's neck and the head rolled.

"Pi-Pi-Pizzaaaaa... Pizzaaaaaa..." Chica said as its decapitated head rolled. The robot's body was active, it wandered around the room and crashed into the wolf. The wolf's eyes gleamed yellow, indicating that it was alive, and the red creature snarled as it fell over.

The chicken's body collapsed, its legs separated from its body and the remains of Chica's body squirmed on the ground before it shorted out and lay motionless.

However, the horror wasn't done yet!

The wolf, Foxy, made a move for Melony, lunging at her and slashing a hook in her face. Melony ducked her head and sidestepped out of the way, evading Foxy's slicing movement. Foxy pounced, attempting to grab Melony, its teeth gnashing.

Melony raised her sword in defense and the blade pierced Foxy's torso. The wolf looked down, black liquid leaking from his wound and his eyes fizzled out.

A shaking Melony retracted the weapon, watching as Foxy fell to the floor, defeated. She stood alone in the laundry room, surrounded by dusty laundry and two destroyed animatronics. At this point, there wasn't much to see here.

Carefully, she stepped over Foxy's corpse and walked around Chica's remains. Slowly and quietly, Melony left the room, heading back out into the dark foyer.

She then decided to head upstairs. Melony headed towards the staircase and shone the flashlight up the stairs, taking a peek at the next floor above, her eyes wide and alert. Slowly and carefully, she made her way upstairs as thunder boomed outside. Her footsteps echoed through the hall, despite Melony's effort to walk quietly.

Plus, she had a good reason to practice more caution, the events in that room back there had probably just alerted the mansion's other occupants.

Maybe ghosts were waiting to strike at any moment. And if there were any more of those weird statues just like the chicken and the wolf, they could strike at any time. Melony's heart pounded, her skin felt cold and she could feel her knees shaking a bit.

Her climb led the green-haired fighter to the upper floor of the mansion and she looked around the hallway, then she checked the battery in her flashlight.

Luckily, she had plenty of charge.

Wandering the darkness blindly wasn't a good thing, especially in a place like this. Melony did not want to suddenly be ambushed if her flashlight lost power.

Just then, lightning flashed, illuminating the dark mansion and startling the already-nervous watermelon girl. The flashlight dropped out of her hand and she quickly grabbed it before the device hit the ground.

Melony saw a door that was open ajar and slowly walked towards it, her spine tingled and she felt herself shivering a little.

Cautiously, slowly and nervously, Melony walked through the door into another hallway and shone her flashlight through the darkness, wondering what secrets lay in the shadows. She walked forward, shining a light upon a vase near a painting that depicted a bear eating fish, her curiosity perking.

A shadow loomed on the wall near Melony's shadow and shivers ran down her shoulder again. She turned around, spotting a strange-looking bear robot standing by the door. Or perhaps, it was a statue, like a knight in a suit of armor.

She watched it for a while, wondering what was going to happen.

The bear didn't move.

It stood there, silent and motionless, rooted to the spot.

'Oh, thank goodness...' Melony thought, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Feeling eager to explore the place further without incident, she turned away. However, Melony had barely walked a pace down the hall when she heard the door creak on its hinges. She frowned, what was going on now?

Melony turned around...

The robotic bear that previously stood by the door surged towards Melony, staring right at her with red eyes, its clawed hands raised in a menacing manner. The bear snarled and roared in an animalistic manner, intent on bringing harm to the watermelon girl in any way possible.

Melony screamed and took a step back, forgetting she could fight. The bear came closer, gnashing its metallic sharp teeth as its eyes gleamed in a sinister manner. Melony noticed the bear's fur looked tattered in multiple places, exposing metallic parts underneath it's hide, giving off a zombie-like feel from the bear in terms of its terrifying appearance.

Freddy advanced closer, its jaws wide open as it snarled at Melony. Melony whimpered in horror and ran down the hall, the bear gave chase, snarling viciously with the desire to eat her and to maim her as well.

She ran, ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Melony looked around, wondering where she could possibly hide.

Feeling panicked, her mind racing with desperation and her heart filled with fear, Melony turned and ran through a door, closing it behind her and finding herself in a bedroom. She quickly looked around for a hiding spot and her eyes settled on a closet, not many options remained and that bear was getting closer.

Knowing that she very likely had seconds left to live, knowing that her chances were limited, Melony moved for the closet and slid the doors open. The watermelon heard the running footsteps and slipped inside the closet, closing the doors behind her as best she could.

Melony hid among a pile of boxes and breathed quietly, trying to calm herself.

'It'll be okay in the end, it'll be alright...' She thought.

Whatever happened from here, Melony was in survival mode.

And whatever else happened next, if this was the end, then perhaps she would get to see Axol again.

'Oh, Axol.' Melony thought.

Not too long ago, she'd fought a very scary monster that corrupted the manga artist. Now, she was facing monsters in a mansion that were out to take her life and one was outside the door right now.

