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With a fast pace and a bounce in their step, Hoot and Chopin walked [more like danced] to their destination. ”Aw Chopin! I’m so excited! I’ve never been to a Haunted House before.” Chopin shook his head, ”I don’t think it’s quite like that Hoot.” Hoot shrugged as they approached. Her ears twitched at some of the weird sounds. She wondered what they were, it’s too bad she didn’t. Else she would’ve known to get herself, and Chopin the heck out of there.

They came up to the front door, trying to push it open, but it wouldn’t budge. ”What do we do now, Chopin?” Chopin shrugged, looking the big door up and down. How had anyone lived in this place? It was so cold…so old…so…foggy? He looked around. A small fog…no…a rather big one was coming in. He pumped up his flame a bit. ”Stay close to me.” Hoot nodded, and took a step closer to him. He got a bit closer to the wall, and began side stepping. Hoot held back a giggle, and followed him as they followed the wall all the way around to the corner. They turned, and did the same thing. Hoot shivered, ”What are we doing?” Chopin rolled his eyes, like Hoot should’ve figured it out already. ”We’re following the wall to the back door. This fog is so thick Hoot, if we were to step even an inch away from the wall, we’d probably find ourselves lost.” Hoot was surprised that he had yet to get distracted. As they reached the next corner, they were met by the sound of banging. The bangs were quite distant from each other in time, but were loud and sure of themselves. Hoot’s head tilted. Chopin’s eyes had gone kind of wide [haha, picture a Cyndaquil’s eyes all wide xp]. They poked their heads around the corner, ready to run if they had to, just to find the fog was too thick to see whatever was happening anyway. Chopin sighed, and continued his plan of scaling the wall to keep from getting lost. Hoot followed behind him, her heart pounding in her small chest. As they kept this up, although it was much slower than before, the banging sound grew louder, and Hoot thought, even faster. As they were sure they were right next to it, both of them held their breathe. They took the last step, and realized…it was the door. The back door. Opening and closing. Yet, the eerie way it creeped into closing didn’t meet the noise…something moving like that should be making a ‘click’ sound, not a ‘BABAOOM’ sound. Chopin nearly threw up he was so relieved it was just a door, but Hoot just thought it was still horrifying. Chopin smiled, and waved an arm for her to follow. Hoot groaned, but hurried after him. As they went passed the door, they both stopped. It had given another BABOOM, but this time…it didn’t open back up. Hoot gulped. Chopin leaned in, and in a quick whisper, ”Don’t worry…once we rescue that Natu, we can teleport out of here.” Hoot nodded, and turned around. Not wanting to ever see or think about that door again. Great mission this was turning out to be.

As they walked around the corridor, they noticed small rooms. They’d poke their head in, and see it was just a very small room. Equipped with a water basin, and small rickety raggedy cot. The walls and floors all unfinished wood. Chopin had lowered his flames a bit, not wanting to set the all-wood place on fire. Yet, they needed the light, as it was horrifyingly dark in here. And Chopin’s red and blue flames helped them forget the eerie purple color that was for some reason the Manor’s natural light. Hoot gulped again as she could’ve sworn there was foot steps besides their own, behind them. She walked a bit faster. Chopin did too, but he didn’t say anything about it. He didn’t want to freak Hoot out. He didn’t want to tell her that he felt like they were trapped in this place…

Hoot stopped dead in her tracks, ”Did you say something?” Chopin shook his head. Hoot slowly turned around. Only to be greeted by darkness. Total blackness. Which confused Hoot, what happened to the purple…? Then…in the silence…heels against the wood. At first slow, then rushed. Coming towards them. Hoot cried out and tucked her head into her paws. Electricity charging in her cheeks. Chopin squeaked a bit too, but coughed to try and cover it up. Eyeing Hoot to see if she noticed. Yes, great time to care whether or not Hoot thinks you’re manly, Chopin. He turned his attention back to the footsteps, which, just as they sounded like they were right there in front of them…stopped…Chopin looked around wildly, as did Hoot. Was it gone? What was it? Hoot wanted to run, but didn’t…Just as her ears began to perk, a shadow ball hit her in the face. She flew back, gritting her teeth. Chopin growled and looked for the attacker. That shadow ball came from somewhere. He noticed a light coming from the darkness…getting bigger…? At the last second he realized it was another shadow ball and dodged it. Hoot pushed herself up, and hurried over to Chopin. ”What the hell?!”

