Spooky Scary Skeletons

[meesh]

It was a dark and stormy night... no, no, that wasn't it. It was in fact a fairly warm night. The warmth of the sun during the day seemed to have had its lasting effects, and now the night was warm, but not unpleasantly so. A very light breeze passed through the air, and the sky was perfectly clear, lit by a beautiful cresent moon. It was a perfect kind of night. The kind of night no one could possibly get spooked by. And yet, a young pokemon had been spooked enough to be willing to pay someone to check out the area for them.

The large stone tower had been aptly named - the almost blinding guiding lights perched on top gave the Beacon its ability to be visible from almost anywhere. It also lit up the area around it: empty, but for the stone tower that towered over the skies. What could possibly be scary out here?

Well, the sun had only just set. Perhaps it was time to find out.

---

Maximus

[Maximus]

Aaaah, what a nice night. Perfect for relaxing.

Or keeping watch for a scary man-eating demon while isolated at the top of a big stone tower where nobody can reach you easily if you're being devoured, all because some kid's friends decided to scare the living daylights out of them with some stupid urban legend. Either or.

Well, okay. To be fair, it wasn't like Maximus had been forced into accepting this mission. Far from it--in fact, the rumor'd intrigued him so much that he'd taken the job just to investigate it for himself. If anything, he was the one to blame for the fact that he was now stuck pacing around at the top of the Beacon, waiting for some shadowy entity to materialize and gobble him up. It's just... he wouldn't have signed up for this if he had known that it was gonna be such a nice night. But he hadn't. And now he was stuck here.

The Tyrunt flicked his tail and snorted. Stopping short, he shot a look in both directions before calling, "Hey! Demons! I'm right here. Come out already so I can whoop your butts then get on with my life." He followed up by sticking his rump as high in the air as he could and wiggling it around. "Come out, come out, wherever you are! Hey!"

[meesh]

As the Tyrunt shouted his words and wriggled his rump in the air, the breeze stilled, only momentarily, before another, colder one kicked in. His words echoed through the vast emptiness that surrounded the Beacon, and as they faded into silence...

Nothing happened. The breeze died down again after a few moments, and Maximus was left alone, behind in the air and perhaps looking a bit foolish for his efforts. A passing couple of Sableyes paused and gave the Tyrunt a weird look before continuing on home for the day. Apart from the sound of the breeze kicking up and then dying back down again, a relatively soft noise.

Well, that had been...anticlimatic. Maximus was now left with a variety of choices, however. He could simply wait here for something to happen, or try taunting the air again. Or he could search around for some sort of ghost or goblin - there was foliage and the like off to the distance where hiding was certainly possible. Or he could do any other manner of things. Still, the clock had yet to strike midnight, and for now, Maximus was on his own.

[Maximus]

"That's what I thought." Maximus lowered his tail and snorted, leaning against the railing of the overlook. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of movement, and he turned his head to get a better look--but no, no scary dangerous man-eating demon. Just two Sableyes staring at him like he'd just sprouted another head. "What!" he called down at them. "I'm trying to work here!"

When it became clear that the Sableyes weren't gonna stick around to chat, Max sighed and continued pacing around the tower. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot... still nothing, still quiet as ever. Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot... boring, boring, boring, BORING.

Okay! You know what! That was it! If the super scary demon wasn't gonna come to him, then he was gonna come to the super scary demon. Searching in the bushes would be better than just waiting around, even if Max didn't find anything. At least nosing around would pass the time faster. What time was it, anyways?

He made his way to the stairs and climbed down, making sure he didn't lose his footing on the crumbling steps. Once at the bottom he struck out for the foliage closest to him. "Helloooo-ooooo? Anybody there?"

[meesh]

The Sableyes offered him a few more weird looks, but no more comments as they headed home. They were soon orgotten though as the Tyrunt made his way to the foliage, rummaging through the bushes. If running around yelling for a demon wasn't very effective, neither was burying his nose in bushes. Rather, it caused Max to inhale a fair amount of pollen, a sure ticket to sneezing hell. Even Maximus's call was met with silence, the wind not even having the decency to kick up again in response. Honestly, among the odd jobs Max could have picked, this was looking like it was going to be the most boring.

