Varion City, the city where anything can happen. Today is the 31st of October, the last day of the month and Halloween. It's the day of spookiness, monsters and horrors beyond our wildest fantasies. But, after living in Varion City my entire life, nothing even surprises me anymore.
"So spider, what do you do for work?"
"Hiss."
"Interesting."
I had a new roommate. I told you, I didn't want to deal with a giant spider in my apartment, but it somehow crawled in while I was asleep. And right now, I'm eating breakfast while it stares at me from across the table.
"Hisss."
"Yeah, exactly."
I didn't understand what it was saying.
"Do you want some cereal too?"
"Hisssss."
"I'll take that as a yes."
Here I am, grabbing a bowl to serve a spider some cereal. If this isn't the average Varion City experience, then I don't know what is. I hope the spider doesn't lay eggs though, otherwise I'm getting a whole bunch of them inside of my apartment. Again, how did this thing crawl inside?
"Here's your cereal."
"Hiss."
Surprisingly, the spider did eat from it.
"Why are you actually so fascinating?.."
"Hiss."
The bell rang, so I opened the door. You'll never guess who it was. Did you guess Emma? Then you're wrong, because it's Nello. He had a huge smile on his face, like always. His hair was even redder than before and actually, his eyes were never that red either. And as far as I'm aware, his eyes are supposed to have some white in them, not be all black.
"Nello, are you okay?"
"I am," he said in the deepest voice I'd ever heard.
What happened? Why'd he suddenly tap so deep into his demon part? Is it because of Halloween? His veins were red, that's not supposed to happen. His skin was still the same though, just a regular human's. And his voice, well, deep and rough.
"Are you ready to trick or treat?"
"You sound like a 40 year old man."
"Oh.."
He peeked behind me.
"Henry, why is there a huge spider in your home?"
"Don't question it, I think I got a new pet."
"Hiss."
"Pfff-," Nello began laughing, "You can't say that!"
What?
"What?"
"Not you, the spider!"
"Hiss?"
"Yes!!"
"Hisss!!!!"
"Oh you should join us!"
"Hiss."
"Yup!"
"Hiss?"
"Yes, of course you can have some candy."
He was having an entire conversation with a spider that lived inside of my apartment. This is way too Varion City for me. How does one end up in this situation? There's a demon right at my door and a giant spider right above me.
And it was only now that I noticed that Nello had a plastic bag with him. There were clothes in it to dress up for Halloween. I had my costume ready in my room too. I wonder if the spider is going to wear a costume, but I doubt there are any spider sized costumes.
"Hey spider, are you going to eat me?" I asked.
"Hiss."
"He said no."
"Why are you stalking me?"
"Hissss."
"He claims there's no reason behind it."
"Seriously?"
"Hiss."
"That's too inappropriate, I will not translate that!"
"What did he say?!"
After changing into our costumes, we walked to the game shop. The whole shop had cosplayers and whatnot standing outside. This was actually quite awesome. Oh and what did Nello dress up as? He dressed up as a superhero by having a black cape, red and black suit with a red mask. And I? I dressed up as Henry Laress. Just kidding, I'm not going to do that cliché. I had a phantom outfit on.
I had a black cloak on with makeup to make my face seem scarier than it already is. Don't question where or how I learned to do makeup. Some things are better left unsaid.
"Where's Henry?" Tay asked Nello, who was standing right beside me.
"Haha, very funny," I responded.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Tan asked calmly.
"That's Lemon the spider!" Nello replied.
"WHY IS YOUR VOICE SO DEEP?! AND WHY IS THAT THING ANYWHERE NEAR US?!" Tan softly asked.
"It won't do any harm!"
"Hiss!"
"Tay, pick me up, I'm going to pass out."
And he did in fact pass out, but he wasn't picked up by Tay. I had to catch him because Tay had already passed out before him. If you're wondering, Nello caught her.
"Well that just happened," Nello said.
"Dude, that's a sick costume!" a random guy came up to the spider and said.
