🎶“Let’s Go In The Garden… You’ll Find Something Waiting,

Break free

I don’t know why this was so fun to make but it just was.

Creepy but cute

Jacob leaned against the counter, finally a break! He looked through the kitchen window to see his coworker, and also crush, Autumn as she was working her job in the café… well one in many part time jobs she has. She looked real cute in the uniform and apron, he looked away before anyone noticed. Jacob heard the door ring the bell, he looked over just to see… a little girl? By herself? She had black hair in two low pigtails, hazel eyes- and you could really see the blue and green in this girl’s eyes- a long sleeve hot pink top, and denim shorts. She looked about in kindergarten, maybe 4 years old. Jacob found himself getting a little worried, there were only two reasons that a girl this young would be by herself alone; she was lost, or there was something wrong with the parents.

Jacob was about to go to her, but before he could open the counter. “Hey sis!” Autumn called. The little girl’s face turned from a neutral look, to an extremely contagious smile. “Sissy!” The little girl singed as she ran to her nineteen year old sister to tackle hug her. Her tiny little arms just barely came up to her waist, as she giggled and squealed with delight. Autumn bent down, picked the little girl up, spun her around and laughed. “So how was school?” She asked, as she set her down at the barstool counter.

“It was so much fun!! Cindy wasn’t being mean to Lilly, Monty and Carla caught a frog at recess, and Penny and I made a friendship bracelet for Nugget!” The little girl said.

“That’s great Lelu!” Autumn said.

“Excuse me!” Jacob looked to another customer, “where’s my Oreo cheesecake?”

“Oh, sorry! Uh, Lelu, hang on I gotta to work. Stay here, don’t talk to any strangers, and I’ll be right back,” Autumn said.

“Yes Ma’am,” Lelu confirmed, as she set her backpack in the barstool next to her.

Jacob watched Lelu with curiosity, Autumn had a sister? Autumn doesn’t talk about her family much, but why didn’t she ever mentioned Lelu? Wait… If there could’ve been a lightbulb above Jacob’s head, it would be going off right about now, that and Jacob could’ve sworn he heard a triangle dinging in the background. Maybe if I watch Lelu, be nice to her, she’ll put a good word in with Autumn for me. Jacob looked back at Autumn, blush dusting his cheeks as he saw her kneading the dough for the pie crust. “Ooooh!~” Lelu sang. Oh, PECK! Jacob looked back to Lelu as she gave him a very excited look. “Do you like my sissy! Are you, her boyfriend!?” Lelu exclaimed. If Jacob bared any sort of resemblance to a vegetable, he would most certainly be a beet right now.

“N- No!!” Jacob said, flustered.

“Oh! It’s okay, I won’t tell… I’m good at keeping secrets, shh,” Lelu whispered, winking.

Jacob chuckled, cute kid. “My name is Jacob, I’m your sister’s co-worker,” Jacob said.

“I’m Lisa Lucy Hailey, but everyone calls me Lelu,” Lelu said, taking some materials out of her backpack.

“What’cha got there Lelu?” Jacob asked. Lelu held out some thin yarn thread material, one red, another blue.

“Which one do you like?” Lelu asked.

“Hmm, that’s a tough one, but I think I’m gonna have to go with this one,” Jacob pointed to the blue one.

“Yay!”

Jacob chuckled again. “What’cha ya doing there?”

“I’m making a friendship bracelet. I had one earlier today but Buggs stole it today at lunch. I think he was expecting to grab one of my cookies though, he seemed mad that I told him he couldn’t have one.”

Jacob’s smile faded; she wasn’t being bullied right? “And… what did you do?”

Lelu fell silent, and all of the sudden started giggling uncontrollably, like some villain laughing. She uncovered her right wrist to reveal a green, pink, and purple bracelet. “You fool! Now we’re best friends forever!” Lelu said, pridefully. Jacob covered his mouth from his laugh attack, and pounded on the desk a little. If that was not the cutest way to deal with a bully, he didn’t know what was!

Jacob watched as Lelu’s tiny little hands wove through the materials. “So… how’s school? Ya got any friends?” He asked, trying to break the ice. “Mph!” Lelu nodded, “I go to the new kindergarten school that just opened up! There’s not that many kids going there yet, and there’s only two teachers working there right now. But the principal’s daughter is my best friend!” Lelu’s hands made quick work of the material in her hands, as the blue and yellow thread started to bear resemblance to a bracelet. She must’ve done this a couple of dozen times if she can make a bracelet that fast.

“Hold your arm out,” Lelu smiled. Jacob reached his arm across the countertop and as soon as he was within her reach, Lelu started to tie the bracelet around his wrist. “There!” Lelu beamed, “we’re friends now!” Ah! My heart! Jacob thought, Lelu was a very sweet little girl. Lelu reached into her bag and pulled out some crayons, some paper, and started to draw. Jacob squinted at the paper. Weird… he thought, that paper is all yellow and crinkled, how old is that?

“Is Sissy gonna be done with work soon?” Lelu asked.

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be too long from now, why?” Jacob asked.

“Lisa wants to talk to She when we get home, but she doesn’t want to leave me alone here,” Lelu said. Wait what? “That and I kinda need help with homework, we’re supposed to draw our family.”

“Wait, wait, wait… who’s Lisa? And by ‘she’ do ya mean your sister?” Jacob asked confused. What the heck did this kid just say? ‘Lisa wants to talk to She when we get home’ what does she mean by ‘she doesn’t want to leave me alone here? As far as Jacob could tell, Lelu came in alone… right?

