Chapter Text
“When Eyes gets out of the library, shut the doors fast.”
Screech nodded, shaking his head up and down while freaking out, his mind still fixated about Eyes’ safety in the library.
Time was running out, and Seek had to act fast.
Seek stood close by the other open door, slamming half of his arm through the ground. The floorboards didn’t break from impact since his arm liquified into goo as soon as it went through the creeks of the floorboards. At the same time, right in-front of the entity, a large ink formed hand appeared from the floorboards, inside of the library.
Screech watched, amazed by the other’s ability, as his head leaned around to watch, while his body stayed hiding behind the massive door - almost looked like it was struggling to keep the door open.
“Come on!” Screech begged the ink entity, “These doors are getting heavy to keep open…!”
“I’m getting there.” Seek muttered back, as the massive hand started to stretch out and move around from where it was summoned, but another problem came to rise just soon after.
Seek doesn’t know where Eyes is.
Seek looked over his shoulder, spotting Halt and Dupe heading into Room 52.
“Halt!!” Seek called out, making Halt paused to look back at the ink entity, “Where did you see Eyes last?!”
“At the staircase-…”
“SEEK!! LOOK!!” Screech screamed, interrupting Halt’s response, as he pointed one of his tentacles towards the library. He looked wildly freaked out while he looked like he was about to panic at any moment. With much confusion and concern, Seek glanced back into the library to see what caught the small entity’s attention. That was, until he found out why Screech panicked like that.
“Oh. No.” Seek muttered under his breath.
Figure was carrying Eyes, still knocked out after making impact with the stairs from their battle. The demonic being was carrying Eyes by one of their arms, as they made their way halfway across the library. Eyes’s body looked like it was about to fade away at any moment, due to the injuries they sustained. Most of Eyes’ eyes were close to closing completely and their purple light was close to fading.
With much desperation, Seek pushed their arm further into the floorboards, making the massive ink hand to start charging towards the demonic entity, punching Figure back and letting go of Eyes - going into a free fall onto the floor. Figure landed and rolled to a stop almost towards the opposite side of the library, along with making a loud growl as it got back up again.
“Eyes is free!” Seek informed the others, before slamming their other arm through the floorboards, thus summoning another massive hand from inside the library, this time being closer to Eyes. Carefully, the massive hand picked them up and proceeded to hand the entity over to the other massive arm on the second floor.
“Slowly…” Seek whispered to himself, now in full concentration to not accidentally drop the other.
“Careful…!” Screech mumbled, “Eyes needs to be taken to Light…” he looked like he was close to chewing on his own tentacles since they were so close to his chattering teeth.
“I’m trying-…”
“RAAHHH!!!”
Figure screamed as it ran and collided into the wrist of the massive hand, making Seek drop Eyes onto the floorboards, rolling off the hand’s fingers. Eyes landed hard, exclaiming a painful muffled groan. The hand attempted to slap Figure back, but ended up getting pinned down from two of Figure’s spare arms.
“Oh no!!” Screech gasped. Seek tried to move his arm back out of the floorboards, but was having a hard time doing so. Seek desperately called out, “I-I can’t move!! My arm is pinned down…!”
“Guys!! We need help!” Screech called out to the others in complete desperation, as he saw Halt and Dupe came running in. El Goblino skidded to a stop just at the doorway, overlooking the whole scene taking fold.
“That’s it! I’m going in!” Halt spoke up, as their spiral aura became presented, surrounding the entity. Dupe glanced over at Halt, who was about to rush in, but quickly grabbing onto Halt's right arm, preventing them from proceeding, as Dupe called out to them, “Halt! Figure attacked you before! Are you seriously going to risk your life again?!”
“Dupe, I know I got attacked before-…”
“RAAHHH!!”
Figure screamed, bravely tackling the two ink hands, but unintentionally kicked Eyes into the air, ironically towards the red glowing light close to the window. Everyone froze, not even stepping foot into the library, as they all helplessly watched Eyes land onto the library desk, almost breaking through the top part of the desk from impact - knocking over the globe and shattering as it hit the ground.
“NO!”
“EYES!!”
The red light immediately started to consume the knocked out entity, who didn’t even notice that the red glow was consuming them until it was too late.
