Mischief Managed [Halloween S4 2019]

First topic message reminder :

Tonight was going to be fun, Chance thought to himself with a snicker. He spent quite a fair amount of time on just collecting data about the kill-joys of the evening, now was the time to act against them! He couldn't do this alone, however, fortunately, he knew exactly who to ask along with him. It took him all day to put together the note for Osiris, even more just to sneak it into the dratini's room without his mother noticing.

...That was probably very illegal to do, but what did he care? He was gonna be the world's best outlaw! The zorua donned his cape and flash emblem, slapped on his false-oversized fangs, and picked up the pumpkin shaped basket. The innards of the carrier was empty, however, so he flipped the object up onto his head-effectively transforming it into a hat.

He sneaked out of the house and into town square, a careful and cautious eye looked to and fro. This was a Top! Secret! Meeting! He had to make sure nobody was following him...Once he was satisified with his three second search, he slipped into the alleyway he told Osiris about. He searched around the boxes and barrels briefly before he located the one he scouted out several days before. A grin stretched across his expression, the "X" he marked on the crate still ready. He reached his fore-paws up onto the edge. With a keen and careful eye, he made a move to jump in...

Of course, he failed. The box flipped over with the wrong move and trapped him inside. A surprised cry escaped him as he dashed forward in a blind panic. He rammed into the side of the box and sent it flying with him across the alleyway. the box struck another barrel. The rumbling sound of wood struck fear into him as he heard something heavy drop on top of his box.

...

uh-oh.

"I don't think so..." the zorua responded. It's not that he didn't know where he lived, it was more so of he wasn't sure what "too far" entailed. He had to wonder though, why couldn't his mom ever be this nice? She always seemed so angry and irritated. It felt like every little thing could set her off. He was glad that these two were coming with him, but what about when they left?

"It's closer to the guild, but still on the outskirts," he commented, "It took us a bit to walk though when we went back I think." He wasn't sure if he could walk long like this. Each movement seemed to cause his body to object and his two paws ached at the very thought of it. "But uh...yeah.." he finished, not sure what else to say to the nice lady with a nervous glance cast in Osiris's direction...one that Osiris couldn't see because of the illusion. Good going Chance.

The dragonair nodded along at Chance's words, visibly relieved that they were based somewhere around a landmark she knew. Even if the zorua couldn't pinpoint the exact location, they could survey around long enough to find his residence. "Oh, we won't be walking, sweetie." she informed, the small wings on each side of her head fluttering slightly as she did so. She gave no further hints, though, her mind suddenly preoccupied with other things. "I'll need to get a few things for the trip. Osiris, you're better off than him, aren't you? If you two need or want anything for the ride, now's the time for you to fetch it." she instructed, slithering back through the door and closing it with a gentle click.

Osiris watched her go with a quirk of a smile. With that little bit of context provided by Kiba, he realized that yeah, his mom was pretty freakin' cool. She may not be a master of butt-whooping like Kiba's mom, but she definitely had her own things going for her. Like good food, and being able to patch up his stupid butt up after he got hurt... and wings.

"Well, that was easy. Since she's coming with, she can talk to your mom right away," Iris commented, turning back to his eevee-disguised friend. His voice was significantly more cheerful than it was upon waking up and breaking the news to Kiba. Things weren't so bad, after all. He had his mom and Kiba, and Kiba had him and his own parents. They'd make it work; the zorua's alter-ego could go take a hike.

...They weren't going to walk? What where they going to do then-run? He didn't think he could run...

Unaware of the Dragonair's ability, he remained in the dark on how exactly they were going to get to his house. He didn't have much time to think on it, however, as Osiris piped back up with some more reassurance. Feeling more at east than before, he agreed, "Yeah! She's a lot more likely to listen to your mom I think..."