Lelu shook her head, “no, I mean She… the lady that lives in my closet… her name is She.” Jacob felt his pulse beat a tad bit faster… did… did he hear that right? Nah, she’s… she’s gotta be playing here. She’s a kid they have big imaginations. “So, this Lisa and She people… friends of yours?” Jacob asked, trying to play along. Lelu nodded as she continued to draw, so far, the drawing had what appeared to be Autumn and Lelu side by side. “So, what they like?” Jacob asked.

“She has pretty black short hair, red eyes, and another pair of arms on her back. At night She would be at the foot of my bed and listened to me talk, but back when Daddy wasn’t asleep yet he would come in and yell at me for still being awake, She would look at Daddy with an angry look on her face,” Lelu said.

Jacob listened in silence… wait a second… ‘when Daddy wasn’t asleep yet’… oh god… please don’t mean what I think you mean. Calm down man… “Huh,” Jacob nodded, “are you drawing your Mommy and Daddy?” Jacob shifted his attention towards the drawing. “No, this is a recent family drawing. Lisa, She, and my Sissy tell me Mommy and Daddy gone to sleep for a while,” Lelu explained. Oh! Jacob thinks he found out why Autumn doesn’t talk about her family much. “Oh, um… do you miss them?” Jacob said, hoping to keep what actually happened to her parents as far away from Lelu as possible.

“Umm…” Lelu started, “I miss my Mommy a lot, Sissy, Lisa, and She do too.”

“And what about your Daddy?”

“Not… really…”

Wait what?

“My daddy was… kinda mean…” Lelu said sadly, “he always made me and Sissy really uncomfortable, he would always yell, shout, and sometimes even hit us with his bottles full of that juice he loves so much.”

Jacob felt his heart drop at the words. He looked back at the kitchen, with Autumn finishing up the Oreo cheesecake, he then looked at the bottles of liquor that they would dress some of the food in sometimes… Autumn would never even touch a bottle, she always refused, even to the manager… no wonder. “Oh, Autumn,” Jacob said under his breathe, he turned back to Lelu and her drawing.

Jacob’s eyes widened. The drawing now had some lady on the right side of Lelu, it was just as Lelu described; short black hair, with one red eye covered the other came with a red smile the lady had a black strapless crop top of some kind, with a raggedy black skirt that went below the knees. But the way she looked was nothing compared to the arms on her back, Lelu was drawing some black sticks on the back of this person, with black balls for the palms and black sticks for fingers, not as detailed as the arms at the lady’s sides were. This lady’s skin was black, and Jacob didn’t mean the race color black like his… this lady’s skin was ash black, dark grey was her skin tone. Lelu put much more thought, care, effort, and detail into this person in comparison to how she drew her and her sister. Yo! Bruh! What the peck?!

It was then that Jacob was starting to become scarred, no kid would have an imagination like this… right? That’s gotta be She… he thought. “I still don’t understand why Daddy did what he did to us… he said he loved us, but I don’t see anyone else’s Daddy’s hurt them like he does with us.” Lelu looked like she was about to cry. Jacob decided not to push the subject any further, he didn’t want to make the kid cry. He gently rubbed Lelu’s head. “Yeah, I don’t know how he could do that to you or your sister… but the important thing is, ya’ll are alright now right?” Lelu looked up at him, and smiled. “Yeah, at least he won’t be mean anymore when he wakes up!” Lelu said hopeful. …HUH?!

Jacob withdrew his hand to his side of the counter. “… Huh?” He squeaked. “Yeah, Lisa told me that after she came back from her trip! I hope Mommy will wake up too so that we can all be together again!” Lelu exclaimed happily, as she continued with her drawing. Now judging by Lelu’s previous reactions to talking about her dad, Jacob knew he should leave it be and just move on to something else… but damn it! Curiosity is going to kill this cat! “Lelu… what do you mean… Lisa went on a trip? What kind of trip did she go on?” He asked. Lelu continued happily with her drawing and swung her legs back and forth a little. “One night, Lisa and I went for a walk around our neighborhood, Lisa wanted to stay out until the moon and stars came out so we waited. When we came back Daddy was there with a big angry face. I tried to explain to him what happened but he yelled at me and said ‘Lisa is stupid and fake!’ then he grabbed one of his juice bottles and he hit me…” Lelu explained sadly, “Daddy kept shouting and yelling at me, Lisa got really sad and upset and then she just… disappeared.”

Jacob felt like he was listening to some scarry story you would hear around the campfire. Only this time… he didn’t think it was just some kid using her imagination to cope with having a crappy dad. This felt real… very real.

“The next day, when Daddy left for work, he was gone all day. He didn’t even come home to eat dinner. He was gone for the entire weekend and then Monday as well. Lisa was gone for a long time too; I didn’t see her since the night when Daddy hit me and made her sad. Finally… Lisa was back home! And she had news about my Daddy!” Lelu said.

Jacob was on edge here… what did Lisa tell her? “And what did she say?” He asked, trying not to sound anxious, but it was kind of hard at this point.

Jacob saw the finished drawing. On the left side, next to Autumn, was a lady of some kind. There were no feet, it looked like the lady was floating. The lady was wearing a pure white tattered dress that was as white as her skin. But her lack of feet and pure white skin was nothing compared to the red crayon Lelu paused marking on her. There was blood… it had to be blood, there’s no way it was anything else! There was blood coming out of the thing’s eyes, a big stitch in the bottom right of her dress with more red blood coming out, blood all over her lips and- Oh God! There was a thick heavy black line in the white lady’s throat and blood splattered and dripping all over her. With no other of Lelu’s friends that she’s told him about… there was no doubt in his mind that this was Lisa.