This time was different…
Their whole body started lifted upwards by an unknown force, both legs and arms went limp, before their whole body suddenly disintegrated into white tiny glowing dots in mere seconds, leaving behind the entity’s iconic appearance of a normal cluster of eyes. Their purple glow soon turned bright cherry red, and all 38 of their eyes opened up and revealed close to bloodshot, each colours in their irises all replaced with ink black tones. Their mumbles morphed into a more echoey and distorted tone.
“What happened to Eyes?!” Dupe gasped. No one didn’t know how to explain it, except for one…
“Their body h-has been…d-disintegrated…!”
Seek gasped, his one eye fully widened. Dupe ran over to Seek and started to help him pull the ink entity’s arms out from the floorboards. No progress was made since Figure was gripping onto both of the ink arms with the six hands that it has. Halt ran over to Screech, still trying to keep their grip on the heavy door.
“Halt?!” Screech gasped, “What are you doing…?!”
“I need you to throw a book at Figure!” Halt instructed as they gripped onto the edge of the door, pulling it back with all the left over strength they have.
“WHAT?! Are you crazy?!” Screech gasped, now questioning the other’s words.
“I know it sounds stupid, but I’ll explain later!”
Halt promised as Screech let go of the door, and flew into the library and picked up a book with all six of his tentacles. The book was somewhat heavy, but manageable to be lifted up by the small entity. Screech randomly spun around and threw the book into the air towards Figure, making a high-pitch yelp as he released the book from his grip. The book landed directed onto Figure’s head, throwing them back and collapsing onto the floor.
As soon as Figure collapsed, the ink hands were free and sunk back into the floorboards. Seek, trying to pull his arms back, suddenly flew backwards as both of their arms became free from being stuck in the ground, almost taking out Dupe with them. Both entities fell right onto their backs and exclaimed groans each.
“I’m free!!” Seek called out, lifting both of his partially liquified arms up into the air while Dupe gasped and dodged the goo falling everywhere. Seek glanced over at Dupe, seeing the other making a shocked glance towards him, and asked, “What…?”
“Nice shot bud!!” Halt called out to Screech, who spun around and threw two of his tentacles in the air, similar to doing a fist bump in the air, “Now come on! That won’t hold Figure down for long.”
As instructed, Screech started to fly back towards Room 51, but was able to make it about one metre close to the double doors until a bright red glow appeared right in-front of him. Screech gasped and flew backwards, as he witnessed 38 blood-shot eyes opening up almost all at the same time. It was Eyes!
“Whoa!!” Screech yelped, “E-Eyes-...AHH!”
Screech suddenly felt pain striking his glowing eyes, making him yelp and fly backwards into one of the wooden poles close by.
“SCREECH!” Halt gasped, almost loosing their grip on the door.
“Did anyone see what happened?!” Seek called out, just as the red cluster turned around and strained all 38 of its eyes towards the others - each entity feeling sharp piercing pain in their eyes. They weren’t sure how it was possible since Eyes’s ability doesn’t really work on them, except for humans. Halt shut their eyes, but let go of the door that they were holding for Screech. The cluster of eyes watched each entity collapse, along with seeing one of the doors closing shut, before turning back around to look at Screech.
“Guys…?!” Screech called out, pressing two of his tentacles against his eyes, “M-My eyes hurt…!!”
“Our eyes are hurting too!”
“W-We got attacked!!-..."
Screech heard in terror as sudden thuds were heard close by, now fearing that his friends had collapsed from the pain that they’ve experienced. Screech held onto the wooden pole tight, scared to even move since now he has no idea where he even is. He knows that he’s still in the library, but since he got blinded by Eyes’s ability, he has lost his sense of surroundings. Meanwhile, Eyes came hovering over to the small entity as its red aura started to glow brighter than before.
“Agh! P-Please! S-Someone help…!” Screech begged, now starting to breathe quick as he slowly slid down the pole.
“Hey düd!”
Eyes paused from the unfamiliar voice, as they turned around and saw an entity still standing amongst the other fallen entities. This entity was tiny in height, just a bit taller than Screech. They looked like a certain red goblin, one of the hotel’s recent residents. They were carrying a crucifix in both of their small pale red palms.
