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Darts struggles to make his way over to Dan, lowering his gaze to avoid the Hex he could feel coming, allowing him to avert his gaze just in time to avoid the attack. He wraps his hands over the other member's eyes, gilded digits trying to shield his vulnerable ocular nerves. The gambler is just barely holding it together, his Empoleon nervously circling him, ready to shield him from a threat from any side.

When the hands released him and Dista, he would waste no time in throwing down a Pokeball and pointing outside. The pair would be quickly accosted by the Kadabra Reno had released, teleporting the pair outside of the castle. Along with one of the tombstones, which plowed into Dista and bowled her over. Glancing between Dista and their path forward, Reno reached down to drag the girl to her feet before he began to start walking back. "N-no sense in hanging around here. We should go back ta.......the town, right. Back ta town and report this information." Reno stammered out, still shaking for some reason as he began his walk to their meeting point, Dista close behind.

Sub would have been waiting for everyone in front of the bonfire, as promised. Despite what many of them experienced around the festival the townfolk were still enjoying themselves, as if the events could not be seen by them, completely isolated. "We're missing a few, aren't we?" Sub commented as he looked at his fellow members. "I'm sure they are okay. For now, tell me about this lantern. Did anyone other than Crystal hear about it?" He asked them.

Poor Amaranth and Freth were right were this fiendish Haunter hybrid wanted them. Oh the fun he would have with them, the things he had to show them. This was a once in an eternity for him! Or it would have been, had a certain hybrid sporting a suit of armor not arrived on the scene. Hurling a Pokeball at the ghost, his faithful Chesnaught would appear from above and come down on the Haunter hybrid with a Wood Hammer, both fist ready to slam down and release their built up earthen chi. The ghost would barely avoid the attack and sneer back at Larrimore, this distraction almost completely cutting off the curse affecting the other two hybrids. "You both okay?" The Pinsir hybrid asked.

The giant Chandelure of fire would screech as the Hydro Pump pierced a hole in it and the Psyshock made it difficult to sustain its way as it began to sway and flicker in and out of existence. Before the giant fireball exploded and rained its embers down, it spoke. "The lantern! Bring it back to us! Jack will never rest until it's back! He torments us so..." Were its parting words before making an impressive firework.

Raine would merely shake her head, looking at the fire. Crystal would look around, noting everyone's lack of reaction. "Yeah, we are missing people... And the Mismagius hybrid I spoke to merely called it vile... and his." She shrugged, turning her gaze to the fire as well. "Any ideas?"

Thanks to Darts and Rain's intervention, Dan was brought out of his trance like state. He shut his eyes, they stinging as if he had been staring at the sun and shook his head. Oh how he hated spiders. Reliving that terrifying memory...it felt like they were still crawling on him. Once he came to, the structure above had already dispersed but left a message from a disembodied voice. "A lantern? What the hell is going on here?" he questioned, looking to the guy beside him.

"A lantern huh...could they mean the lantern that is the centerpiece of tonight's festivities?" Sub asked no one in particular.

"Bah! Three on one isn't fair when it's not in my favor! Bring us the lantern back before Jack gets it. Only then will my curse be lifted. Or fail, don't matter to me!" The Haunter hybrid said with a ghoulish laugh before simply disappearing from reality, not so much as a puff of smoke followed his vanishing act.

"Well that was certainly peculiar..." Larrimore commented as he watched the hybrid disappear. His Chesnaught just gave off an annoyed grumble as he walked back to his trainer's side, dismayed that it didn't get to clobber something. "I trust the two of you are fine? What is this curse it spoke of?" He asked them.

Dan's Pikachu was able to make some good distance with that SNAG. The whole while GRAY was trying to scan for the source of this foul chi but it was just too powerful to pin point a single location. It appeared all would be in vain until a black lantern with a tiny little sun floating inside of it could be seen resting on a table, surrounded by people and yet forgotten by them all. GRAY had been paying attention to what the others found out so he made it a point to alert Dan's Pikachu about the fact that they needed to find a lantern. Hopefully the Pokemon understood him. The camera on the SNAG wouldn't be stable for GRAY to see the lantern after all.

"I'm not too sure." Darts grumbles, pulling his shaking jacket closer around him. "But my entire body is not liking this area. If it's a lantern we're looking for, it could be anywhere. It seems like a bad idea, but we're going to need to split up to cover more ground if we're going to find this thing. I seem to recall it being a famous centerpiece for this festival. Where would they have been keeping it?" He trails off as he scans the immediate area with his red eyes, no ideas jumping to hand quickly.