"Uh...is there anything you need? Because I don't really have anything I think...?" he glanced around as if to try to remember himself. He'd completely forgotten that he was previously on seed duty, as well as the fact that he had a costume and a bucket just last night. At this point, he was kind of excited to get on the road. Osiris could tell his mom all about how he saved him! She's soooo going to be impressed...right?

This dice is not existing.

"I mean, breakfast maybe, but I don't think we'll be gone long, so I can wait," the dratini replied, shaking his head with an expression conveying indifference.

The two sat in silence for only a few moments before the dragonair rushed back in with a curious piece of equipment in stow. It was something of a carrier-bag, made with clearly reinforced leather, with a fixed bottom and a number of long straps that were already attached to the serpentine pokemon. Various pockets and compartments lined the outside of it, and from the top the tail-end of a few hastily tossed in blankets and pillows were visible. Most impressive about it besides its fine making and quality was its size; one could easily drop in half a dozen pumpkins in there... or a handful of rowdy kids.

Osiris' mother slithered into the room properly, dropping the carrier onto the bedding next to both smaller pokemon before fully opening a window at the end of the room. Then she turned to the two of them with a curt but polite order, "In you boys go, now."

Iris sighed before complying, shooting his Illiusioned friend a look that said something along the lines of, "yeah, it's kind of embarrassing, but it's worth it." It made him feel like something of a baby, or worse, being hauled around like luggage. But flying was cool, so eh. Plus it was quite comfortable - the number of blankets and pillows provided as much, and with the stabilized bottom it was both steady and safe. And if he rose himself up a bit, he could even peek his head out and watch their surroundings as they flew - Kiba likely would be able to, as well.

The dragonair waited patiently for the probable, injured first-time flyer to crawl inside the carrier before fastening the hardened leather straps to herself tightly. "Off we go, then!" she exclaimed, a note of joy and playfulness coloring her tone strongly, and suddenly they were gently rising off the ground. The dragon-type floated up out the window, angling herself carefully so that the carrier followed without bumping the windowsill and disturbing the injured passengers, before rising up a modest height into the air. They were low enough so that a fall wouldn't be fatal or even seriously injuring in case one of the munchkins got a seriously stupid idea, but high enough that they could proceed without disturbing even the tallest of pokemon walking the streets.

"You'll have to tell me where it's at once we get closer, now," Saige called down to the zorua, heading towards the direction of the guild at a brisk pace.

This dice is not existing.

When the bag was plopped onto the bed, he thought he understood what the dragonair meant a bit more. He thought she was going to carry him. Obediently, he crawled in alongside Osiris, but not without a limp accompanied with a searing sensation on his side. When the dragonair lifted off and slid through the window, he was officially in awe. She could fly!?!? Okay, Osiris's mom was definitely a lot cooler than he originally thought.

Excitement bubbled back up as he eagerly stuck his head out the bag in order to take a look at their surrounding. His tail started to wag all over again. "Woooooaaah this is so cool!" He cried once they were off and running. He'd never flown before, but he imagined this must have been what he would have experienced if he were to ride one of the boulders in Everspring. He hardly paid any attention to the dragonair and what she requested, but fortunately he was eager to point it out anyways.

"Oh-There's my house!" He pointed with a paw, "That one in the middle of those other two-by the edge of the block!" He'd completely forgotten all previous woes he had, but found himself a little disappointed when they descended. Right in front of his house...It was nice looking with smooth brick and stone with lovely windows to decorate it, but it seemed to be going a bit downhill. The dead grass around it had a few lifeless husks of plants, while closer to the door empty flowerbeds with sparse weeds gave the house a sort of abandoned feel to it. Whoever was living here obviously wasn't doing a very good job of taking care of it.

He could see a note on the door. It was nailed at his eye-level with bright red letters easy for him and all to read, "Chance. Mom would like to have a word with you. :) ~ M" Although they were simple and generic, he could already feel his mother's rage behind the note. His ears flattened as he sunk back into the bag. He sure hoped Osiris's mom could talk a bit of sense into her...