These things Lelu has been telling him about are not something a normal kid would think of! And from what Jacob can gather, Lelu doesn’t even know that her dad was being abusive to her or her family, or even understand life and death yet for that matter!

Lelu paused her crayon strokes and looked up at him, still smiling. “Lisa told me he’s sleeping now… just like my Mommy…” Lelu said. WHAT THE F-!?

Jacob felt his heart skip a beat! Lisa killed Autumn’s Dad?! Jacob was frozen and didn’t say anything. Thoughts were swirling in his head. He loved ghost stories and the paranormal as much as the next guy, but to actually hear an actual experience happening to one of his friend’s family! Oh Boy!

“Jakey?” Lelu called out to him, “are you okay?” Jacob snapped out of the trance he was in and drew his attention back to the child in front of him. “U-um… Yeah! Yeah! All cool bruh!” Jacob stuttered. Lelu looked at him worryingly. “Are you sure?” She asked. “Yeah! Hey listen, it’s all good-“

“YO! Snake Jake!” Jacob jumped at the nickname that only one person uses. He turned his attention to Felicia who was holding some large trays of pastries in each hand and heading up the steps to the second floor. “Your break ended like, 10 minutes ago! What’re you doing!? You gonna help me out or what?!” She shouted at him. Jacob breathed a heavy sigh, part of it out of annoyance and the other part relieved. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” Jacob said, he turned back to Lelu, “my break just ended so, I gotta get back to work.”

“Aw! Okay…” Lelu pouted.

“I’ll see ya around Lelu.” Jacob held his fist out to her and Lelu bumped him back.

She giggled. “Okay, bye-bye Jakey!” Lelu waved.

Jacob picked up trays from the window to take to table 23, and started to make his way to the stairs. “Bye-bye Lelu!” He said back smiling.

“JAKE!!!” Felicia called.

“COMING!!!” He yelled back in annoyance, and stomped up the stairs.

For the rest of Jacob’s shift, he couldn’t stop thinking about his conversation with Autumn’s little sister. If he was going to be honest, he kinda wanted to forget about the whole thing. But he had a reminder on his wrist. The blue and yellow bands that Lelu weaved for him… a total stranger, who she knew nothing about. Lelu was a very sweet and nice kid, but the friends she had…

Autumn’s shift ended and she finally came out with the Oreo cheesecake. “Sorry, that took so long sir! Here you are.” She said, as she handed the old man his plate. “Oh, your fine! I could see you had a little one there. She yours? How old is she?” He asked, conversationally.

“Oh, no! She’s not mine! I’m too young to have kids, that’s my little sister. She just got out of kindergarten.”

“Oh… do you watch her all by yourself? What about your parents?”

“… They… have to work a lot of hours. So, I help out with my sister…”

Jacob was listening in on the conversation. That was the same lie that Autumn told the manager and the rest of the staff. Her parents are barely around, they work a lot, she hardly sees them. Jacob can’t help but wonder why though. Why would she lie about that?

Autumn finished her conversation with the old man and went to grab her bag out of the locker room. When she came back, she hugged Felicia goodbye and went to the counter. “Lelu! Come on! We gotta go home!” Autumn called. Lelu perked her head up, and started to stuff her crayons and folder in her backpack. She crawled out of her barstool, her feet were dangling as she carefully reached the bottom, and then skipped over to her older sister. They were out of Jacob’s hearing range, but he could see the old, yellowed, crinkled paper that had Lelu’s drawing in her hand. She showed it to Autumn, who crouched down to Lelu’s level. Jacob was waiting for some kind of worried or scared reaction from her but instead, Autumn gave a warm smile and kissed Lelu on her head, receiving a squeal and giggles of delight from the tiny child. Then Autumn took Lelu’s hand in hers, and they left the café together. There was only one reason why anyone would react that way… she was used to it, she knew!

Jacob stopped cleaning the table, and went to clean the counter off, but something caught his eye. It was folded up yellowed notebook paper, and in a hot pink crayon it read; To: Jakey; Love: Lelu and Lisa. Jacob did a double take, and realized what it read. His eyes widened as he quickly unfolded the paper.

It was a drawing of Lelu sitting at what seemed to be the counter, across from it Jacob assumed was himself… but behind him… was that thing from Lelu’s drawing. It was Lisa… only now… her black and red mouth was curved up into a smile. In the hot pink crayon like written on the outside read;

Thank you for being our friend!

I got inspired by a post from @hazbinhazmeinachokehold (and I’ve been watching too many horror movies lately)

This was a lot of fun and I’m honestly sad that there’s not much art of Sam from trick r treat. And with how many still life’s we’ve been doing, I’ve had no room for creative freedom, so this feels so good because I can actually do something I want to do. Also can I just say that I freaking LOVE Carmilla Carmine? I just love how maternal and loving she is as a mother towards her daughters, & Vaggie, along with how protective she is of her close friends like Zestial, I just love characters like that. Actually, her motherly personality is probably the reason Sam would like her so much. Just be like; “I like you, you’re my mom pillow now.”

College has been kicking my ass so this was a big relief for me.