"Hiss."
"Holy, how'd you build that?"
"Hiss."
"Insane!"
Is he actually conversing with the spider? Or what's going on?
"It's a real spider," I told him.
"Hm? Oh."
Famous last words because he passed out right after hearing that.
Is that someone dressed up as a well known superhero wearing an S-symbol on his chest? Okay but that outfit is pure stinkers. His outfit is so terrible you might even call him Clark Can't. I bet the S on his suit doesn't even stand for hope, it stands for stinky.
But then, in just a few seconds, all male gazes were captured by the arrival of a singular thing. In the distance, we saw a mech spinosaurus walking towards the game shop. And the only thing we could all mutter under our breath was, "Hell yeah."
Out of the mech climbed Merlo Chadisky with his sunglasses on. He walked over towards us with his mech dinosaur following him. His costume? A dinosaur. I think he's a huge fan of dinosaurs. I'm surprised he came over to the game shop this early. Although, we have to be wary, after all, he may be our enemy.
"Hey thin man."
"Yo."
"Hey Nelbro."
"Hey!!!" Nello responded in his deep voice.
"Nelbro, did you get older?"
"No!"
"Whaaat? Your voice!"
"He just hit puberty," I said.
"Oooh, that makes sense."
Our enemy? Yeah right, I don't think he is. I may be a bit uncautious with this but does this guy look like he'd be an enemy? If he follows all the tropes bound to his character, then I doubt he's really an enemy and just a less intellectually gifted individual.
"Hiss."
"Ooh nice costume, what's your name?"
"It's a real spider."
"A real spider?! That's cool! High five!"
Never did I think I'd see someone high five a spider, but here we are.
"His name is Lemon!"
"Hiss."
"LeBron.."
"Uhm no, Lemon."
"LeBron.."
I could see the disappointment in the spider's eyes as it moved its head towards both Nello and I. Get used to it buddy, this guy will get your name wrong more than you will forget to breathe manually.
"LeBron, thin man and Nelbro, we should all trick or treat together!"
"Yes! We were planning to do that!"
"Aren't Nelbro and LeBron spelled with the same letters?" I pondered.
"Henry, catch me, I'm about to pass out from that revelation," Nello said.
After sitting at the game shop for a while, we all collectively agreed to go to the Halloween festival held in the park. Yes, the same park Emma and I walked in. The festival had lots of stuff. You could go apple bobbing, you could carve pumpkins, the atmosphere was perfect here.
And of course, there was a market.. Of witches.
"Henry, I found a grimoire!" Nello yelled.
Of course he found a grimoire. And that wasn't the only thing here. There were potions, recipe books for potions, ingredients, bats. There were all sorts of things here. Welcome to Varion City.
"Keeekekeke, do you wish to buy a grimoire, boy?" the vendor witch asked Nello.
"Can I learn magic with this?"
"Yeeeees. You may even summon a demo- you're not a regular boy, are you? That voice.. Could it be that you're-"
"Ma'am, you're under arrest for selling illegal potions to customers. You're going to have to come with me," an officer said before cuffing the lady.
"You can't do this to me!" the witch yelled.
"We apologize for any inconvenience, have a nice day at the festival," the officer told Nello before leaving.
"Aw shucks! I can't learn magic now!"
But while Nello was going on his quest to learn magic, I wanted to check around too. Who knows, maybe they have some cool stuff in here. The Halloween market introduces so many mystical things, there could be some things here useful against Gregory.
In the distance, I saw Makoto and Gojo. I was thinking about approaching them, but I decided it may not be right. But then, when I looked in a different direction, I saw Sakura and Kuro. Isn't she supposed to party with Emma? What's going on here? Both Makoto and Sakura spotted each other and I could see their quick awkward eye contact moment.
"O! If it ain't Henry!"
Oh, a new character spawned.
"Yo."
"I haven't seen you in a long while, buddy!"