Osiris grinned openly, dark thoughts largely forgotten as his friend enjoyed the flight over. He himself only got to enjoy this on rare occasions—the sack was a bit embarrassing for him, and whenever he and his mom went somewhere together they usually walked—but the novelty would never wear off on him. One day, hopefully someday soon, it would be him soaring through the skies so openly and freely.

The dragonair descended easily upon identifying which house was their target, smoothly dropping down until the carrier bag gently grazed against the ground, careful with her charges. From there, she herself landed directly in front of the door; she imagined she was going to be doing most of the talking, with Osiris filling the mightyena in on the more... detailed specifics, which Kiba's mom would likely want. She would if their positions were flipped and Osiris were the one being brought home in such awful shape.

Landing at the doorstep, she swiftly noticed the note nailed to the door, which she read briefly. "Oh dear," she murmured, glancing back at the disguised eevee in the bag. The name was wrong, but if it was indeed intended for him (who else would it be for?), that wasn't the only thing that was deceiving about the zorua. Fake names and disguises painted something of a picture.

Nonetheless, she raised her tail up and knocked on the door a few solid times, announcing their presence to whoever was inside. Saige pasted on a bittersweet smile and Osiris slithered a bit closer to his friend, brushing up against his good side in a show of solidarity.

Silence from the door. A good moment or two passed before noise could be heard from inside. The anticipation dug into Chance as he hid as far into the bag as he could. He prayed that the door just wouldn't open. Mirage wasn't home and he could just stay with the dragonair family for a while. Who knew? Maybe he could just stay forever and never have to deal with the consequences of his actions. Osiris' mom seemed a lot nicer...it'd be a lot easier to deal with her "wrath" than his...right?

Alas, the door opened. Long sharp talons curved around the edge of the door, certainly not a Mightyena's. It only opened a small crack before a beady red eye peered out of it. It focused on the dragonair and froze to the spot. A few brief seconds passed of simply staring at Saige without a hint of emotion, before a deep voice finally spoke out,"Wait here." Without waiting for a response, the door closed again...before opening and closing immediately once more. There was nothing visible, but anyone who paid particularly close attention might have heard the sound of a quiet rip of paper...and the fact that the note to Chance was now gone.

A full moment of pure silence from the house passed before the door opened again, this time a Mightyena attended the door. The door swung open wider than before, but still hardly permitted any vision into the house. The mightyena watched from inside, not daring to poke their head out the door. "...Hi?" She greeted.

Mother and son picked up on separate things. Osiris, of course, noticed the intense red eye poking out of the door and of course recognized it immediately, as he bore witness to Kiba's mom performing the most destructive attack he'd ever seen... and that same piercing gaze had been turned on him last night by Kiba's alter-ego. Sidonia, the more attentive of the two, deftly picked up on the paper being ripped away. Once the mightyena re-appeared after the mystery eyeball, she felt like she had a working theory on what was going on between the different hints presented to her.

"Sidonia, right?" Osiris' mom started out, voice sweet but tinged with a note of something sad. "I'm Saige; we met briefly before after you saved my boy and brought him home." Said son grimaced from within his position in the carrier bag, shifting uncomfortably; the tip of his ear-fins became visible briefly over the top of the bag.

How to say this, Saige wondered? If it were her in this other mother's position, she'd want her baby boy safe and within her grasp first, and then an explanation second. It was a decent-enough jumping off point. "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that your son is absolutely safe and sound - he's with me right now, here." the dragonair somberly but bluntly laid out, reaching over with her long tail and tipping open the edge of the carrier so that Kiba—in his disguise, of course—could be spotted. "The bad news is that last night, while he was trick-or-treating, he was... assaulted and injured. My son brought him home, as they went out together, and I patched him up and had him stay over since I didn't really have a way to contact or find you."