(Also I’m having that problem again where any photos/screenshots I take and post on tumblr, are all blurry so I hope you can see and read it okay, sorry)

WHO IN THE NAME OF HORROR IS THIS?!?! They made me think it was kissy but… that’s not her! Or is it?! I don’t know but I’m am so freakin PuMpEd!!!!!

Pokémon ghost story Part 3

    There are many things Nessa thought she would see in her life, some beautiful, some unexpected, some wacky and unexplainable… but never would Nessa have thought, that she would see a corpse… and not one… but two. Yet here she was… in Gloria’s hotel room that she was staying in for the month. Raihan sitting on the couch, still in shock and staring blankly off into space. Gloria was currently on the phone with Hop, telling him what happened. Hop was on the other side frantically yelling with worries, Nessa could hear him from here, and he wasn’t even on speakerphone. It was still better than when Gloria had called Victor to tell him. Her brother didn’t even give her a choice, he was coming over the second Marnie’s gym closed for the day. Guess that’s just regular brotherly protection.

    Nessa looked down at the small Pokémon bed, Kubfu was still crying with that damn doll in his arms. Gloria’s Pokémon were by the little teddy bear’s side, trying to comfort him. Flamey looked at Axel, Gloria’s Aegislash, as if looking for advice. Axel just gave him this Sawsbuck in the headlights look, telling Flamey that he was just as lost as him. He knows her, Nessa thought, he knows exactly who that doll belongs to, he knows exactly who murdered those two people… but how does he know her?! Nessa felt herself more on edge with each passing second. She thinks everyone in this room was.

    Gloria got off her call with Hop, she sunk into the couch cushions next to Nessa. She exhaled sharply and looked at her phone once more. Nessa could see over her shoulder she was texting Bede. The previous text showed Bede worrying about how Gloria was holding up after the incident, along with a photo of his Pokémon fooling around with each other, one of his subtle ways to try and cheer her up. Gloria gave a soft chuckle at the picture. Nessa tore her eyes away from the champion’s phone. Nessa needed to calm down, but she couldn’t, especially not with that doll in the same room as her.

    After a long, long, silence, Gloria broke the ice. “Nessa,” she said, “You drove by that lake, right? During the night of the gala.” Nessa bit her bottom lip as she quietly nodded. “Did you happen to… see anything… or… anyone?” Gloria looked at the water type gym leader, waiting for a response. Nessa looked up; a bit taken back by the question. Nessa looked at Raihan, who gestured her, “go for it”.

    Nessa cleared her throat. “W-well, yes actually,” she confessed, “there was this little girl I saw on the way home… I thought she was in trouble, so I pulled over. But when I tried to help, she vanished. It was freezing cold that night, yet she was dressed in – “

“In a blue summer dress with summer boots,” Gloria finished for her, shocking both gym leaders.

“H-how do you know that?” Nessa asked.

“Because I saw her… how she was floating above the water, right before she disappeared,” Gloria replied.

They were silent for a while once more after that. Until Gloria saw both Nessa and Raihan staring at Kubfu. “You think he knows who she is?” Gloria said.

“We know who she is,” Raihan spoke up, “she’s the little girl from the missing posters. She’s Gretchen Moya.”

“But that’s all we know,” Nessa said, “we don’t know anything else about her, but Kubfu…” She paused, looking at how Kubfu had seemed to fall asleep with the mossy Buneary in his arms. “He knows something… he must, otherwise, why else would he react to that plushy the way he did?”

“Yeah, I can feel it, I know he knows something,” Gloria paused, “… but I don’t know what.”

***

    Kubfu could hear them talking about him. He disliked it, but maybe it was better if they thought he was sleeping… or not, they wouldn’t be able to understand him even if he tried his best. They couldn’t even understand that Marill from the park, when he was trying to tell them that the bad human had taken his best friend. Kubfu smelled all the mud, dirt, and moldy moss on the plushy, but he didn’t care. Despite all the damage that the plushy had gone through, her scent was still etched into the fabric of the toy. It was still as comforting as it used to be.

    Kubfu felt soft yet firm paws stroke his head, he lifted his eyelid just enough to see who it was; Flamey with a concerned look. That’s sweet, but it still doesn’t change what I did… I don’t even know if I deserve any of this. He closed his eyes once more as he let her scent -along with all the grime- enter his nostrils once more. Kubfu didn’t focus or mind the dirt on the plushy, he only focused on the scent of his first savior. He became so focused on the calming scent and the comfortable head rubs that he felt his body succumb to sleep.

***

    Kubfu was lost! He wasn’t used to this environment! Why was it so cold? Wasn’t it supposed to be spring? Where was he? Kubfu forced himself through the bushes and just kept running. He didn’t know if those humans were still following him, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He couldn’t take any chances! He felt like he was running for hours, but eventually he found himself at a wooden fence with a loose board. Kubfu punched the board until it was opened wide enough for him to slip through.

    Kubfu felt his wounds sting as he fell into a bed of flowers that were almost bigger than him. When he looked up, he found himself in a garden of some kind. There were hydrangeas, daisies, sunflowers, and a rosebush. Kubfu was only thankful that he didn’t fall into that bush. Kubfu sneezed as the pollen got up his nose.