You may be curious who's speaking to me. It's basically a guy with flat white hair. He's athletic and slightly older than me. His eyes were always kind of squinting, so it's a rare event to ever see his pupils. And you may not have expected this from me, but he's actually like a brother to me. After all, just like Tay and Tan, we grew up together.
"Who's that?" Nello asked.
"Ooh, a friend of Henry?" he asked.
"Yeah!"
"I'm Daniel, what's your name?"
"Nello! Nello Mortirior, and I'm going to become the greatest superhero in the world!"
Daniel's eyes switched to me and he smirked.
"Oh really? Henry, you have a nice friend."
"Yeah, I know."
"How do you and Henry know each other?" Nello asked.
"Oh well, we grew up together."
"Really?!! So you know a lot about Henry?"
"Obviously!"
"Don't even say anything," I told Daniel.
I knew something was going to happen. Daniel doesn't just suddenly appear out of nowhere. He only appeared when things were going to get rough. The fact that he came around for Halloween means only one thing. A disaster is going to happen.
Wait a second, where are Merlo and Lemon?
"Pass me the ball, LeBron!"
"Hiss!"
"Haha! Take this, ball of powah!" Merlo yelled before throwing the ball into the hoop.
There's a high chance you know what sport they're playing. At this point, I've seen everything. A spider riding a broom in the air passing a ball to Merlo just for him to score.. Great. And yeah, it's THAT sport. But the worst part of all was the fact that they're actually dominating the game.
"Woah! That guy is so handsome and strong!" I could hear girls in the crowd say.
"Catch me I'm going to pass out-," one of the girls said before passing out.
What's up with everyone passing out today? And why is no one freaked out about the spider now? Did it go from abnormal to normal in just a few moments? This city is so strange.
"Team Yellow has won the game!"
"Merlo! Merlo! Merlo!"
"LeBron! LeBron! LeBron!"
The crowd was cheering. Merlo was obviously proud of his victory and I could see Lemon enjoying the attention too. But Lemon, are you okay with this? They're calling you the wrong name.
"Good game," I told Merlo.
"Thanks, thin man! You can join us if you want!"
"I'm good."
"Hiss."
"Yeah you did good too."
I looked closer at their brooms. How did they manage to fly? Oh, I see, these brooms were enchanted. This means anyone could use the broom to fly, but I don't know the conditions of the enchantment. Maybe it's only usable during events like this. Considering it became a regular broom the moment the game ended, I think I'm right. Dang it, I was going to ask if they sold them so I can move around the city more quickly.
"Here you are!" Daniel said.
"Yeah."
"Oh, are these also your friends?" he asked before his eyes exploded from Merlo's heavenly body.
"O-oh woah," I could hear him say under his breath.
"Yes! We are friends!" Merlo yelled before putting his arm around my shoulder.
"Hiss!"
"Great! What's your name?"
"Merlo Chadisky, yours?"
"He's going to get your name wrong," I informed Daniel.
"Dandelion," he replied.
"Daniel!" Merlo shouted.
He circumvented the mistake?!
"Holy! You're smart too, aren't you?" Nello asked Daniel after that crazy manoeuvre.
"Heh, I wouldn't consider myself that smart, but I guess I have brains for a reason."
"Woahhh! Henry, you never told us about him!"
"I forgot."
"Not cool!"
"Hiss."
"And nice to meet you too, mister spider," Daniel said to Lemon before shaking its leg with his hand.
"Hiss."
"You're all really a cool bunch, and I hope you can take care of Henry! But I'll have to go now."
"Business?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Aw really?!" Nello asked.
"We should hang out!" Merlo suggested.
"Hiss!"
"Maybe another time! I'll be going now, see you!" he said before walking off.
"So what now?" Nello asked.
"Want to play the broom ball game?" Merlo asked.
"Hell," Nello's voice said in a super distorted way before returning to his normal deep voice, "yeah!"
"Hiss!"
"Oh sure, why not?" I replied.
We had fun at the festival, almost choking during apple bobbing, falling off of my broom a couple of times, almost getting shot by arrows during archery, and getting lost in a maze. But it was all fun. But, the evening was coming, which means it was time for the main event, trick or treat.