“Stay away from that little Screechy-düd!”
The cluster of eyes made a sudden screech, as if they were screaming at the top of their ‘lungs’, as they proceeded to rush over to the small goblin. The small entity threw the crucifix at the cluster, but fell onto the floor instead. Eyes stopped as they glanced down at the crucifix on the floor. The small entity looked at the crucifix too, as it started to shine a bright sky blue and then…
“AHAHHAHHAHH!!”
Eyes started screaming as six bright blue chains broke out from the floorboards below, quickly chaining onto the cluster somehow, while a glowing blue sigil with a crescent moon appeared from below. The area started to tremble from the crucifix’s powers, but there was no time to waste.
“Oye, Jeff!!” The entity called out into the upcoming rooms, “Help me get them to 52!”
Another entity appeared, a somewhat humanoid being with two big tentacles appearing from their back. They ran in and managed to pick up two entities at a time. Dupe and Seek being the first ones due to being closer to room 52, then Halt being next. Screech’s headless body was still in action, keeping the door open as instructed by Screech. Meanwhile, the small entity ran over to Screech, picked him up and ran into room 51.
“Hey hombre!” The entity called out to the headless entity, “Shut the door! The crucifix won’t last long on this düd!”
As instructed, other than Screech, the headless body let go of the door, making it close completely to the library.
Thus, ending the scary encounter.
////
The doors finally closed, leaving Eyes still chained up to the glowing blue chains. Figure also got up and stumbled over, having goo all over their 3 sets of arms from fighting the massive arms. Figure climbed up onto the 2nd floor and made a calm growl, catching Eyes’ attention. Neither of them could talk, except for Eyes mumbling in their usual unique language, but more demonic and distorted. Figure was confused about what they were saying, until…
BANG!
The double doors on the opposite side of the library were slammed open and closed again, revealing two more entities with the exact same red glow. It was no other than Rush and Ambush. Rush, of course, came charging into the library close to his top speed, bouncing all across the library in seconds without any sign of slowing down, while Ambush just casually walked in while hunched forward a bit.
Figure detected Rush and Ambush’s presence as they jumped down from the 2nd floor, landing with a hard thud that shook the floor for a second. Ambush just looked at the tall blind entity as they stumbled a few steps forward before coming to a stop. Like Figure, Ambush didn’t have the ability to speak, so did Rush.
“What in the hotel happened here…?”
Except for one…
A distorted voice was heard behind Ambush, making him turn around to see the host of the red glow standing at the double doors, Jack. He came walking in, not even bothering to fly this time, as he came over to Figure, still standing idle. Jack was amazed by the beauty of Figure’s demonic form, seeing the extra two sets of arms slightly swaying.
“Wow, I didn’t think Figure was going to get affected…” Jack mumbled to himself but soon noticed a bright red glow coming from the 2nd floor. Eyes was still battling the crucifix’s powers, as the area was lit up in a mix of red and light blue. Jack’s eyes widened and gasped, “Eyes too?!”
He was now completely puzzled because he was with Rush and Ambush the whole time searching for entities in the hotel to be possessed by the red glow, and he only witnessed one possessed entity affecting another. Jack asked Figure, “How did this happen…?” but only got a low growl from the other.
Ambush tapped Jack’s arm and then pointed towards the window, revealing the cause of Eyes and Figure’s fates.
“The red glow coming from the outside world.” Jack mumbled, now walking over to the edge of the red light, “The very same glow that made me become its host.”
He then heard distorted glitching sounds behind him, similar to how Ambush would speak in his monster form. Jack turned around and wasn’t surprised to see Ambush trying to talk, but only static sounds to be heard. Figure started to laugh, but soon got knocked off their feet by Rush, still bouncing around the place the whole time. Figure landed and growled at Rush, who came to a stop and started laughing in a deep distorted tone, while Ambush just face-palmed himself.
“RAAHHH!” Figure growled.
“HAHAHAHA!!” Rush laughed out loud, just before getting slapped by Ambush, then it was Figure’s turn to laugh.