    “Huh?” A small voice squeaked. Kubfu froze, despite his mind telling him to run. “Aw! Hey there… how did you get in here? Woah!” Kubfu looked up as a small human with ebony hair pined with a white pokéball hairclip to keep it out of her blue and purple eyes. Those big eyes widened as she saw the condition this living teddy bear was in. Kubfu was frozen and felt too tired to run. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the tears welling up, this was it. All his cleverness that he used to escape from those humans that stole him from his home had been for nothing, he was so freaking tired, closing his eyes felt so good, maybe a nap would do him some good? Kubfu felt small soft hands cautiously rub the sides of his head, he opened his eyes to see this human, smiling gently as she quietly spoke. “Shh, it’s okay… you’re okay… I won’t hurt you, pinky promise.” Kubfu felt comfortable in this tiny human’s hands, and he didn’t know why, but for some reason, he believed her and her words.

    After a bit, he felt himself being picked up gently, and he didn’t try to fight or squirm. What was wrong with him? Did he have a death wish? Why wasn’t he fighting or flying? Kubfu was abruptly pulled from his thoughts as he felt cold water wash over him. “Raa!!” He squeaked. “Whoops! Is that too cold for you little guy?” The human girl said. Was she- was she trying to clean him? Why? Shouldn’t she be stuffing him into a pokéball or a cage right about now?

    Kubfu stared curiously into the human’s mismatched eyes. The girl smiled. “It’s okay, I’m you friend, my names Gretchen,” Gretchen spoke. She stroked the top of Kubfu’s head gently, Kubfu found himself nuzzling into the feeling. Gretchen giggled at the tiny Pokémon in her arms.

    The human who called herself Gretchen took him inside her home. Kubfu found himself devouring delicious foods. Sandwiches inside of Darumaka lunchboxes, fruit slices in the shape of Mudkip, Torchic, Hatenna, and many others. Kubfu doesn’t think he’s ever been this full in his life! Has he died and gone to heaven? He hasn’t had anything to eat since those humans kidnapped him from his home.

He looked over to the girl filling up a large pot with soapy water, she waited until he was finished with the final sandwich before picking him up and gently setting him inside the pot, it was far warmer than the water from the garden. Kubfu was warry, but this girl hasn’t tried to cause him any harm… yet. Still, that was more than he could say about the other humans he’s met. Gretchen took a warm hand towel and started rubbing the soapy water over other parts of his body.

    Once Gretchen seemed to have deemed him clean enough, she took him out and wrapped him in a towel, before grabbing a hairdryer and set it on the lowest setting. It was completely foreign to Kubfu, he tried swatting at the powerful air at first- causing Gretchen to giggle in amusement- before he eased into it as he felt his fur becoming softer and dryer.

    “There we go,” Gretchen smiled, turning off the hairdryer. She pulled a chair out from the dining room table, before using it to step on the kitchen counter, she grabbed the first aid kit from the top shelf. It was still a mystery to her why her parents left her home alone while they worked all day, yet they put the first aid kit completely out of reach for her. Gretchen pulled out one of the purple potions. “Okay, just so you know, this will sting a little, but just like daddy says; ‘when it hurts, that means it’s helping,’” Gretchen warned him. Oh, that’s what it was. For a moment, Kubfu thinks that he let his guard down for too long and got too comfortable with this human. Even if she wasn’t fully grown yet, she was still a human, and therefore, still just as dangerous.

    Kubfu squeezed his eyes shut, wondering just how much this will hurt. He felt something wet and cold spray mist across his body, causing his wounds to sting a little. The mist sprayed once, then twice, then twice more on his backside, the mist made his wounds sting a little, but it wasn’t painful. “There you go, all done!” Gretchen said cheerfully. Wait… that’s… that’s it? Kubfu opened his eyes and looked at her confusingly, that’s all? Gretchen grabbed a stuffed Buneary plushie, heading over to Kubfu. “Mama and Daddy will be home soon, I don’t know if they’ll allow me to keep you, but they don’t have to know,” Gretchen winked. Kubfu was a little confused, but he liked this human. He gave a smile back, “Raa!” he squeaked.

***

    Kubfu’s wounds have fully healed now, yet he still stayed. It turns out, Gretchen’s parents didn’t get home until late at night, they both worked full time jobs just to make ends meet. They left her notes on the fridge and left a lot of her favorite meals for her to heat up. But Gretchen didn’t seem to mind, especially now since she has a friend to play with. When her parents were home, it just meant that Kubfu would have to stay in Gretchen’s room until the early morning when they left for work.

    Today Kubfu and Gretchen, along with Bun-Bun (What Gretchen named her Buneary plush) were watching a bit of TV, and frankly, Kubfu’s mind was blown! There was this human man on the screen with a Charizard, fighting this other human man with a Duraludon. The man’s name was apparently Leon, and the man he was fighting was Raihan, they were in a Pokémon battle for this “Championship”, and they were down to one Pokémon each. The Charizard looked tired and beaten up, the same could be said about the opposing Duraludon. But as if the battle couldn’t get any more heated, both trainers returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs. Kubfu was confused at first, the battle wasn’t over yet, what were they doing?

    “OH! OH! Look! Look! Their about to do it! Dynamax time baby!” Gretchen said excitedly with stars in her eyes. Kubfu watched in wonderment as the pokéballs grew to the size of watermelons before his very eyes and when they threw the pokéballs behind them, the Pokémon not only looked different from before, but they were almost bigger than the stadium they were in! Kubfu’s eyes widened with wonder and amazement. How was that possible?! Fire and dragon aura filled the stadium and before he knew it, the Duraludon was defeated, and shrunk back to normal size before being returned to it’s pokéball.