"LeBron, cool costume!" Merlo said to Lemon, who was wearing a pumpkin costume.
I didn't even know they sold costumes for spiders, but oh well.
"Alright, is everyone ready!" Nello yelled.
"Yeah," I replied
"As ready as a fish!" Merlo replied.
What's that idiom supposed to mean?
"Hiss!"
"Let's go, team!"
We walked through the outskirts of the city. This is the best place to go trick or treating, considering it wasn't fully covered in skyscrapers and whatnot. Instead, it had a nice vibe with dirt roads, trees and.. Oh frick.
"O! Grape!" Merlo yelled as he ran over to someone standing in the middle of the road.
"Merlo, nice to see you," Gregory, who was dressed up as a skeleton and had his hands in his pockets, responded.
He glanced over at us.
"You're with them?"
"Yeah! They're my friends too!"
"Mhm, okay. As long as they don't interfere, it's okay."
"Yay!"
"What are you doing here?!" Nello yelled.
At first, I could faintly see surprise on Gregory's face, probably because of Nello's voice. But then his face turned back to normal. He's still as calm as ever despite Nello's obvious appearance change.
"Doing business."
"Hey Gregory, I got a whole lot of them now!" Big Bunga, a guy who weighs probably as much as a car, said while bringing cauldrons of candy. He was dressed up as a pumpkin too, which makes sense considering how round he is.
"That's good, take them to the truck."
"Give me back my candy!" one of the kids yelled while chasing Big Bunga.
"Shut up nerd," Big Bunga said before punching the kid, which made him literally fly into the ground.
I was this close to stepping forward, but someone else did instead.
"Stop it!"
"Hm?"
Big Bunga looked at Nello, who stood in front of the kid.
"Run, this isn't safe anymore."
"B-but my candy.."
"Run!"
"AAAAA!" the kid yelled and ran, scared by Nello's voice.
"Thanks for taking care of that for me, you should really hire this guy, Gre-"
"No! Stop it!"
"What?"
"STOP TAKING CANDY FROM OTHERS!"
"Hey not cool man, you can't punch kids," Merlo said.
"Hiss!"
"Nello, I believe you've been informed of the contract?" Gregory asked as he approached.
Gregory looked around and sighed.
"I don't care about any contract!" Nello yelled.
"I see."
"Heh, Gregory, do I get the green light to do it?" Big Bunga asked.
"You may have your way," Gregory said before walking off.
What should I do? Nello is about to fight Big Bunga, which could permanently injure him. But not only that, Gregory was walking away. And when Gregory gets away, it's basically decided that our school life is going to end up miserable.
I had to do something, but I couldn't fight him.
Big Bunga punched Nello, but surprisingly, he didn't fall. He blocked the punch and resisted it like no other. Even Big Bunga's face was in awe, no one was able to stand up against his might. They call him the Juggernaut of East-Sun High for a reason. They exchanged barrages of punches, trying to outdo each other.
Nello has grown so much.. From being defeated quickly by a Terror to fighting with one equally. That's a protagonist for you, his growth is immense. But while he had his job, I had to do mine too. Let's see.. I have Merlo and Lemon. We could jump Gregory?
"Merlo, Lemon, let's catch Gregory."
"I can't," Merlo responded.
I turned to him and asked, "Why?"
"Because he's my friend.."
"Hiss?"
"Merlo.."
Ugh! Of course, Gregory's using Merlo's easy access. This is the problem with this guy, he's so easily manipulated because he's a sweetie. But there is no way for Merlo to be both Gregory's friend and our friend.
"If someone stole your candy, what would you think?"
"That's bad!"
"If you tried to get it back, and you got beaten up, what would you think?"
"That's unfair!
"If someone tried to get it back for you, what would you think?"
"That person should be my friend!"
"But what if they get beaten up for it too? Would you hate the thief?"
"Yes!"
I pointed at Nello.