She went quiet after this, feeling like she summed the basics of things up somewhat, a heavy silence dominating for a moment. There was more to be said, much more, but it might not be the kind of conversation to have on a door-step, and if this woman had absolutely any questions, she wasn't about to smother her with information. Plus, this seemed like the kind of family that valued... privacy.

The line of vision was so direct and immediate that someone could practically see the line between the mightyena's eyes and the small eevee child in the bag. What was with this house and eevees showing up in bags anyways? Was Emmelyn next? A sheepish smile stretched across the illusionary normal type's face. A paw waved, but Chance dared not to move his real paw. The smile faded as a scowl was painted across his mother's image.

Her gaze resumed its normal shape as it flickered between the bag and the dragonair, "Yes, you're right." The mother responded. The Mightyena ceased movement all together when Saige explained what happened, frozen to the spot as if they were a machine that just turned off right then and there. Under the guise, her fur bristled. A low growl accompanied her tone, "He was what?" The illusion resumed movement with her words, a bit more calm looking than it sounded.

The door creaked open more without the touch of the mightyena. Mirage reached for the bag, but stopped just short of the bag. The illusion still stood where it was, not coming any closer. Her son looked up at her with those sad innocent eevee eyes. A claw was hooked onto the quality accessory, but her original plan to just forcefully take the entire bag was put to a halt as soon as she touched it. The only outward evidence being a light flick of the bag as she pulled her claw back out. The grumble in the back of her throat started up again before the illusion looked to the dragonair.

"Who and where." She demanded.

That... was a pretty civil reaction, Saige figured. She did her best to break the news both gently and succinctly, and all the woman had were questions and concerns. Very flat, growly questions and concerns, but no outbursts, violent or otherwise. She wasn't sure if she herself would have been able to stay so unnervingly composed upon receiving this kind of news, but it was simply more credit to Kiba's mother, in her opinion. The dragonair opened her mouth to answer, but someone else beat her to the punch.

"A jolteon," Osiris cut in, grim and flat. He'd wriggled up out of the bag so that his head and a bit of his torso were sticking out, loose bandages and faint-scarring and all. "A few blocks east of my house. I know the exact spot." He placed a certain emphasis on the pokemon that attacked them, relatively sure that as Kiba's mom, she'd connect the dots on her own.

His mother sighed, glancing down at him before back to the mightyena illusion. "Iris was the only other one on the scene and knows the most about it. I asked him some questions last night, but both kids were... out of it, so to speak, so I don't know many specifics. I brought them over as soon as they were awake and Kiba told me where to find you." the dragonair revealed, her gaze drifting back to her son and the visible marks left on him.

She should have known Keith was the culprit! The low continuous grumble of the zoroark continued. While the Mightyena remained rigid and frozen in place, he glanced back into the house hesitantly. She was the only one there at the moment. Emmelyn was out to the library, Sova was probably off in some other dimension for all she knew, and Zeal was asleep. She didn't want to continue this conversation out there, however, not where there could be prying eyes and ears from nosy neighbors.

She suppressed the growl as much as she could. She certainly wouldn't enter the home of someone who was actively sounding like a threat. The "Mightyena" reanimated as it looked back to Saige, "...Would you like to come in?" As much as she tried to keep it inviting, it was forced. There was still a grumble in it. She wanted them to come in, even if they didn't want it. The door opened slightly more as the illusion stepped aside, allowing just enough room to enter if they liked. "People around here just love to blab about business that isn't their own..." she at least decided to clarify.

There was a lot of anger being suppressed there, and Saige understood all of it. Far from being unnerved or put-off, she empathized instead. This was almost her some time ago when their positions were reversed, and she'd been informed that her son had nearly gotten himself killed and was saved only by the grace of a passing stranger. The situations were a little bit different but similar enough.