That's when he heard it. A soft whoooo. It sounded like it was coming a little farther down in one direction. But unlike a spooky noise one would expect, there was no mistaking this. It was the high sound of a youngling whooing from off in the dark, followed by an ever so slight giggle. If Max looked around, perhaps he would be able to spot the culprit... or perhaps he wouldn't.

Maximus

[Maximus]

"Nothing! Absolutely noth--ACHOO. ACHOO."

The force of his sneezes threw Maximus off balance, and he landed unceremoniously on his rump. Okay, genius, he thought to himself, rubbing his smarting tush, next time let's not stick your nose directly in a flower patch. He took several lungfuls of air and snorted forcefully several times to clear his lungs of pollen.

Well, that went spectacularly well. Guess there really wasn't anything spooky going on around here. "Kids just being kids," he muttered. With a grunt, he hauled himself back up on his feet and turned around to return to his post at the top of the beacon.

Whoooooooooo.

Max stopped short, goosebumps prickling at his skin. That was... what was that?

He turned back towards the noise, his heart racing--and there it was again. That noise. The unmistakable noise of a haunted man-eating demon--but wait.

He pushed the unsettling thoughts out of his mind and forced himself to listen closer. Whoooooooooo. There it was again! But it was... high pitched? And now it was giggling? Did demons giggle?

The Tyrunt narrowed his eyes. There was something fishy going on here. "Who's there?" he called, making his way to the undergrowth once more. "Show yourselves! Or I'll, I'll eat you!" Do giggling demons even taste good?

meesh

[meesh]

The whooing noise abruptly stopped as Max made his threat, followed by some hasty shuffling as whoever it was tried to avoid his gaze. The shuffling got more frantic as the Tyrunt stepped even closer to the undergrowth until Max heard a sharp "Ouch!" and a Cacnea rolled out of the bushes, caught between wincing in pain at the fall and giggling at her amazing prank. "I totally gotcha!" she crowed, tears of mirth leaking from her eyes. "You were totally gonna cry! This is even funnier than scaring that Emolga brat, I scared a grown up." she announced, pleased as punch with herself and not at all concerned that an adult pokemon had just threatened to eat her.

"Okay, so if you go back to Emolga you can't tell her about me, kay? Tell her about the super scary demon you saw." she told Max hopefully.

Maximus

[Maximus]

"A-ha!" Maximus gazed down at the Cacnea in triumph. "Gotcha!"

This was great! Awesome! Now he could go home and spend the evening doing anything that was not this, then collect his reward for a job well done the next day. And once Emolga knew that it was all a dumb prank orchestrated by her friends, maybe she'd dump them in a ditch and get some new ones. A win-win situation!

"Wait. What!" Surprise at the Cacnea's words made his voice louder than he'd meant it to be. "Nuh-uh! I wasn't gonna cry! How dare you lie like that!" He stamped his foot on the ground several times, wishing he could knock some respect into this prickly kid. "You just startled me, alright!

"And one more thing." Looming over the Cacnea, Maximus put on the scariest scowl he could manage. "Why would I do that? Let you off the hook? Real explorers don't lie. We catch the crook and put 'em in jail. I should put you in jail!" He pointed dramatically at the "super scary demon" to accentuate his words. "You wanna go to jail? I hear children're a delicacy there."

meesh

[meesh]

Cacnea's grin faded into a worried frown as the Tyrunt berated the younger pokemon. The cactus-pokemon was even starting to look a little worried as jail was mentioned, shifting uncomfortably. "I didn't mean no harm by it." she mumbled, staring down at the ground and scuffing her arm against the dirt. "Those rumors have been going around for weeks and she's the only one who believes them, it's not like we were gonna do more than spook her." she looked up at Max pleadingly. "Please don't jail m-"

Her words caught in her mouth. Her eyes grew wide and she suddenly looked terrified. "DEMON!" she screeched, pointing behind Max.

Yeah right. Yet another prank- at least until Max felt the heavy breathing of...something..at his back. He turned just in time to see it, a gastly hovering at about face level. But the Gastly's eyes weren't bright with intelligence, but rather dull and aggressive, not unlike something one would find in the dungeon. And the Gastly looked angry...and ready to attack.