“Ugh. I’m stuck with these guys for the time being…” Jack sighed as he turned back around to keep looking at the red glow, “Their powers are greatly strengthened, but still considered weak…” he then started to eye off the slightly broken desk, seeing the aftermath before they arrived, “Trying to track entities in this place is going to take forever. Surely there’s got to be one…just…one…that can manipulate the hotel walls…but who-...”
“~HALT!~”
A high-pitched voice was heard, as the red glow all across the library started to get consumed by a bright blue glow. Jack immediately heard screaming from behind him, making him turn around fast to see Figure, Rush and Ambush getting pinned down by multiple glowing blue chains, holding them tight around their wrists and ankles.
“AAHAHAHH!!”
The possessed entities screamed in pure agony. Jack gasped, now in sudden shock after witnessing a sudden threat, just as he too got caught by a couple of chains coming from the ground below him. The chains gripped onto his wrists and ankles, pulling him down to the floorboards fast without any time for his mind to catch up.
“What is this?!” Jack gasped, as he witnessed a bright light blue orb appearing in the air. The orb soon morphed into a humanoid-looking entity; with short and fluffy silver ‘hair’, along with white highlights. A unique clothing style consists of a foot-length skirt and long baggy pants that cover their fully covered shoes, a long sleeved shirt that had a big baggy collar, while wearing a necklace with a shiny silver crucifix pendant on it.
“~What is going on here?~”
The entity spoke up, making the whole library fall silent. The entity’s silver eyes glanced around at the entities that have been chained up, as they levitated down, almost coming close contact with the floor.
“~What have you guys gotten yourselves into?~” The glowing entity rhetorically asked as they witnessed Rush trying to loosen the chains. The glowing entity lowered their right hand down quick, making the chains pull down Rush again, “~I was gone for almost an hour, how did this all happen in one hour-... Actually, I'm not gonna ask~” they paused again as they glanced over at Jack.
Wait…
“~Whoa…! Jack?!~” The entity gasped as they flew over to him, “~I didn’t quite expect you to be involved~” as they clicked their fingers, commanding the chains to release from Jack’s hands, but not from his ankles, “~But still considering that you’re involved, and being an honest one, mind explaining what happened?~”
“...What’s going on…?!” Jack thought, his eyes still widened, “...T-They’re not affected by the red glow from the outside world?!...” It was true. Light was in the exposed area where the red glow was impacting, but somehow isn’t affected by its effects.
“~Jack?~” the entity mentioned his name, making him snap out of his thoughts, “~You’re acting more strange than usual-…~”
SNAP!
The light entity fell silent as they witnessed the chains, holding onto Jack’s ankles, suddenly snap without reason. Jack heard the snapping sound too, and he too was amazed.
“~...What?...~” Light thought as their snow white eyes slightly widened, “~...How did the chains snap suddenly? He wasn’t even moving his legs…~” Jack too glanced down at his own ankles, seeing the shard remains of the light blue chains disintegrating as soon as they hit the floor. He even lifted his left leg up and then back down onto the floor, before glancing over at Light but didn’t say anything.
“~Jack~” Light now started to speak in a firm voice, as their patience was slowly about to run out, “~What is going on here? What’s causing this strange red glow emitting on you and the others?~”
Light expected the other to respond, but to their surprise, Jack never said anything. Jack just showed an emotionless expression before he turned to look at the other entities, still trying to get themselves back up, but the chains were still pulling them down.
“~Jack! Tell me what happened~”
Light spoke up louder than before, now getting frustrated. Of course, he didn’t respond back, just the reply of eerie silence with the exception of the others groaning in the background. Light sighed while shaking their head, before they made their decision.
“~Until this issue is solved, everyone will temporarily be sent to the void~” Light declared as they rose both of their hands up, palms facing the chained down entities, “~Hmm…and I thought this issue would’ve been solved if it was explained, but it seems I don’t have a choice…~”
"...hehehehe..."
Light froze after they started to hear Jack starting to laugh quietly, but soon turned to hysterical laughter within seconds, almost as if he was laughing at the top of his lungs. Light turned to face the other, who soon turned around to face Light, making an almost creepy grin that Light has never seen expressed on him before. His smile rose unnaturally to the edges of his face. Light didn’t get freaked out since they’ve experience worse situations in the past, but they found it strange that Jack would make an expression like that.
