Twisted-Wonderland: Heart of the Night

Prologue 6: Exceptional Trail!

"Fugnaaaa~!!!", Grim fired his last fire.

"Hee, heeeeeee!  We're gonners!  Run away~~!", the ghosts scurried away and the halls were silent again.

"E-eh?  We... won?", even though he did his victory dance he apparently was still stunned by the outcome.

"Amazing", *He's not as bad as I thought*.

"Ha-hee... that was so...  No I wasn't scared at all!", Grim was both stunned and bewildered by the ghosts even if he won't admit it.

"This is nothing for the Great Grim!  How 'bout that, ghosts?  You done?"

Then footsteps came approaching from up the stairs, Grim and I turned to see that it was....

"Good evening.  I have graciously brought you supper.", it was Mr. Crowley and brought in a metal plate with dinner.  It was roasted fish with a side of vegetables.  But it was silent when Mr. Crowley took notice of Grim standing beside me.

"You're the monster that ran away during the entrance ceremony!  I threw you out of the school, what are you doing here!?", he wasn't pleased about this.

"Hmph!  I exterminated the ghost problem!  Be grateful!", Grim wasn't phased by him, he was just as rebellious.

"Nn?  What do you mean by that?", he took a moment to think on what he said.

"Now that you mention it, there were some prankster ghosts living here so students kept away from this dormitory, and thats why it's now empty.  I'd forgotten that.  However, huumm...", he started to mumble to himself and I could hardly hear him.

"For you two to work together to get rid of them."

"I'm not not gonna overlook that "together" comment.  They were just standing there watching.  And I did this for a can of tuna."

*I take back my comment on him*

"Ah!  I haven't gotten that tuna yet!", I quickly hid them behind my back as he turned to me.  I turned my head away pretending not knowing what he's referring to.

"I'd like the two of you to show me how you exterminated those ghosts.", he brought back both of our attention.

"But we already gotten rid of all the ghosts!  Before that: Give. Me. Tuna!"

"I shall be the ghosts.  If you beat me, I'll give you tuna cans.  For I am gracious.", I'm starting to get bad feelings about that line.

"Transformation potion!!", he pulls out a potion bottle from under his cape and gulped it down.  After drinking it, he immediately turned into a ghost but he still had his crow mask and top hat on.  His cape didn't look like the one he had on before it was more similar to the ghosts' cape from earlier.

"Eeeeh.  I don't wanna.  This is a pain and I have to team up with them again..."

As much as I wanted to karate chop his head I knew this wasn't gonna end until we show him what we did before.

"This might be a chance to get into the school!", I try to encourage him with something more rewarding hoping I didn't have to use force.

"Grrnuu...  This is the last time!  You absolutely, absolutely, have to give me tuna!!", he barked his demands.

But I wasn't gonna let him get to me.  "Yeah, yeah shut up."

Grim makes an approach to start.

"Now then, I have transformed into a ghost!  Please do feel free to attack.  You're ok, in this case I am gentle.", it felt more like taunting than encouragement but the way I've seen him act so far it could be both.

"No other way then.... I'll go along with it then, and afterwards I'll get a nice can of tuna!", Grim makes a stance as he waits for Crowley to appear again.

"Now then, let us begin!"

"Alright, you!  I'll find your location!"

Unlike the ghosts from earlier, he was true to what he said about being gentle.  But it felt more slow because he only showed up a little at a time behind Grim.  It was easy for Grim to nail him because not only did I tell him his location but it felt like Mr. Crowley was making it obvious so he could observe how we worked together.  But of course Grim got too excited about his achievement against the headmaster.

"On the left, got it!  There!", he nailed him in the face on that one.  But it still felt too easy how he was going about this.

"Owowowow!", Crowley yelped before disappearing again.

"....that will do.  Now then, let's say we bump the difficulty a bit.", after he says that he suddenly zooms across the room in all directions.

*So he was going easy on us, like SUPER easy.*

Grim was taken back by his sudden movements.

"Absurd, suddenly so fast!?"

"Now then, can you figure this one out?", after he zooms some more Grim was starting to shake but he didn't let anyone see it for long.

"Of course!  The Great Grim will make easy work of this!", I hope he doesn't forget that I have to see his location in order to tell him where he is at.  But now I really have to focus cause it's getting hard for me to keep my eye on him.

Now Crowley was acting like the ghosts appearing more faster.  It only took seconds before he got hit, retreated, and then reappear again.  Coming from all directions my eyes felt a little dizzy.  But as I told Grim his location, he sped up as well with his reflexes and how fast to aim.

"Then, you think you can handle this many?!", now two of the ghosts from earlier appeared again as if by Crowley's silent command.  They gleefully surrounded Grim with Crowley included.

"Fu na na na na!!!!!", Grim retaliated even when cornered.  His fire took all by surprise.

"Ooooh, that was a surprise....", he retreated back.

"Haaaa haaa...... I beat them all....", Grim took a moment to catch his breathe.

"Hey you!  Dont be so rough! Treat me more gently!", he then turns to complain.

*So much for handling it well*

But for what it's worth, I'm just glad it over now.  My head hurts from keeping track of ghost Crowley since I felt like he was too fast for me.  But now I wonder, the way he was playing at the challenge, was it more to challenge Grim and his magic?  Or was it to challenge me for my skill?