"That's what's happening to him right now. He's being beaten up by a thief, you saw it with your own eyes and even commented on it! Stealing candy is bad!"
"Yes.."
"But Gregory ordered the thief."
"Yeah.."
"Do you still want to be Gregory's friend? Even though he is causing your friend and that kid to suffer?"
"No.." Merlo said with a sad face.
"Then, what do you think about Gregory?"
"He's bad."
"What did you say? I didn't hear it."
"He's- he's bad!"
"Say it louder!"
"He's bad!"
"Who's bad?!"
"Grape is bad!"
"It's actually Gregory but I get the idea! So what do we do with bad guys?!"
"We.."
"We stop them!"
"We stop them, yes!"
"Merlo, I believe in you, stop Gregory!"
"I will!"
I looked over at Lemon.
"We're going to do something together."
"Hiss?"
"Let me climb on you!"
"Hiss!"
I hopped on Lemon and whispered.
"Bring me to where you were born."
"Hiss?"
"Yeah!"
With haste, we were running away from Merlo and Nello. I could see Nello holding his ground against Big Bunga, but it won't take long before reinforcements arrive to wipe them out. That's why I had to beat them to the punch.
Through the forests of Varion City we swung. This spider is really good for transportation, I'll admit. It moved so quickly and efficiently, I think I should ride him more. I gave it a little pat, considering it's doing great work.
But soon enough, an explosion could be heard. Trees were being knocked down and spider noises were everywhere. I knew what was going on and jumped off of Lemon. Things are going to be tough now.
"Thanks for bringing me here, Lemon. I'll go on alone."
"Hiss!"
"Go back to Nello!"
"Hiss.."
"I'm not running away, trust me."
"Hiss."
"I don't understand what you're saying, but trust me!"
"Hiss!"
Lemon then crawled away. It's time for me to do my job. My eyes turned to the source of all noises. The entire forest was covered in cobwebs and spiders, I had to be sure they wouldn't attack me. By sneaking from tree to tree, I remained safe. Carefully dodging the cobwebs to make sure I didn't get stuck.
Until eventually, I arrived at a cave entrance. There were small spiders crawling out of it. This is the place. The reason I sent Lemon back wasn't because I actually expected him to help the rest, it's because I knew he'd have to witness his entire family dying.
I ran into the cave and made my way through the tunnels. Sounds of rumbling echoed through the cave system. In the depths of this place, a battle was taking place. But, it was collapsing. I didn't have much time before I was crushed by the rubble.
And then, I got there. The cavern where it all took place. Hundreds if not thousands of giant eggs were amassed in this singular spot. A hotspot of horror, a spawn of terror. The cavern was huge, for it needed to be a home.. To that.
In front of me there was a gigantic behemoth of a monster. Its 8 legs were larger than most buildings. A humongous spider resided within the depths of this cave, the mother of all giant spiders. But it wasn't focusing on me, something else grabbed its attention.
A brilliant light radiated through the cavern, blinding all that laid eyes upon it. But the monster was strong, and instead of being blinded, it continued to push through. It slammed the light through the walls of the cave. The ground underneath me shook, the ceiling of the cave fell apart. This wasn't good.
Then, the light blasted towards me. In front of me appeared a man in thin white armor with some cloth to sort of resemble a crusader. But he had no crosses and did not have a helmet on. Rather, he chose to put on a white eye mask instead.
"Henry?! What are you doing here?!"
"I came to get you."
"I'm busy!"
"I know, I know. But I need your help."
"Can't this wait?"
"Nope."
"Ugh! Look, I'll help, but I need to finish this up!"
But then I thought about it.
"Why are you fighting it?"
"Because it's obviously going to endanger the city?!"
"How long do you think it'll take before it breaks out without you here?"
"Less than a minute, that's for sure! Why?"
"Great, can you bring me to Leafstreet?"
".."
"Please?"
"You never ask me for favors.. Except if it's gaming related."
"So?"
"Ugh, fine!"