    Gretchen soon grabbed Kubfu and started shaking him back and forth. “Did you see that?! Yet another victory! The champion keeps his title once again! Those two have been at each other for years! I can’t wait to see what will happen this season with all the new challengers! Maybe this will be the year where a challenger will get to dethrone the champion! Oh! I wish I was old enough to be the one to fight Leon!”

    Kubfu started feeling sick from how much she was shaking him, but he understood her excitement. Kubfu looked back to the screen, the crowd seemed to be cheering, the Charizard had shrunk back down, Leon was stroking him and seemed to be praising his partner. Kubfu had only seen toxic and even abusive relationships between trainers and their Pokémon, so to see someone care so much about them was a bit surprising to him. It’s almost like how Gretchen and I are, Kubfu thought. He paused at the thought… he never thought of himself as a tamed Pokémon. If he was going to be honest, he only ever thought about getting stronger, evolving, and staying wild forever. But being with Gretchen and watching the Pokémon and their trainers on the television… he glanced at Gretchen, she was wearing her favorite Milotic t-shirt with a navy-blue skirt. Maybe… I mean, she already takes care of him, and if he was honest, he probably trusts her more than he's ever trusted any other Pokémon.

    No, what was he thinking? But she’s not like other humans, if anything she was just a lonely little girl. No friends, no family to make time for her, it was just her and Bun-Bun against the world. But the duo had become a trio with Kubfu around.

   Kubfu’s attention was pulled back to the TV, Leon was shown doing some kind of pose, and before Kubfu could question what it was, Gretchen bounced up and down excitedly as she mimicked the champion’s moves. “It’s called the Charizard pose! It’s super iconic!” She spoke. The Charizard pose? Well, it looked fun! “Ra” Kubfu smiled. He mimicked along with her. “Hehe!” Gretchen giggled.

    Kubfu giggled, this really was a perfect moment. Maybe living with a human wouldn’t be so bad, after all; he’s never been able to get three meals a day with all the nutrients, he’s never had a warm soft bed, he’s never had someone tend to his wounds, he’s never had someone love him. He looked at the white pokéball in her hair once more… well… if Gretchen asks him… he won’t deny her. He might even be her first partner if she wants.

   As the commercials came on, the girl became silent. “Hey, Kubfu,” Gretchen said, “thanks. Thank you for being my best friend. I don’t really have many friends, and when I do, they always want something from me, or just use me as a dumping ground for their issues and they don’t really do the same for me.” She looked at Kubfu and picked him up, she held him high above, smiling. “Kubfu, I really want to help you get stronger, I want to go on adventures with you, I want you to become my first ever Pokémon partner, would you like that?” Kubfu thought for a moment that she could read his mind. Kubfu just simply stared at the girl who had saved his life just a month before. He didn’t know how to let her know just how much he wanted that, then he had an idea. “Raa!” He exclaimed, as he did, he did the same Charizard pose he saw the TV.

    Gretchen’s face lit up at the pose. “I knew it! You want to be with me too! Alright! Kubfu, I promise you that I’ll be with you and always take care of you forever,” she promised him, “let’s go to the championship together!” Sounded like a plan to him!

***

    Kubfu awoken to the smell of fresh curry floating through the apartment, surely that wasn’t Gloria’s cooking. Sure, her cooking was edible, but it wasn’t the greatest either. Kubfu rubbed his eyes as he looked down to see that Bun-Bun wasn’t with him. “Ra!” He cried. Where was Bun-Bun? Why wasn’t Bun-Bun here with him? She was here when he fell asleep!

    Nessa sat down in one of Gloria’s t-shirts. She decided to sleepover for the night, the police wanted to question her and Raihan about the bodies for the investigation. But if this would help solve the mystery of little Gretchen... She looked to see Gloria cooking bone and coconut curry while looking at the texts Bede had sent her. Nessa assumed that they were texts with recipes or cooking tips. Nessa will admit that she was a little scared to try Gloria’s cooking with how her Pokémon acted to it. Raihan was currently using Gloria’s shower, and Nessa could tell that he was just as messed up as she was from what they saw earlier that day. Nessa found a steaming hot coconut mixed with bone curry placed in front of her, it looked good. Nessa picked up a spoon. Looks okay, she thought, as she gave it a sniff. Smells okay. She took a bite. Tastes magnificent!

    Nessa suddenly chowed down, ever since Bede started teaching Gloria and Hop to cook, they have both improved greatly. Nessa looked at her Pokémon, she gave them a thumbs up, its safe to eat this time! That was all they needed to start eating. Nessa and Gloria have not really spoken a word since they all suspected Kubfu knew something about Gretchen. “Hey,” Raihan called, he came out of the hallway in boxers and no shirt, he was drying his hair with a towel.

“Raihan,” Nessa whispered, her face flushing bright pink, “Put some clothes on! We are not at home!” Raihan seemed to remember and grabbed his t-shirt.

"Eh, it’s okay,” Gloria said, “Victor tends to do that, even before he started to date Marnie, it used to drive Mom insane. And I had to share a room with that guy my whole life!” Nessa and Raihan chuckled.

    Raihan still put a shirt on anyway. Flamey seemed to be helping Gloria with the dishes, which was cute. “I didn’t know Pokémon could wash their own dishes,” Nessa smiled.

“They don’t usually, but Flamey has been a neat freak since he was a little Scorbunny, he actually learned from watching me and then tried to mimic me, guess he got fed up with my messy habits.”

