Stay Alive

Research leads to Results

"What could we find in here that the cops haven't already found?" Red asked as the group stepped inside the room. They had gone to Lucas' house, something Ash had suggested, to see if he had been able to gain any information whatsoever before he died

"They didn't know where to look" was all Ash said as he suddenly seemed to find something

"What?"

"What is it?"

"It's the game company. I found the address for the game company" he says as he's seen turning towards Gary "I need you to tell me where this address is"

"Gimme a sec" he says typing it into his phone and after a moment "Let's see. Take route 11 or route 13 to Silence Bridge, and that will take us to Lavender Town"

"Lavender Town? The same one as the setting of the game huh" Ash noted

"Ash, I've been reading this book Leaf gave me a few days ago called The Malleus The Demonium" May said bringing out said book

"Hammer of Witches" Ash translated to the confused Gary and Red, glad to have learned something from his Latin class

"It was a handbook for witch hunters in the Inquisition. It says if we find her, we need to put three nails through her heart, neck, and then forehead. The nails are gonna put her human spirit back into her body, and then - this is really, really important, you guys - 'An undead soul is only cleansed by burning its blood'"

"So, you really think her ghost could've been brought back from the death?" Gary questioned in disbelief

"Gary, It's like a seance. A strong enough spirit can be brought back with the proper text" Ash explained, but didn't seem Gary believe him

"I just can't believe this is happening" Red sighed

"The cop Walter Jones was brutally murdered today at Celadon Department Store. Sources say this murder may be linked..."

"The cop, the one who played the game, he's dead" Ash bluntly said staring at the small notification on the screen

"What?" May asked

"Guys, we've got another problem. The police are here!" Gary exclaimed as Ash grabbed anything that could be of use, while also sending the email he saw Lucas had failed to send before his death over to his end

"OK, OK! We're turning around. Everyone meet up at Gary's!"

Later at Gary's house

"That would mean that... this is not about some kind of ghost. I mean, do you really expect me to believe we conjured up her evil spirit with a game voice activated seance?" Gary once again asked in disbelief

"To start, we all had to recite that prayer" May pointed out

"That just... It's highly unlikely" Red said, agreeing with Gary about this. What kind of world do they live in that spirits return from the dead... and with a game?

"Leaf and I were talking about this kind of stuff. I don't know. Maybe she's onto something" Ash said with a sigh, his eyes suddenly noticing something that made him move back in horror "Why is the game on?"

"What?"

"The game" Ash repeated

"I didn't turn it on" Gary said as the others nodded in agreement

"I told you not to play!" the raven-haired teen exclaimed

"Where's Leaf?" Red asked noticing the lack of a certain female

"She's probably outside. Said she needed a moment on her own and all"

Ash and Gary on the other hand kept arguing about the game

"But you said if we didn't play the game, we'd be fine. I thought those were the rules. You did say that didn't you Ash?"

"I don't know what the rules are Gary! You do remember Lucas and Dawn both died without even dying in the game, right?"

"Maybe there aren't any rules" Gary mumbled

"It's not possible. I didn't play. None of us did, so why is that game still running?" Ash asked

"If nobody played the game, that means..." Gary started saying as both their eyes widened

"What?" May asked confused

"The game's playing by itself" Ash finished for Gary as May dropped her glass

Suddenly they remembered about a certain missing brunette

"LEAF!"

Meanwhile with Leaf

The brunette pulled her jacket tighter as she felt the temperature drop. She sighs as she tried to make sense of everything that had happened

Leaf turned around and suddenly screamed "No!"

She was about to run, only to feel herself get grabbed "Let me go!" she said trying to get the grip off her, only to feel her hands feel empty air "What? But then how are you holding me?"

The brunette wanted badly for this to be over! She didn't want to die young, she had so much she wanted to do. Heck she never told Gary that even though she had rejected him before, that she was actually in love with him

Now she won't be able to do anything. This is where it will all end for her. She wishes she could have at least said goodbye to everyone... wishes she could have done a few things differently as well

"Leaf!" a voice cried out as her eyes widened at hearing her name

"Gary! Ash! I'm in here! Help!!" she screamed as she trashed saw the knife coming closer towards her and made up her mind. She wanted to live and to do that, she needed to fight back instead of being a helpless girl

Looking for anything that could help or at least buy her time, the girl saw a book and knife that she picked up and used the book to slap the knife out since that had to be tangible in order to kill her

The ghost seemed surprised by this as suddenly Leaf notices the others rounding the corner and the ghost disappears, leaving her prey relatively unharmed but would be back later to finish the job

"You're alright and still breathing!" Gary exclaimed with relief as Leaf threw her arms around him and started crying

"We gotta end this. We gotta stop it" Ash says as Gary nodded, holding onto the terrified Leaf clutching his arms hard

"I don't think we have much time" Red commented

"You're right. We don't have a lot of time. Weneed to find her body. Which means we need to find her tower. Whoever made thisgame knows everything about Elizabeth Bathory. We're heading to Lavender Town!"

Author's Note: OMG! I can't believe I haven't updated this since last year! I am so sorry for those who were waiting! I didn't expect to get distracted by the other stories I got going on. Anyway here's the newest chapter with their research paying off. Leaf also almost died, but I didn't want her to die since she's one of my fav from the manga/games and would be sad if I had to kill another character. So I let her live unlike the movie in which the girl in Leaf's place dies. I wanted to change that. Anyway next chapter will be released next month as it's been started :)