She heard the knob creak, she heard the door open, the animalistic growl. She saw the shadow; the shadow of the bear and it's menacing red eyes.

She stayed hidden, using the darkness to her advantage, hiding behind the boxes and the clothes in the closet.

She kept quiet, keeping her mouth shut. Not a sound, not a word.

Freddy scanned the room, his eyes agleam. He walked up and down, looking at the bed and at the drawers. He approached the closet and took a peek inside, without going in. Melony's eyes were filled with tears, she held back the urge to sob.

The beast pulled back and turned, scanning the room even further. Melony slowly crawled out of hiding, perhaps she could attack the beast, take him by surprise.

There were many ways to get out of this nightmare, fighting was one of them.

Freddy walked a few paces, unaware that his prey was behind him, hidden in the dark.

Melony waited for the right moment, preparing to draw her sword.

Her enemy looked up and down, looking for his hidden enemy. Then, unable to locate her, he moved towards the door to leave.

'Now...'

Freddy was just about to head out the door when Melony drew her sword and threw it at him with the reflexes of a ninja. The blade pierced the back of Freddy and the bear let off an electronic gasp, taken by surprise. Sparks flew from the robot, his eyes flickered off. And then, he fell over.

She pumped her fist with excitement, a perfect hit.

Melony grabbed her sword and headed for the door; she exited the room. But then, just as she was turning to give her fallen foe one more look...

Red eyes blazed back to life and the beast shot to his feet, roaring with fury!

A scream left her vocal cords, eyes wide with horror, Freddy was still alive and he was more intent on maiming her than ever. She couldn't get rid of him and she had been about to leave, there was only one option left now; RUN!

Freddy lunged at the watermelon girl, his claws tearing through the wall. Melony darted down the hall, back the way she came, right towards the door.

She didn't look back, she could hear him, but looking would be distracting.

Ice-cold blood pumped through her veins, her heart throbbing intensely and her legs were as fast as her mind.

Melony made it to the door and ran towards the stairs as Freddy roared behind her, the sound of his roar recalled horrible memories to Melony; Memories of Zero, memories of what happened to Axol, horrible nightmarish memories.

Melony ran down the stairs and raced for the door in the foyer, Freddy snarled behind her, he had to be catching up. Melony grabbed the knob and twisted it, hoping for the expected result. The door opened, it was unlocked, she had a way out.

Panting with fear, hearing Freddy coming closer, Melony ran outside onto the porch and made a dash towards the woods, leaving the mansion behind her.

She felt tempted to explore more of it, but the place was too dangerous as it was, especially with that thing after her. If she'd stayed longer, terrible things would have happened.

She ran until she'd reached the woods, she'd past the signpost. She looked back, looking at the mansion. It was behind her, that bear must have given up. She was safe!

Turning away, she put away her flashlight and was about to head off when...

A growl reached her ears, it wasn't over yet.

Melony turned, finding herself face to face with Freddy. The beast glared at her, snarling as sparks flew from his back. Melony whimpered, then she raised her sword, her forehead sweating with slight fear. If Freddy wasn't gonna give up, then she had to fight.

Freddy lunged; claws outstretched.

Melony ducked, avoiding the incoming attack.

The beast glared at her, red eyes glowing with fury. Melony took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. Freddy growled, Melony frowned and held her sword with a humph. She was not going to let some bear get the better of her. Once this was done, she was not going anywhere near a horror house like that, ever again.

"Bring it!" Melony said.

Freddy snarled and backed up, growling ferociously. Melony raised her sword in a combat ready position, the two enemies stared at one another intensely.

All or nothing. Whatever came next, only one was walking away.

The tension grew, eyes narrowed. Firm hands gripped the handle of the sword, the wielder's heart beat with dread and anxiety, the beast snarled with hunger. Neither of them could back out of this one by this point, one of them had to end this, now!

With a snarl of fury, Freddy leaped towards Melony, his claws flashing, the watermelon girl was prepared.

The enemy came closer, the distance closed with no time remaining and Melony brought up her sword in one swift motion. The sound of metal cutting through material echoed through the woods, accompanied by a terrifying howl.

Freddy looked into Melony's eyes. Melony stared at him with tense hate, oil tainted the blade of her sword. Oil leaked from Freddy's neck. The monstrous bear's red eyes fizzled, the bear tipped over, his head rolled and Freddy deactivated for good.

Melony sheathed her weapon, standing over the corpse of a terrifying monster.

She gasped and lowered her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. She dropped to her knees, sobbing and gasping, her breath shaking.

Rain poured down upon the woods, Melony knelt there, processing what she'd just gone through. She hugged herself, feeling shaken from the ordeal.

But at least she was alive.

It took some time for her to compose herself, Melony stood, she wiped her eyes and blew her nose. She looked at the mansion, then she looked at the remains of Freddy one last time. Then, she turned and walked way, heading off through the woods for home.

On the ground behind Melony, Freddy's eyes fizzled and gleamed red for a short time. Then, they blacked out as the watermelon girl walked on into the stormy night...

The End