“You don’t get it…do…you…?”
Jack mumbled as his lower jaw hung and his upper body hunched forward a bit. Once again, Light didn’t get freaked out, but was starting to become very worried for the other, “This has all been done…For a new-...”
“~ENOUGH!~”
Light demanded, their bright blue aura almost exploding outwards almost like a supernova, as bright blue light struck everywhere along with tiny white pixies aimlessly flying around, “~I think I know what’s going on here. I won’t be allowing anyone to take control of the hotel. I don’t know what’s going on in your mind, but it seems your under some kind of control~”
“Well…The control part…is true…” Jack began to slow down his speech, becoming silent every few words, “The power…of the red glow…gave me this…awesome power.” His grin soon turned to a slight frown, “This power is...too great…”
“~And what is this power you speak of?~” Light questioned, but now immediately regretted it, as they saw Jack lifting his right hand up, palm facing the window, and replied, “This!”
He swiftly moved this hand to move away from the window, as beams of the red glow started to move and directly landed onto Light’s back. Light spun around, as the red glow made impact, even covering their eyes since the glow was so bright.
“Feel this…awesome power…!” Jack spoke, “It’ll be harder if you resist.”
He kept watching Light, but soon noticed that Light didn’t appear to be struggling, nor didn’t have a red glow consuming them. Light just turned to look at Jack and asked, “~Um…Is that it?~” sounding unamused.
“What?! There’s more to it!!” Jack gasped, “Um…Just give it…a moment-...”
“~Listen. This prank is over. I’ll be sending the affected entities to the void…~” Light responded as they turned to look back at the chained entities, but soon realised that one of them was gone. It was Figure; only Ambush and Rush remaining as they both continued to struggle. Light just assumed that they’ve already sent one to the void and just had to deal with the other remaining entities, but just remembered…
Figure cannot be banished…
“~W-What?!~” Light gasped, “~Where did Figure go-...~” they froze as they felt something grip tight onto both of their upper arms. Their hands were burgundy red, as they quickly glanced upwards to see Figure standing idle, while his other four remaining arms remained in a resting state. Now it was Light’s turn to try and break out, but to no avail. Light did yelp suddenly after feeling both of their arms getting dug into their body.
“No.” Jack mentioned to Figure, “Don’t harm them.” Figure stopped, loosening Light’s arms away from their body. He then glanced over at Rush and Ambush, now seeing them breaking out of the blue chains. Jack walked over to the two brothers, as they got themselves back up onto their own feet.
“You two come with me.” Jack spoke to them both, “With your powers, it’ll be easier to catch the others. So, this is what I want you guys to do-...”
WACK!
“RAAHHH!!”
Jack spun around quick after seeing a bright blue glow lighting up the library, also seeing Figure flying into the wall on the opposite side of the room, breaking down a few of the structured pillars and clipping the edges of some bookshelves. Jack glanced over at Light, who had multiple bright blue glowing chains coming out from both of their long sleeves - their hands being absent.
“~You better stay away from the others~”
Light warned as they threw their arms back and then out in-front, making the chains fly into the air, heading towards the trio. Unlike before, Rush and Ambush started dodging the oncoming chains, each one slamming into the ground either close or where they once stood. Jack jumped back as a chain landed where he was standing before slamming his foot down on it. Light struggled to get the chain free, thus pinning their right arm down.
“You’re not making this easy…” Jack mumbled, sounding frustrated, as he crouched down and gripped onto the blue chain.
Light threw their left arm back and then in-front again, making the chains fly towards Jack. With amazement, Jack grabbed onto the chain that was about to land, just above his head. As soon as he caught the chain, the bright blue glow soon transitioned to red, the same red hue coming from the window outside. The red hue quickly travelled towards Light, causing them to become weak from the hue’s glow. Meanwhile, Jack turned to look at Rush and Ambush, who were both awaiting Jack’s command.
“You two, find the others.” Jack demanded, “I’ll deal with Light…”
Rush and Ambush rushed upstairs, also Eyes finally breaking out of the chains to join with the other two.
