scary monsters ~endless halloween night~ 4-17 "everything depends on how y'look at it"

[mandytl]

 

Location: The Other Dimension - Hollow Graveyard

Ghost: Gyaaah! They’re gonna vaporize us~!

Leona: See the bigger picture, now? I’ve got a very, very important job to do so that you can search in peace.

Ace: Bah. I mean, I guess that’s good to have, but… I dunno.

Epel: Complaining about it won’t get us anywhere. He acts this way during club too.

When everyone in the magift club was out on the field running ourselves ragged over the course of a hundred laps to build our stamina…

Leona-san, our captain, was lounging in the shade of a tree.

Ace: Yeesh. We’re both in sports clubs, but the vibe is totally different…

Epel: But on the other hand, he keeps a close watch on us. He gives really detailed directions during our matches!

That’s why, I think… he trusts us to know what we’re doing, when he told us to gather up shards.

Ace: You’re being waaay too nice about this. He literally told us we’re not worthy of any planning.

Epel: Anyway, we’ve just got to do our best! I’ll go look off to the right!

Ace: Theeere he goes. He’s kinda like Deuce, trying to accomplish stuff through sheer willpower alone.

Jack and Sebek are the same way. I’m the only one who doesn’t mesh with that sports club vibe…

Leona: Hey, Spike. What’re you doing? Get searching for those shards already.

Ace: I can’t believe you’re literally just lounging in a graveyard!

… Aren’t you scared of anything, Leona-senpai?

Leona: What’s got you all worked up?

Ace: I mean, we ARE in a graveyard. You don’t think that’s scary?

Leona: … Hahhh. Here’s a nice little story for you.

Back in the Sunset Savannah, there’s this place called the Elephant Graveyard.

Ace: E-Elephant Graveyard?! That name alone’s giving me chills.

Leona: It better. It’s in a lawless zone they once called the Shadowlands, where no ruler held authority.

Massive bones were strewn throughout the desolate area, and not even the light would touch it during the day.

The nearby volcanoes let off heat and gas all over the place. One wrong step and you were sure to meet your doom.

Most of the citizens wouldn’t even go near the place after a buncha lowlifes took over.

Ace: The Sunset Savannah sounds nuts… It’s got a totally different vibe from the Queendom of Roses.

Is that crazy graveyard still around?

Leona: Yeah. The place that everyone feared… 

… now it sells hot-spring soft-boiled eggs as its specialty product.

Ace: Hot-spring soft-boiled eggs?!

Leona: They use volcanic heat to boil ‘em. It’s a famous tourist spot now.

Their giant, bone-shaped vanilla cookies are pretty damn notorious too.

Ace: Vanilla cookies?! Now it’s a full-blown tourist trap!

So much for their terrifying image. Now it isn’t scary in the least…

Leona: Figured it out yet? Everything depends on how y’look at it.

Even the fearsome Elephant Graveyard, which the light never touches, is just a volcanic site.

Don’t let hearsay and prejudice mislead you. Find the truth yourself. Now, the historical records of the graveyard have undergone some serious revision. 

The King of Beasts, one of the Great Seven, even sang with the hyenas there about his hopes for the future… or so they say. 

That song, by the way, is still sung in the Sunset Savannah.

Ace: He just hung out with hyenas all buddy-buddy-like and sang, huh. The King of Beasts was a pretty friendly lion.

What kind of song was it? Gimme a listen.

Leona: Hah. … When I was a brat, my nanny tried to put me to sleep with some preachy crap about the world as one.

So I used t’beg, “Sing the Elephant Graveyard song,” instead. Sure. I’ll let you hear it.

It’s a classic fit for the King of Beasts, ‘bout having the fortitude to be prepared for anything. Listen up.

Here goes… 

… *inhale*. ♪

Epel: GAAAAAAH!!

Ace: W-Was that Epel?!

Leona: Tch. ‘Course it had to be when I was in the mood to sing. What, another ghost?!

Let’s head towards where his scream came from.

Scene transition.

Floyd: Oh, it’s Sea Lion-senpai and Crab-chan.

Abooout… five tombstones ahead. Y’see that?

Epel: S-SOMEONE HELP ME!

Ace: E-Epel’s tied to one of the tombstones!

The way he’s all wrapped up… is that ‘sposed to serve as like, a warning?! How could those freakin’ ghosts be so wicked…

Floyd: I know, right?

I’m the one who did it, tho.

Leona: What the hell kinda game are you playing?

Floyd: You said it yourself, Sea Lion-senpai. We need a decoy. And I’m gettin’ real sick of all this chasing around ghosts to find teeny little shards.

Beating ‘em up all at once would feel waaay better.

“Do this, and all the ghosts with shards will come runnin’,” I thought.

Ghost A: Oh? Do I detect living, breathing humans?

Ghost B: You do! Who would’ve thought, in all my years… E-hee-hee!

Ace: Whoa, you seriously baited them!

Floyd: I’m gonna have to start callin’ you Krill-chan instead, Guppy-chan.

Epel: Dammit! You’re not gonna get away with this, Floyd-senpai!!

Leona: Expect the unexpected all over again, huh. Well, whatever. All this means is we have a better chance at roundin’ up our quarry.

You ready, men?

Take ‘em all down!

Ace & Floyd: AYE AYE, SIR!

Floyd: Rwar!

Ace: BOO!