He grabbed onto me and dashed through the caves using speeds higher than any other form of transportation. That's the power of this hero, the Paladin. He's capable of manipulating light and reaching higher speeds by acting like light. Though, it's not really lightspeed because you can still see him. But nevertheless, he's fast.
In just an instant, we arrived at Leafstreet.
"Wait, place me somewhere behind a building."
"Uh, okay.."
We landed on the ground. And after putting me down on the ground, I scanned the environment while hiding behind the building. Merlo was talking to Gregory and another one of his Terrors while Nello was losing against Big Bunga. And it seemed that Lemon hadn't arrived yet, which is natural.
"Please stop guys! Let's not do this!"
"Merlo, for the 6th time, this is just business," Gregory responded.
"Please.."
"I'm done with you, Perry, destroy his face," Gregory ordered with the intent of reducing Gregory's handsomeness.
"Sure hehe!" Grip Perry, the one with the strongest grip in the school, responded.
He slowly approached Merlo with his hand forming a claw. It's actually terrible, Merlo was scared. He wasn't ready to fight his former friends, but then he got ready. His demeanor changed and he got into a battle stance. It's obvious, even though he's not a fighter, he's still willing to fight.
"C'mere, pretty boy!"
"Leave Merlo alone!" Nello yelled while being pushed to the ground by Big Bunga.
"Nelbro, don't think about me! I'll handle him-"
But Grip Perry closed the distance quickly, and with his hand, he grabbed onto Merlo's face.
"No! Merlo!" Nello yelled while using all of his power to get up, but couldn't because of Big Bunga's extreme weight.
"Crack," he said, breaking his skull.
Except he didn't. Someone interfered. Before Merlo's face could be grabbed, Grip Perry's arm was stopped. Someone had gripped onto him instead. And that someone was not me, it was Paladin.
"You've got to be kidding me.." Grip Perry said.
"You kids better leave him alone," the Paladin said.
With just a mere glance of his pure white eyes, he blinded Grip Perry and kicked him so hard he flew into a dumpster. Big Bunga got off of Nello and tried to run away from the Paladin, but his speed was unmatched. In just mere seconds, he appeared before Big Bunga's eyes.
"Where do you think you're going?" the Paladin asked with his arms crossed.
"I-I-"
"Is that.. Paladin?!" Nello yelled in excitement.
"What are you doing here?!" Big Bunga asked.
The Paladin glanced over at me while I hid behind the building and nodded.
"I am here because I sensed injustice!"
"P-Please let me go," Big Bunga begged.
"Nope, for justice must be served! Take this, Light Drive!"
He grabbed onto Big Bunga and threw him in the sky. Light Drive is essentially using his light abilities to speed up his movements and using that to throw someone super far. I know he's not a killer, so Big Bunga's probably heading towards the ocean.
"Are you kids okay?" he asked Nello and Merlo.
"Yeah! Oh my god, I can't believe it, you're really him!" Nello screamed.
"You're that superhero!" Merlo said.
"Haha yeah.."
"What are you doing here?!" Nello asked.
"I was nearby to do some business, you know, the usual."
"Woah.."
But then something strange happened. Nello dropped on the floor.
"Hey, is everything okay?" the Paladin asked.
I wanted to rush over to Nello, but stopped. A giant haunting sound could be heard from the direction of the nest. It has escaped. Its large stomps could be heard everywhere. It was the size of a skyscraper, the mother spider.
"It's here.." the Paladin muttered.
But suddenly, Nello's body stopped moving. He didn't respond anymore.
"Nello! Are you okay?" I yelled while running at him.
"Thin man, you're here?" Merlo asked.
"Yeah, I just arrived!" I said while turning over Nello.
Blood streamed out of his eyes like tears. His skin was turning into something crimson like. His hair began getting longer and on his forehead, horns grew. Then, his eyes opened. His pupils which were once red, had now turned into black like the rest of his sclera.
"Henry.." Nello said in the most distorted voice up until now.
