A Twisted Halloween II: Spectral Soiree

Chapter 9: Kiss the Sand

Ace and Leona read the invite that Floyd stole from the ghosts. Reading it, they understand about the mirror fragment and what they need to do with it.

"... Okay, I get it now. That mirror fragment is somehow important for the Halloween Party," Leona says.

"Why would anyone get all bent outta shape over this piece of junk?" Floyd asks.

"He stole it, and now he's callin' it junk..." Ace replies.

"You say somethin'?" Floyd questions.

Ace nervously answers, "Uh, nope!"

"Ao we got the mirror fragment and an invitation. And those ghosts mentioned some 'boss' person. We've learned one useful thing so far. If we want to end this miserable Halloween... The quickest way is probably to find this 'boss' who's been tossing out invites and beat the tar out of 'em. The boss is waitin' around at some big Halloween bash... and we need mirror fragments to get in. So we swipe these fragments from ghosts and keep moving forward," Leona says.

"What do you mean 'forward'? Shouldn't we meet up with the rest of our group?" Ace questions.

"Our job is to put an end to this Halloween and take down whoever's behind it. I'm not about to give myself even more work. The others can fend for themselves," Leona says.

"I bet the other guys are thinkin' the same thing. Nobody at our school would ever lose to one of those small-fry ghosties. You saw how easily we clobbered 'em, right? Buncha wimps. Maaan, talk about boring..." Floyd says, looking bored.

Suddenly, they hear a sound, and a ghost appears in front of them as he shouts, "BOO!"

"Whoops," Floyd replies and dashes off.

"Hup," Leona replies and runs off.

Ace exclaims, "Wha?!"

He then falls back and hits the ground, and everyone has gone blank.

Meanwhile, Floyd and Leona are able to stand their ground.

"Was that supposed to be a sneak attack? Kinda gave himself away, don'tcha," Floyd replies.

"That fool was practically flashing a neon sign," Leona replies.

Ace soon gets up and stands on his feet, but has remained silent and his eyes are closed.

Suddenly, Ace starts cackling, "Heh heh heh..."

"Hm? Floyd and Leona are confused.

Ace continues cackling, "Heh heh... Heh heh heh..." And begins laughing HAAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

Then says to the others, "You ARROGANT HUMANS!"

"Uh, counterpoint: I know you are, but what am I?" Floyd replies.

Leona questions, "What's gotten into you?"

And Ace suddenly says, "Thought you bested me, did you? Listen to you, getting all smug just because you beat me when I was barely even trying. Fine then! I won't hold anything back this time! Ooo, I can feel it... Such vitality welling up within me!" And laugh, "HAAAH HAH HAH HAH!"

Then says, "None of you rapscallions stand a chance now that I have a living body! You're in for a royal beating!"

"Oh yeah?" Floyd questions and gives Ace a smug smile, "Think you can give me a beating? Real funny, Crabby."

"You think you're hot stuff, huh?" Leona says and has a smile as well, "I could swat you down with my tail. In fact, I think I'll do just that."

Soon Ace begins to panic, "Huh? Ack! Wait, don't... 'Twas but a jap, gentlemen, a jest! How about we let bygones be - GYAAAH!"

And with that, Leona and Floyd kind of give Ace a good beating until has fallen to the ground. Moments later, Ace is now on the ground.

"Mmh..." Ace replies.

And suddenly opens his eyes with a yelp, "AH! What was I - ow!"

And feels the pain in his body, "Oww, geez! Why does everything hurt?!"

"Oh hey, you're awake," Floyd replies.

Ace stands up and asks, "Why are all my joints cracking? What happened to me?!"

"You don't remember?" Leona questions.

"You called us 'rapscallion' and challenged us to a fight," Floyd says.

"I WHAT?!" Ace exclaims in shock.

"Told us we were in for a royal beating too," Leona adds in remark.

Then Floyd says, "It was hilarious! Go on, say it again, Crabby. We can do the whole song and dance all over."

Ace exclaims, beyond shocked, "I threatened YOU TWO with a beating?! That's nuts! I would NEVEr say anything that stupid! For one thing. I was just... I was just, uhhh..."

Ace tries to explain himself, but for some strange reason, he can't find an explanation.

Then Ace asks, "What happened again? A ghost popped up, I was like 'Whoa!', and then I suddenly got a real nasty chill..." and tries to remember what happened, "What happened after that?"

"Tryin' to play innocent, huh?" Floyd replies.

Then Leona says, "If you're itchin' to kiss the sand again, I'd be happy to make it happen."

But Ace says, "LOOK! I don't know what's going on okay?!"

"Yeah, I know. Relax, I was kidding," Leona replies.

Then says, "I know you're not stupid enough to take on both of us by yourself."

"You got that right!" Ace says, "I have a ton of respect for both of you! We don't have any beef!"

Floyd crosses his arms and says, "Come to think of it, you were given' off this weird vibe and sayin' something about having a living body. You also had this crazed look in your eyes. Normally I can read you like a book, but I couldn't then.

"Yeah, you were possessed by a ghost," Leona says.

"A ghost took over my body?! Ace exclaims in shock.

He slowly calms himself and says, "Yikes... How scary is that? What in the world... Ghosts can actually DO that?"

"We're on their turf here. Who knows what they might be capable of. Not to mention you left yourself wide open. You were practically begging one to possess you." Leona says.

"How so? Ace asks.

"You froze up with that funny look on your face when the ghost jumped out, remember?" Floyd answers.

Ace eyes open in shock, "Wait, what? Does that mean... if a ghost startles me, I'll get possessed?"

"Pretty safe bet," Leona answers.

"We just gotta stay on guard so we don't get frightened? Easy. These two-bit specters aren't scary at all," Floyd says.

"It'd be nice if that's all there was to it, but you gotta remember that surprise and fear are two different emotions. Anyone can get a little startled if they're caught off guard. Ghosts are elusive. They don't give off a scent, and they don't have audible footsteps. It's not easy to guard yourself against something that could pop up anywhere, anytime, without warning," Leona explains.

"If the two of you are scowling over this... it must be worse than bad," Ace says, growing concerned.

Then cries out, "Are we EVER gonna end this Halloween?!"