Hoot and Chopin began having to dance, or at least that’s what it looked like. Shadow Balls were coming from every angle, every speed. Hoot groaned, Chopin kind of made it into a game…”Show yourself already!” The Shadow Balls ceased…and then the silence and darkness returned…A small chuckle could be heard, and then it approached. As it entered Chopin’s circle of light, it waved a raggy arm. It was a Sableye, ”Hello. Why have you intruded upon our home?” Hoot was surprised at his manners…though she shouldn’t have let her guard down, because the Sableye used Faint Attack. Chopin reared and sent an ember at him, but he disappeared. Just…poof. Chopin growled, ”You alright Hoot?” She nodded, and looked around, ”Where’d that thing go…?” Chopin shrugged. They waited a couple of minutes, waiting for the footsteps to return. But they didn’t. The silence began to eat away at Hoot’s nerves. Her anxiety was beginning to kick in. Chopin noticed, and nosed her to keep walking. ”C’mon Hoot.” Hoot nodded and they kept walking.

A couple of bangs were heard, a couple of cobwebs were walked into. They were still on first floor, and had to somehow manage to get up the thirteenth. From what Hoot could tell, they were still in the slave passages. Well…by slaves, she figured Maids and Butlers. But they always used small staircases, that way the rich didn’t have to see them when they didn’t want to, right? As they walked by a small room, Chopin noticed a system of pulleys, and bells hanging from the wall. He began walking towards that instead. When the masters wanted the maids or butlers, they’d pull a string. That string would go all the way down to the bell, and ring it. There were different bells for different rooms. All the bells were labeled, but the labels were old, moldy, and falling off. Chopin climbed up onto an old, dusty chair, wanting to touch the shiny bell. [Although it wasn’t that shiny anymore]. Just as paw was about to touch it, something pushed him off the chair. As he hit the floor his flames went out, Hoot cried out. ”Hahaha! A new rescue team to play with! You two are such young fools! Fresh meat! Everyone! In positions! Hey you two, there’s some stairs over there. Might wanna take them, we’ve shut and locked off every other way up! Hehehe!” Hoot groaned, ”Why’d you have to get next to those bells…?” Chopin innocently smiled, but Hoot just shook her head. ”Come on…” The ghost-types had made it obvious on where to go, opening the door slowly, letting it squeak, and shedding some reddish light on it. It looked like the door to hell, but they were a rescue team, and they were going to rescue the Natu.

The stairway was narrow, the stairs steep. Hoot had a feeling plenty of people had fallen down these stairs. And something else told her there was lots of death. She began having flashes of deaths, blood, war…an eyeball…a tear of blood falling from it…that’s when she realized she wasn’t thinking those things, someone was putting them there. ”STOP IT!” As she cried out something slapped her, nearly making her fall down the flight of stairs, but Chopin caught her, ”Good thing I walked behind you, eh?” Hoot had always had a balance problem, so Chopin always walked behind her up stairs. She did lose her balance often, but this was not one of those times. A cackle fell through the stairs, ”Come play with me!” Hoot groaned at the voice. Why had they picked THIS mission? Out of all of them…?

Chopin pushed her up the rest of the stairs. Hoot was shutting down, but Chopin needed her to stay with him. As they reached the top steps, the door clicked, and opened on it’s own for them. Well…not on it’s own, but you know what I mean. As Chopin pushed Hoot through the door, Hoot was grabbed by a very feminine Haunter. ”Heeeeaaaay! You’ll be my new buddy!” Chopin leapt at the Haunter, ”Put her down!” The Haunter just waved a clawed hand at him. The Haunter began to float away, when Hoot came back from shutting down, and released a sick Thunder Bolt attack. The Haunter dropped her, and Hoot scurried back to Chopin. She nodded, and they both began to build up their element. They were going to use a Thunder Bolt and Flame Wheel together. The Haunter looked at them, confused, as they released their attack. The attack set the floor on fire, and the Thunder Bolt set the ceiling on fire also…The Haunter struggled, trying to put the fires out, as the attack hit him. Chopin cringed, not wanting the place to set fire. Hoot’s ears drooped. She was afraid of fire. What they didn’t know, is that the house wasn’t on fire. It was an illusion.
The heat licked at Hoot’s face, and her eyes began to water. Chopin didn’t mind it, he kinda liked it. He was a fire type. From the ceiling, a Misdreavus floated down. ”Follow me! I’ll bring you to safety.” Hoot was so afraid of the fire, she nodded and followed. Chopin tried to call after her, but the sound of the burning flames overpowered his voice. He trailed after.

