The Adventure of the Century-Long Turnabout

Hunter Hound

June 22, 10:20 am

Baskerville’s Manor.

“Aahhhh!” somebody screamed. Who? It could be anyone of the people present in the scene. Phoenix, Athena, Trucy, even Simon. They were all frost in fear, watching at the demoniac monster standing just a few feets away from them. A Hound, showing all of its teeth and growling like a demon.

A metallic sound ringed in their ears. In their current state no one could say what that sound was, however, it was enough to jolt Simon awake from the shock.

The moment the hound moved closer to them Simon jumped with his sword ready. Metal clashed and suddenly it was all clear.

“It’s human! It’s a mask!” growled Simon while looking at the beast’s eyes. The light that the mask was emitting was enough to see part of the body of the assailant, it was wearing a cape with fur at the neck to add impact to his mask. He was wielding a sword and moved fast. “Run! Get out of here! Now!”

Phoenix blinked, Simon’s words had been like a slap for him. He was right, they had to escape, quickly. He took the girls hands and dragged them to the closest source of light he could distinguish among the darkness. If they broke down a window they could easily exit the manor unharmed.

Suddenly, a deep howl filled the manor and made the blood of everyone present go cold. It wasn’t a sound that a human could do.

“Arghh!” yelled Blackquill in pain, a growl could be heard and right after it sounded like someone’s blade had hit flesh. Then absolute silence.

Trucy yelped as something pulled her cape with force, Phoenix panicked and tried to reach her.

“Not the girls you stupid mutt! The man! The man!” ordered a voice that was clearly modified by some sort of device. Phoenix then felt like someone pushed him to the ground with an amazing force, he couldn’t see a thing but soon felt a sharp pain in his arm and the same force pushing it against his face, like trying to reach it with its fangs. Even if he couldn’t see it he knew that it was an enormous dog, mad and aggresive. It’s hot breath against his face filled Phoenix with terror.

“Mr. Wright!” screamed Athena and, being guided by the sound and encouraging herself, kicked the dog to try and get it away from her boss. The dog yelped and flew a pair of yards before hitting the floor with force where it stayed quiet.

“Taka!” yelled Blackquill, his voice hoarse. The hawk heard its master, screeched and searched for him, it found the window closest to them and tried to enter with all it’s energies. Taka managed to break the window and flew against the masked man, distracting him.

“Daddy, daddy! Are you okay?” asked Trucy. Phoenix felt dizzy, his sight started to blurry as he felt his arm completely damped. The window that Taka had broke allowed some light to enter, showing them the path to follow. He knew he had to move but his heart beating desperately in fear kept him in his place, fearing the return of the demoniac dog.

“Mr. Wright! C’mon!” Athena helped him to stand on his feet and started walking to the window. Fast steps followed right after them, quick but strong.

A metallic thing flashed just in front of Athena, almost cutting her nose. The masked man had reached them and was ready to finish, he attacked again but Trucy threw a deck of cards at his face and he gave a pair of steps behind. The light had touched him for a moment, allowing the team to see that he was wearing a green vest, shirt and gloves along with the mask. Taka flew again and managed to grab the mask from the man and pull it off. The man ran to the dark again, hiding among the shadows and calling back his dog.