    Nessa smiled, almost enough to forget about the horrific sight they saw earlier… almost… Nessa looked to the living room, not able to see Kubfu’s bed from here, but she could only assume that the Pokémon was still asleep. Gloria had taken the plushy from him while he slept, according to her; he was holding on to it tightly even while he slept. Nessa wonders if he met Gretchen while she was alive, or if he had watched her die… it would be a traumatic event for anyone. Nessa hopes Kubfu would understand, that plushy was evidence, the police said they would be here tomorrow morning to pick it up. Which was fine by Nessa, if she was going to be honest, she did not want to spend another second looking at that thing.

    Raihan sat next to Nessa, eating his coconut bone curry. Raihan never understood why everyone made such a big deal out of Gloria’s cooking, it didn’t taste at all bad to him. Nessa said that he would learn someday. Once the dishes were finished, Gloria finally dished up her own plate and sat down. “Thanks for the food, Glory,” Raihan said.

“It’s no trouble whatsoever,” Gloria responded.

    “Raa! Ra! Ra!” Kubfu squeaked loudly. Before anyone could look in his direction, the teddy bear Pokémon had hopped up on the table, not caring that there were plates below his feet. “Ah! Huh!?” The trio exclaimed. “Kubfu!” Gloria scolded. Kubfu paid his trainer no mind. Kubfu looked frantically around, she had to be around here somewhere! Where was she!? Kubfu’s breathe quickened, but no one seemed to notice. Only the Pokémon eating could make out what he was saying and panicking about. “Bun-Bun! Where’s Bun-Bun!?” Kubfu shouted in his Pokémon cry.

   “Cinder!” Cinderace got up and dashed to the laundry room. Axel tried to get Kubfu off the table but before he could, Kubfu hopped down and onto Tyr’s belly. Tyr, Gloria’s Tyranitar, looked at the tiny Pokémon with immense concern, this wasn’t like the Pokémon at all! “Kubfu! Come here!” Gloria stood up, Kubfu was bouncing everywhere with curry on his paws, he was making a giant mess! What was up with him?! Kubfu continued running around the apartment, looking around frantically.

    “Ra! Ra! Ra!” The tiny Pokémon continued to cry. “Kubfu! Stop! Come here now!” Gloria tried reaching for him. “RAA!!!” Kubfu shouted, his paws turned ablaze as he furiously glared at Gloria. Only when Gloria stepped back in fear did Kubfu come to his senses and realized that he almost used fire punch on his own trainer! Kubfu looked around, his teammates looking at him in concern and disbelief. Kubfu hiccupped and started to break down, he cried his little heart out.

    “Kubfu…” Gloria said softly, she cautiously reached out for him, and pulled him into a warm embrace. Kubfu sobbed his Pokémon cry futilely apologized over and over to his trainer. “Shh~ it’s okay, it’s okay,” Gloria whispered. “G- Gloria,” Nessa said softly, “has he- has he ever tried to do that before?” Gloria simply shook her head as she continued to comfort the crying Pokémon in her arms.

    What was Kubfu thinking?! He almost hurt his trainer, his friend! It was bad enough that he had that reminder that he failed once at protecting his last friend, but he almost directly failed once again! Kubfu just kept sobbing in his trainer’s arms, it wasn’t until Flamey made his presence known once again that he looked up from Gloria’s chest. Cinderace was holding Bun-Bun in his paws, looking overly concerned for his teammate. Kubfu’s eyes widened. There she was! Kubfu hopped out of Gloria’s arms and ran to Cinderace as he set Bun-Bun down, Kubfu hugged the toy with all his might, sobbing more than he was while he was in Gloria’s arms, it that were possible.

    Gloria, Nessa, Raihan, and their Pokémon could only look on as the Pokémon had found what he was searching for so frantically. Flamey kneeled and stroked the top of the sobbing Pokémon as he was reminded of that wretched day.

***

    They almost got him! If Kubfu hadn’t fought his way out of the pokéball, he would have been captured by the same people that had taken him away from his home in the first place! Kubfu wanted to go back to the garden! He dashed through the trees of Wyndon Park, he was just here with Gretchen having a picnic. “Oh, hey there you are Kubfu,” Gretchen said as she saw him fall out of the bushes. Gretchen’s smile faded however when she saw how scarred Kubfu was. “What’s wrong?” She asked concerned. Kubfu ran to her and hugged her tightly.

    Gretchen heard something, she looked at the crate she had brought for them to use as a picnic basket. Gretchen held Kubfu, wondering what had scarred him so bad. Gretchen gasped as she heard growling from the trees, as a Houndoom emerged from the bushes with a man wearing a creepy grin behind him. What the heck was a Houndoom doing in the Galar region? They didn’t come here, not unless someone had brought them from another region. Gretchen grabbed the crate and put Kubfu inside as she stood up.

    Kubfu peeked out of the crate, looking at the man that had tried to capture him. “Well, hello there little missy, ~” the man said, as if trying to start a pleasant conversation. Gretchen didn’t respond, she continued to eye him wearily. “What are you doing here? In a park? All alone?” The man bent over to meet Gretchen’s Hight. Gretchen took a step back, trying to send him her best glare. “I’m… I’m not alone, and I’m not supposed to talk to strangers,” she said. The man stood up straight, as the Houndoom stepped closer, growling louder. “Down boy,” the man told him, “it looks to me like your alone,”

    Gretchen glanced down at Kubfu. “I’m here with my partner Pokémon,” she said convincingly. The man threw his head back and laughed. “Well, I’m going to need your little partner Pokémon,” he said. Gretchen looked at him in disbelief. “Why should I even think about giving Kubfu to you?!” She shouted, “What do you want with him?!”