The Misdreavus led them to the dining room. Which was smack in the middle of the floor. Far from the stairs, far…far from the stairs. Plus ghosts lined every room. It seemed like too much for the dynamic two to handle. As Hoot and Chopin entered, the Misdreavus slammed the door shut. ”I wish I was helping you, but I’m not. I hate my life here, but I hate you more.” The Pokemon seemed to be full of anger…how strange…Hoot’s head tilted, ”Why can’t you help us? We’re on second floor! Out of thirteen! We need to get to the Natu that’s stuck in here! We’re so far away from that destination it’s not even funny!” The Misdreavus shrugged. ”I’ll bring you up a couple of flights of stairs, ok? Just…go with what I say. Don’t talk.” She sounded kind of ticked off…But she grabbed Hoot and Chopin by the scruff’s of their neck. As she materialized into the next floor up, they were greeted by a Shedninja, she shook her head. ”Tell everyone that these two are giving in, ok? I’m bringing them up to…you know who.” The Shedninja just floated there, staring at them blankly. The Misdreavus made a ‘tick’ sound with her mouth, and floated into the next couple of rooms, ghost types all around cheering. Cheering that they had given up, and that they had won, once again. She went up another floor. ”Chuck, where’s Chupa?” Chupa? The Pokemon smiled deviously at Hoot and Chopin, ”Chupacabra is in the next room over. Want me to take the rat and her friend there…?” The Misdreavus shook her head, and flew into the next room. Hoot began to struggle. She felt dooped.

As they entered the next room, the Misdreavus put them down, and went through the floor, and to…who knows where. Hoot gulped. There was a giant chair, behind the giant desk. Hoot and Chopin were too small to see over this desk, but the Pokemon’s voice found them anyway. Loud and clear. ”You two walk into our homes, into our lives, just burst on through, and expect us not to go after you? You came in through the back door, did not even bother to knock on the front door. There was a snapping of fingers, and a Haunter floated over, grabbed Hoot and Chopin, and placed them on the table. What they were met with was kind of….weird. It was a Froslass. A male…Froslass? ”So. Why have you done this…?” Chopin cleared his throat, ”We are Team Who. We came because there was a message…a mission…to come save a Natu who got stuck in here.” The Froslass stared at them intensely. ”Cherry…? The little red Natu? Yes…she wandered in not to long ago…I’m sure my house has been playing with her.” Chopin’s head tilted…”Why didn’t you just…let Cherry go…?” The Froslass shrugged. ”We usually do. After a while. None of my house leaves the house, so why should we let people who are unwelcome here go? If they wanted to be here, then they shall remain.” Chopin was confused…really confused…Hoot was shaking. ”Well…we came here on a mission. We will leave after that.” The Froslass gritted his teeth at them, ”You have five minutes to get where you need. That’s as long as I can give you. Once your time is up, the house will continue to harm you, and play with you, just like they have since you arrived.” The Haunter grabbed them again, and threw them through the ceiling.

Upon hitting the floor, and feeling it solid again, Hoot pushed herself up. She rubbed her head, but Chopin grabbed her by the arm and began to run before she had chance to settle down. They had 5 minutes, and Chopin wasn’t losing any of that time. This place was a maze, and they were only on the 5th floor. They had to gain as much ground as possible. Red eyes stared at them, noises followed them, smells liked to hit them to delay them, but Chopin kept his pace. No one actually attacked, only teased. Taunted. What these Pokemon were best at, of course. A couple of Pokemon would try to get in the way, but because they had the 5 minutes, Chopin found he could just walk through the Ghost-Types. As if he had gotten a star in Mario, nothing could touch him. Yet.