////
“Wow! That eyes düd hurt them pretty bad…”
The small entity mumbled to Jeff, who just placed Seek down onto the floor, on his back. The small entity was being brought in, now clinging onto the other’s arm while shaking.
“Ey düd!” The small entity spoke up to Screech, “You’re safe now!”
Screech stopped trembling as he opened his eyes, glancing upwards to see who saved him from inside the library. His vision was partially better than before, as he was able to get a good look at who he was holding onto. It looked like a small goblin with glowing yellow eyes, pointy ears with a gold piercing on the left. Screech let go of the other, now getting a good glimpse of them, and mumbled, “E-El Goblino…?!”
“Yea! It’s me!” El Goblino excitedly responded back, nodding a few times, “Jeff is here too.” He paused as he pointed behind Screech, who turned around and saw Jeff standing just in-front of the small shop, motioning a small wave.
“We witnessed most of the fight, so we got you and your friends out of the library.” El Goblino explained, as Screech was able to get a full glimpse around the small room. Halt, Seek and Dupe were all lying on the ground, all still recovering from Eyes’ sudden attack.
“Are they going to be ok…?” Screech asked Goblino, who nodded once, but Jeff beat him to replying back. Jeff lifted up a small container of vitamins, what humans look out for throughout the hotel. He shook the small container once, hearing something still inside. Jeff even tried to talk, but his unique language made it hard for Screech to even know what he was saying.
“Uh…” Screech froze, as he heard Goblino behind him.
“Jeff says that each one has been given a vitamin each to boost their health.” Goblino paused his translation as Jeff came over, kneeling on one knee in-front of the small entity. Goblino continued, “There’s one more left and he wants to give it to you because of your eye injury.”
One of Jeff’s tentacles slowly came over, holding the small vitamin container. Jeff just blinked a few times, as Screech blinked once in response but then glanced down at the plastic bottle. Screech picked up the small container from the tentacle, thanking him for saving one more left. Jeff made a mumble sound, like he was trying to say ‘You're welcome!’.
While Screech got out the last vitamin, crunching on it as if it was a piece of candy, the trio noticed Halt slowly sitting up by rolling onto their left side and then pushing themself up. They weren’t the only one though, as Dupe and Seek followed up. Dupe was rubbing his head while Seek looked like he had melted and is currently reforming his body.
“Whoa! H-How did we end up here…?” Halt mumbled, glancing around room 52 from where they were on the floor, until their glance locked onto Screech and gasped, “S-Screech?!”
“Halt!!” Screech squealed as he flew over and hugged Halt tight, who hugged him back as soon as they made contact.
“Is everyone ok?!” El Goblino called out to everyone, after he hopped back onto his chair, standing rather than sitting down. Jeff stayed where he was, leaning with one of his tentacles pressing down on one of the wood storage boxes that he’s been using for his shop.
“Yea…!” Screech nodded, as Dupe followed up after, “Sore, but ok.” Halt just nodded without saying anything.
“How did we survive Eyes’ attack?!” Dupe gasped.
“Vitamins.” Goblino simply responded, “Jeff had enough to give one vitamin each to heal your injuries.”
Halt and Screech let go of each other, one of them was about to shed a tear, most likely to be Halt due to how emotional they were expressing. Screech could see it in the other’s dark grey eyes, as their snow white oval pupil expanded.
“Hey Screech, where’s your body?” Halt asked. Screech froze as all six of his tentacles stopped moving around. He quickly backed away from Halt and started to glance around room 52 from where he was. Goblino noticed the small entity panicking and called out, “Hey düd, it's over here.”
Screech stopped as he glanced over at where Goblino was pointing. Screech’s headless body came walking over as if it never sustained any injuries. Screech gasped as he flew over, while Goblino explained that his body never got any injuries from Eyes’s attack, but wasn’t sure how. Goblino mentioned, “I thought this was a new entity in the hotel. Do you actually have control over it?”
“Well…um…I still have full control, even if I’m detached...” Screech explained to Goblino as his body grabbed onto Screech and placed him back onto his shirt collar, reforming the two entities as one again, “Also a regeneration spot incase if a crucifix is used…”
“Regen?” Goblino echoed, sounded confused as he tilted his head to his left slightly like a curious dog.