    The man’s smile faltered. “Just make this quick missy and give him to us,” he growled. “No! Never! Go away!” Gretchen said, as she dashed away. The Houndoom took this as his cue and chased after the little girl.

    Gretchen cradled the crate and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. She didn’t even know how fast Houndooms could run or sprint, but she knew that she would never let them take Kubfu. Kubfu peaked out of the crate just enough to see where Gretchen was running to. Why was she heading to the bridge? That was still under construction. When they were on the bridge, Gretchen screamed as the Houndoom bit her sky-blue summer dress, she tripped and fell as she dropped the crate. Kubfu braced himself for the fall as he was launched out of the crate. “Oh finally,” the man from before said as he marched over to Kubfu. “Ra!” Kubfu squealed in fear, hiding in the crate once more. “This was starting to become tedious,” he said picking up the crate with the terrified Pokémon inside.

    Gretchen gasped as she saw the bad man pick up the crate with her friend inside. Gretchen had to think fast, she looked over to the side of the bridge, maybe she could push him over? Gretchen got up and sprinted towards the man. “Let. Him. GO!” She yelled pushing the man to the side, causing him to lose his balance, he dropped the crate containing Kubfu over the side and into the water! Kubfu screamed as his crate splashed into the water. “Kubfu!” Gretchen cried. That wasn't the plan at all!

    Gretchen was grabbed by her neck and lifted off the ground, she couldn’t breathe. “You little shit!” The man snarled, “I can’t go back empty handed, my best bet is if the team will pick him up at the end of the river!” He paused and glanced over to the side and looked back to Gretchen. “I wanted to be nice little missy; I really did… but you brought this on yourself.” As he said that, he marched over to the side of the bridge and hurled Gretchen over the side. Kubfu could do nothing but watch as his best friend plummeted into the water with a loud splash! “Wait! -” Gretchen screamed, her head sinking under the water as she flailed her arms frantically, “help! Please! I- I can’t swim!” Kubfu cried as the currents sent him further and further down the lake and towards the rapids, hearing Gretchen’s cries and pleas for someone to help her, praying to Arceus to save her. It wasn’t until Kubfu was sent down the rapids that he couldn’t hear her cries or begs anymore. As his crate floated down the rapids, he could only pray to Arceus that he would save his partner.

    Kubfu somehow fell asleep in that crate, waiting for it to hit land. Although, it wasn’t until one morning he found someone opening his crate on the beach. He found a little boy with blonde hair, blue earphones, and a pink sweater opening it. His name was Hyde, he was with his father, Mustard, who took him in and trained him. But nothing could stop him from thinking about Gretchen. He didn’t think he would ever meet another human like Mustard or Gretchen. That was until a trainer named Gloria came to Mustard’s dojo and took him away from the island. He joined her team, got stronger, and was treated like family. It almost felt like he was with Gretchen once again.

    Kubfu never gave up hope that he would see Gretchen again, there were plenty of people at the park that day, surely someone heard her cries and came to help. Kubfu looked at the crowds during his battles, thinking he would see her cheering on, or she was watching the matches from home on the TV! Watching him and cheering him on just like she would do while watching Leon’s matches. When Kubfu and his teammates defeated the undefeatable champion Leon, he could only imagine Gretchen when he sees her again. He did it! He defeated Leon! Even though that was something he and Gretchen promised to do together, he could only imagine how proud she must be for him.

    Kubfu had so much hope that the day would come where he would see her again… but any and all hope he had was shot down and terminated the second he saw Bun-Bun. Bun-Bun was covered with moss and debris. Gretchen would never ever go anywhere without Bun-Bun, she carried her around everywhere. So, the fact that Bun-Bun was here… and not at the house, in the same spot that they had their picnic together all those months ago… Gretchen was… she was…………… dead…

    Which was why Kubfu didn’t want to let go; he spent all this time thinking that she was safe and at the house, when really, no one had come to save her, no one had heard her cries, no one had found her body, no one knew the truth about what had happened to Gretchen Moya. Not even her parents must know that their little girl will never return home.

***

    So, here he was now, hugging Bun-Bun as tightly as he could, like how he wishes he could’ve held Gretchen instead. He didn’t want to let go… not ever again. Bun-Bun was all he had left of Gretchen, he didn’t care if her parents wanted it back, they were never even there! He didn’t care what the human authorities would do if he didn’t give them Bun-Bun. He didn’t want to let go… not ever again.

Kanna’s First Christmas Part 2

Kanna has told not even a few of the stories of her holidays… no need to spend money on a child that’s not yours right? It’s tough for a kid to be told that their entire life.

Robby is a little sweetheart 💕😭🥹

I made a new blog called @asktheseterrors

Just in case anyone cares… I’ll be posting some crap on that blog until I run out of inspiration for those little boogers

Michael being so f***ing done with everyone’s bulls**t

*sniff* *sniff*

Kubfu remembered someone dear to him that day… someone who had tried to protect him and keep him safe, someone who had saved him all those months ago… but he was too weak when it came to giving her same protection that she had given him.

His trainer and her friends know that he knows something they don’t know what… How does Kubfu know this violent apparition? What is his past? How did someone so loving, caring, and protective become this terrifying thing?

Stay Tuned for Pokemon Ghost Story Part 3!

If you woke up in your favorite universe tomorrow, where would you be?

Depends… my original universe or a fandom?