The dragonair nodded simply, her tail seizing one of the straps on the bag as she took it into hand. "That'd be lovely, thank you," she said, gliding inside easily and depositing the brat-sack right next to the doorway, out of the way but close enough that Sidonia could reach out and snap up her progeny if she felt like it. Then she set about dis-attaching herself from the carrier, undoing the straps that affixed it to her for flight purposes - they were probably going to be here a few minutes.

For his part, Osiris merely poked his head out of the bag, not willing to leave completely as long as Kiba was there with him - supporting his buddy and all that good stuff - but he was curious about the home he was in now. What it looked like, if there were any pictures, so on and so forth... So he set to investigate, curious eyes roving throughout the room to absorb information. That said, he kept glancing at Kiba's mom intermittently, ready and willing to answer any questions she had.

The house was...lacking of life. Empty and spacious, there wasn't that much to look at to begin with. No photos, no decorations, it hardly even looked very lived in. Dull, all things considered, would be an accurate term to describe it with. Even the kitchen looked rather lifeless and empty, almost as if the cabinets would be empty upon being opened.

The door closed behind them. Chance did what he could to swallow his fear, but the moment he saw the mightyena's face over his back moving for his scruff, he couldn't help but release a nervous whine. Being picked up by the scruff pained him, even though Mirage knew exactly where to reach to touch the zorua under the eevee mask. It was a bad way to pick him up with the injuries, but it was difficult for Mirage to know where the zorua was hurt with the disguise up. Scruff was always the go-to for her.

The "mightyena" set the eevee down onto the cold hardwood floor and observed them. Of course, the immediate thing she noticed...was the discrepancy. The dragonair said she'd patched him up, but the eevee had no bandages. So not only did Chance lead people to where he lived, but he'd revealed his identity as well.

"...I don't see any injuries," she spoke cautiously to the dragonair, hiding her narrowed an cautious gaze behind the mask of the mightyena. She needed to check before she decided on whether or not she'd chew Chance out later...

"That's because he has an illusion up." Saige supplied helpfully, somehow managing to not come across as sarcastic. "When I said he was out of it, I mean unconscious. It was... pretty rough. His paw, in particular, and there's a patch of scorched-off fur I can only assume came from some kind of electrical burn. A lot of bruising and not quite as much open wounds, but all together, it was a bad picture."

As Chance was immediately seized by his captor, Osiris saw this as an excuse to rid himself of his prison and inspect the surroundings. As it was, there wasn't much to inspect. Blank walls, mostly empty house, generally apathetic - how did a place like this produce Kiba, he wondered? The dratini glanced back at his mom as she finished speaking, somewhat interested in the by-play but also content to let the adults do the talking as many kids were.

The dragonair finished untethering herself from the child-carrier, slithering up behind her son with an apologetic expression. "I'm not exactly a medical professional—more of a self-taught amateur, really—but everything I've read and seen personally indicates there's no permanent damage. He'll be sore for a while, but proper seeds and berries can work miracles." she went on, her tail coming to a rest at the dratini's side. "I'd still recommend getting him looked at just in case, though."

"So you know..." The mightyena grumbled with a look down to the eevee. The illusionary normal type smiled sheepishly before the disguise dissipated in an instant. Chance gave up on acting cute and focused on staring at the little patterns and cracks in the floorboards. His ears folded as low as they could go. He could tell he was in some serious trouble...with how calm his mom acted, it only strengthened the fear.

"I'll definitely look into that...but how much do you know exactly?" the mightyena looked over to the dragonair questioningly. The amount of information these two had was currently far more important than Chance's condition right now. As much as she was worried and concerned for her son, the entire family's position might have just been put in jeopardy because this little zorua decided to take a walk when he wasn't supposed to.

Somehow, Chance saw this moment fit to butt in. "I-I didn't tell them anything, I-OW!" The Zorua suddenly toppled over as if the wound on his side pained him. It wasn't much, but the sharp poke Mirage gave him was enough to let him know to shut up without making it too obvious...or so she hoped.