They got to the top of the eighth floor when they heard something make an ‘Eeeeerrrr’ sound. Like a buzzer when you got a question wrong. A Shuppet came through the wall, a smile playing on his small blanket-like face. He couldn’t wait to rip into the small Pichu, and let he fire one watch. The Shuppet could feel the bond between the two, and he so badly wanted to break it. ”Hey pretty lady. Your colors are just so….radiant” Chopin felt something welling in his stomach and he stepped in front of Hoot. ”Back off, pal.” ”Oooh, ho ho. Big boy Fire wants to dance then? Alright. Watch this, babe.” The Shuppet used Sucker Punch on Chopin, which wasn’t that impressing at all, and not a good way to be a player on girls. Especially girls like Hoot. Chopin raised up on his hind legs, and let go of an ember. Then he crashed down on the floor, tucked his head in, and went in for a quick attack. Hoot let her cheeks spark up, and released a thunder wave. Hoping to immobilize the Shuppet. ”Hoot?” He held his paw out to help her over a tipped over chair. Hoot grabbed his paw, and he pulled her up. Chopin had another ember burning in the back of his throat, waiting for the Shuppet to make another wrong move. It started to disintegrate. Surprisingly, Hoot charged forward with a Quick Attack too, sending the Shuppet into and through the wall. ”I’m really sick of this place, Chopin…” There it was. The spark of determination was in Hoot’s eyes. Normally she was a bit lazy, and without motivation. Chopin had only seen this spark once or twice. It was barely present when they created their team. But no…right now it was here, and there was no going back. She was going to find that Natu. Her nose went into the air. ”I bet there’s a staircase that goes all the way up.” She got on all fours and began dashing. She was a Pichu, so her speed was always good…Her anxiety usually got in the way, but that was currently gone. Chopin struggled to keep up. Sometimes a rogue Shadow Ball came their way, but nothing hit them. Not yet. Voices called after them, and noises followed them. Just, just, like before. But nothing was stopping Hoot at this point.

Hoot skidded to a stop, Chopin falling over her and rolling. What he didn’t realize is she skidded to a stop because they had made it to the main staircases. They were huge, and elegant, despite the dust. But, what else were they? Broken. There was a giant hole. Too big to jump across, even for the small, light-weight Pichu. She grabbed Chopin as he nearly rolled up the staircase, just enough to fall through this pit. ”What now…?” Hoot sighed…walking up to the giant hole and looking down. It went straight down, all the way back to ground floor. She could barely remember what floor they were on now. Was it 8th? Why was she getting so confused? The higher they went, the less her thoughts were…well…hers…As she stared down this hole…her thoughts began to drift. Her soul was…detaching, almost. As the light began to leave her eyes, she fell forward. Into the darkness…Let go…let go That’s all she could hear. All she knew. She felt something weird on her tail, and then what was down was up…what? She was rolling? There was crashes and she felt her head squished under something rather warm, and then all sounds and thoughts hit her back to Earth. She pushed Chopin off her. He had grabbed her, and they had fallen back and rolled a bit. ”What…? Chopin…?” ”What were you thinking?! We have a Natu to save!” The light returned to Hoot’s eyes, the determination still present. Barely faltered. She nodded, and dashed off. Chopin rolling his eyes and following. Hoot knew where she was going this time.

Hoot skidded to a stop again, but sidestepped before Chopin could run into her, and then she put a paw out to help stop him. He muttered a thanks, and then, ”What’s this then…?” They were at a closed door. It was heavy, and….locked. ”It’s made of wood, Chopin.” Chopin eyed her suspiciously, not liking where she was going with that statement.

Hoot knew that this was the door to the main Maid/Butler Staircase. It went all the way up, and all the way down. It was locked up this much because the Ghost-Types were aware of this fact, but not willing to hurt the house anymore than it already had been. Chopin sat, not wanting to touch the house either. Plus, he knew the ghost-types would be lining the stairs…it’d be a home stretch…Hoot nuzzled him. ”Please Chopin…? Not for me, but for the Team? For the Natu?” Chopin eyed her, got up, and released a small ember. It singed the door, but nothing more. ”Aw c’mon Chopin…just a big enough hole for us to get through…?” She batted her eyebrows a bit, and Chopin let out a groan. He mumbled a fine, and let out a strong ember, that went straight through the door. The door smoke a bit, but was not on fire. They crawled through the hole, and heard louder banging sounds. Louder footsteps. Louder everything. It was much darker, and much colder. Chopin’s flames flickered. Threatening to go out.