(Maximus )

[Maximus]

"No harm?" Maximus sniffed. "Y'think there's no harm in scaring your friend silly? I should cuff you right n--"

His words were cut off by the Cacnea's earsplitting screech. If Max had had fur, it would have jumped out of his skin. "What! Didn't we just go over this! There's no such thing as a demon! You can't just pull the same prank tw..." What... what was that sensation on the back of his neck? "Tw..." God, no. there couldn't be anything behind him, besides maybe another little brat trying to scare him again. Well, he wouldn't fall for it a second time. Frowning, Max whirled around to face the--

"...Twice..."

The DEMON.

A strangled cry came from somewhere in his throat, and he stumbled backwards, nearly falling over the Cacnea in his scramble to get away from the Ghastly. "Wh-what the hell! Who are you!" Another kid? What the hell kind of friends did that Emolga have? "If this is another prank then I'm so gonna kill you."

But no. There was something off about this Ghastly. Max squinted. There was a lifeless look to its eyes, as if it was being driven by pure instinct alone. It was like... like...

Oh, shit. Like the Pokemon in the wilds.

"Stay behind me!" he barked, shifting his body so that Cacnea was hidden from the Ghastly. A grimace split his lips. "Don't worry. I'll keep you safe. I'm an explorer. Just stay calm." He didn't mention how he could barely stay calm himself. His heart rate was through the roof.

Damn. I only got one move for this guy. Oh well. He'd just have to make do. Cracking his jaws ever so slightly open, he readied his attack, feeling the tingle of electricity around his lips as his Thunder Fang charged.

A split second later, he launched himself in the air, directly at the Ghastly. "Leave us alone!" he yelled, opening his jaws wide and snapping it shut again as he came within range.

meesh

[meesh]

Gastly, like all ghost types, were known for their demonic cackling. But this one wasn't laughing now. It simply floated forward, eyes dull, face twisted into a sneer even as its eyes remained dull and lifeless. It slowly came forward, raising a single hand. The hand began to crackle with a blue energy, the air in the area cooling down until Max was shivering. The now ice covered hand formed into a fist, which went flying (disconnected from the Gastly too - spoopy) directly at the Tyrunt, sending him stumbling backwards a few paces.

That ice punch had done a lot. But then it was the Tyrunt's turn. Max's Thunder Fang, powered up with his Strong Jaw ability, caused his teeth to crackle with white and gold sparks as the explorer bit down hard on the gastly. Only now did Gastly's expression change, its face taking on a look of agony as the thunder fang took effect.



Gastly uses Ice Punch on Maximus! Max takes 10 damage!
Max hp 12/22

Max uses Thunder Fang on Gastly! Gastly takes 13 damage!
Gastly hp 8/21

Maximus

[Maximus]

"Ow! Cold! Ow!"

Max stumbled backwards, rubbing the spot where the spectral hand had connected with his face. Through the puffs of fog that billowed out of his mouth--breath clouds! In summer!--he could see the Ghastly's cold, dead eyes staring straight at him. He shivered, though not because of the sudden cold. This guy wasn't messing around.

It was then that Max made his first attack, and he felt a thrill of satisfaction as his Thunder Fang connected. He disengaged soon after, skidding to a halt behind the other Pokemon.

Without pausing, he turned on the balls of his feet to face the Ghastly. You think you can defeat me! Maximus! He felt the familiar spark of electricity as he prepared another attack. I'll show you! No demon can eat the great Maximus! I won't let them!

He opened his jaws wide and tilted back his head. Then, with a grunt, the Tyrunt flung it straight towards his adversary.

CHOMP.

Maximus used Thunder Fang!
meesh

[meesh]

The second chomp did the trick. With an unearthly howl, the Gastly blew away as fog, leaving Maximus and the Cacnea alone by the Beacon.

Well that had been odd... but the 'demon' that had so long been plaguing the area had been vanquished. And as for Maximus, well, that was a job completed!

---

Gastly faints!
Maximus gains 1 Atk EV
Maximus gains 68 exp!
Maximus levels up to 7!!!

+3 Health
+2 Attack
+2 Defense
+1 Sp. Attack
+1 Sp. Defense
+1 Speed


ODD JOB COMPLETED!
Maximus earns and ₽50, plus another extra ₽25 for being the first to complete an odd job!

Logs updated!

Maximus