His body floated. This wasn't the boy I'm used to seeing, at all. This is something else. But it's something we should've expected. After all, this was a demon boy living in Varion City.
"Lisa.." Nello said while turning to the direction of the giant spider.
He flew up in the sky as the spider came towards us. It stopped. Nello held his hand out, and the spider responded. It placed its huge leg onto Nello's hand. These two were bonding.
Bringing the Paladin here had two benefits. The first was the obvious one, he's able to take care of Gregory's gang. But the other one was this. There was a chance this spider might follow the Paladin.
The Paladin is bright, he's the most radiant thing there is and there's a huge chance the giant spider had an extraordinary sensory skill, plus had children crawling around everywhere which could communicate about that one special light.
This meant the spider would be able to locate the Paladin quite easily. But because the Paladin is near Nello, heading towards the Paladin also meant heading towards Nello.
So I wanted to see what was going to happen. If Nello is truly a protagonist, I wanted to see if he'd somehow evolve when faced with something like this. Either this could kick start something within him to train harder, or maybe his power evolves because of his link with monsters. After all, he could communicate with giant spiders, so I assumed his demon nature had a link with monsters like those.
And even if nothing happened, the Paladin could still handle this spider.
Also, where is Gregory? He disappeared when the hero came. That's too convenient, and too much like him. He's too slick with what he does. Either way, I'll have to handle him another time.
By stridulating, the spider communicated to Nello.
"Hiss."
"I see, but Lisa, you don't have to do this."
"Hiss!"
"Paladin."
"Hm?"
"Apologize to Lisa."
"Is she asking me to apologize?"
"She is. You killed a huge chunk of her children and she hates you for that."
"What makes you think she'll take my apology?"
"Hiss."
"Lisa, you can't kill him.. He's Varion's greatest hero!"
"Hiss!"
"But-"
"Hiss.."
"I understand.."
"Hiss."
"What's it saying?" the Paladin asked.
"She wants your head."
"Oh.."
Paladin looked down at the ground before saying, "Your spiders were attacking people in my city! I had to take them down!"
"Hiss!"
"Your spiders hurt my people, killed my people! And you still want to take my head? Can we stop the killing now?!"
The spider backed off a little.
"Hiss.."
"She says you're right."
"Hiss."
"She's willing to stop the fighting, but she doesn't have anywhere else to go with her nest. This city was the closest place she had."
"I'll lead you somewhere better! Somewhere safer for both our species!"
"Hiss?"
"She's asking if you're really willing to do that."
"Yes! I am. And I'm terribly sorry for killing you children.."
"Hiss."
"She says she's sorry for her children hurting people. But she's willing to cooperate."
Paladin nodded and went off together with the spider mother to head to a safer place. Merlo, Nello and I sat there watching them go off while sitting on a random hill. This was quite an exciting night to say the least. But then we heard rustling in the bushes.
"Hiss!"
"Lemon!"
"Oh! LeBron!"
"Why aren't you with your mother?" Nello asked.
"Hiss!"
"What's he saying?" Merlo asked.
"He said, 'I didn't know my mother anyway, so I'm going to stay here with you guys.'"
"LeBron! High five!" Merlo said before high fiving Lemon.
"Wait, but there's one issue," I said.
"What's wrong?" Nello asked.
"Where's he going to live? He can't keep living with me."
"Hmm.."
"He can live with me!" Merlo suggested.
"Hiss?"
"I can ask my dad for a new house for you!"
"A new house?!" Nello yelled.
Oh right, Merlo's rich. No wonder he could ask for new houses on a whim.
"Hiss!!!"
"That's settled then, he's staying with you," I told Merlo.
"Ah but, today was really a good night," Nello said.
"Yeah!"
"Guys, there's one thing though. The night isn't over yet," I said.
"Oh right! We still have to trick or treat!" Nello screamed.
"Hiss!"
"Come on guys, let's go trick or treating!" Merlo yelled.
We ran off the hill to enter yet another bizarre adventure.
This truly is a Happy Halloween.