As they climbed up the steps, a Drifloon floated by, causing Hoot’s fur to become static-ee. ”Not cool!” The Drifloon smiled and giggled. It seemed to be younger than any other Pokemon they had seen this night. Younger than them, even. It’s colors seemed a bit off, but Hoot couldn’t make them out. It was too dark. She was about to ask the Drifloon what his name was, when a horrible sound shook her ear drums. She let her ears down, trying to at least crush the sound into mumbles, instead of it’s shrill base. The Sableye from the entrance of the house, and another Banette crossed in front of Hoot and Chopin’s path. ”Hello, again! I brought a friend this time. I was wondering if you were ready to answer my question?” ”Toby, what are you doing here?” It wasn’t so much a question, as a command for him to leave. But the Drifloon showed no signs of leaving. The Banette growled at him evilly, but turned her attention back to Hoot. ”So…you’re the whore I’ve heard about. Trespassing in our home.” Hoot coughed, violently. Whore? Chopin got into battle stance, no words even needed for what he was about to do. The Sableye even took a step back, and wanted to yell at the Banette for saying such a thing. Even the Drifloon began to float towards the floor…

Chopin released a Flame Wheel so strong it sent the two Ghost-Types threw the walls. It happened so fast they were still solid, breaking through the wall, when they were sent back. Hoot looked at Chopin, bewildered. She had never seen such strength exerted from Chopin. She looked at Toby, and motioned with her head to follow. Toby hesitated, but decided it wanted to be with Hoot and Chopin more than anything else at the moment.

They only got as high as 12th floor. The house had decided to take it personal, and hurt their own house to stop the Rescue Team from advancing. Hoot had thought she heard a loud crash as they climbed up more stairs. But no one else directly came up to them. They were probably too afraid of the fearless Chopin that had nearly killed two Pokemon. Hoot pointed to the wooden door again, and Chopin did a repeat of what he did to the last door.Burning a whole for them to get through. It was bigger than last time, passion behind this burst of flame. They were on 12th floor, which was not the correct floor. They needed to be one more floor up. Hoot expected a couple of more battles, but as they entered the floor, Hoot felt different. Like they were being watched, but differently than before. The others were leaving them alone. She wondered if they were leaving the Natu alone too. Probably not…Hopefully…

As they walked around aimlessly, they heard something from above. A…squeaking…? Hoot looked up. A red Natu was there. It was squeaking and calling out…through a rather giant hole in the house. It was weird, why was there another giant hole? Hoot’s head tilted, but she decided not to think about it. ”CHERRY! DOWN HERE!” Cherry jumped at the sound of Hoot’s voice. Chopin nodded, ”Team Who is here to SAVE you! We’re a RESCUE TEAM!” The Natu nodded. ”There’s no way up there Cherry! You need to jump! You’re a flying type, can you fly?” The Natu nodded, but she was so scared Hoot didn’t know if she could do it. Chopin sighed, wanting to get the hell out of here. ”Once you come down, we can teleport out of here, you never have to come back!” The Natu nodded quickly, panting and shaking. She was going to do it, she just needed to calm down a bit. She breathed in, deep and slow, regaining herself before she lept. She threw her wings out, and soared down. She was too nervous to flap. As she got closer, Chopin stood up on his hind legs, caught the Natu, grabbed Hoot, and teleported out of the horrifying place just as that Banette that called Hoot a whore came back with a vengeance in her eyes.

Client: Chimchar
Mission: "Eep! Help me 'outa here!"
Dungeon: Haunted Manor
Floor: Client is being held hostage on floor 11 by a vile Rotom.
Rewards confused ??

When Team Southern Cross got back to the guild, a few familiar faces were waiting for them.

"Heeellloo there agaaaiinnn" A haunter popped out of the ground before them greeted. "Iiffff you don't miiinnddd, I want to join yyoouurr team."

Beside her an unnerved sableye stood awkwardly, glancing at Tolin feafully and with a considerable amount of respect.

"Umm...me too..." The sableye was also holding a a small Sapphire, a little 'sorry' gift him him and his recovering friend. Perhaps also a bit of a 'please don't come back and kill us'.