“Yea. It’s…uh…hard to explain…” Screech responded back, sounding nervous and unsure. He never really knew how his regen worked, nor why he was given this miracle. Halt explained to Goblino that Light doesn’t need to go down to the void to retrieve Screech, and that he can just regenerate himself from his body in a safe area. Goblino, now slowly becoming intrigued by Screech’s regeneration ability, well…
“Sorry to interrupt…well, whatever you guys are talking about, but we’re no longer safe!!” Dupe called out in a panic, “We lost Figure and Eyes to that red glowy thing from the window and one of us might be next!!”
“Dupe’s right.” Seek spoke next as his body fully reformed back to his original form, “The library was gonna be the safe spot, until Figure stumbled into that red light.”
“Where are we supposed to go now?!” Screech gasped.
“There’s no other safe spots left…” Halt mentioned next, now exposing the realisation of this crisis.
This set everyone into a panic. Everyone is in great danger and there was no other spots left to go to for safety. The commotion was stopped by Jeff, who called out to everyone through his own unique language, but this was a big barrier since no one could understand what he is saying, but he did get everyone’s attentions though. He tried to talk, but not a single english word was spoken. Goblino noticed Jeff struggling and came over, hopping onto one of the wooden crates, and started to translate for Jeff.
“What Jeff is trying to say is that there’s one spot that no one here would know about.” Goblino paused as Jeff continued to talk in his unique language, before Goblino took over again once Jeff stopped, “It can be found behind a closet in room 60. There’s a big hole in the wall, follow it through and you’ll find the door with a big skull lock on the front in a secret room.”
The others just stayed where they were in complete silence, either trying to comprehend what Goblino was saying, or just confused and thinking that he was just talking gibberish. Whatever it was, the mention of a safe spot sounded real good right about now.
“So…door 60? Hidden entrance behind closet leads to a hidden door with skull lock?” Screech spoke in a more summarised version. Maybe a bit too summarised, but the big points are there. Goblino nodded and added, “Yes, you’ll need a skeleton key and two lockpicks to open that door.”
“How are we going to find those items?”
“Jeff is offering this skeleton key here.” Goblino paused as Jeff picked up the skeleton key, “This would’ve been paid for a price, but this situation is more serious.” Jeff gave the skeleton key to Dupe, hence being the closest to the other. The key was place into Dupe's hands, and he just completely froze as he looked at the item in shock.
“I-Is this a r-real s-skull…?!” Dupe asked, more mumbling his words after looking at the design of the key. Goblino replied quick, “No way düd! No human would touch that thing if it were real.”
“Well then…” Seek spoke up, “Shall we head off?”
Everyone agreed in almost complete unison to keep on moving ahead further into the hotel. Better safe moving forward rather than staying in one spot.
Well...except for one…
“Wait! What?!” Screech loudly gasped.
“A-Are you sure y-you don’t want to come with us, düd?” Goblino spoke up next, sounding concerned.
Everyone had made it to room 53, but stopped after hearing Screech and El Goblino talking to Jeff, who was refusing to come along with them. Goblino agreed to join in beforehand, but it was strange for Jeff to refuse. Possibly understandable since he doesn’t want to leave his shop unattended, but why with a great threat in the hotel though?
“Jeff, düd! Y-You can’t just stay here…!” Goblino gasped, “Y-You saw what happened…!”
Jeff shook his head while his bright circular white eyes expressed a sad look while he was talking in his own language, mostly its mumbling from how everyone heard him. Goblino started to express sadness too, worried for Jeff’s safety. Screech was close to the two, as he glanced back at the small shop and back at Jeff, now starting to notice why Jeff was refusing to come with them.
“Guys…” Halt mentioned to the trio, sounding desperate.
“We’ll catch up…!” Screech called out to the others as he turned back to focus on the duo, “Hey Jeff…?”
“Hm?” Jeff mumbled, glancing over at Screech.
“Do you have anything that can barricade the shop?”
Jeff glanced over at the small entity, nodding once while running back into room 52 again. Meanwhile, Goblino glanced over at Screech and asked, “Jeff was worried about his shop?”
“I…uh…I think that’s what was worrying him.” Screech responded, just as he and Goblino both heard the sounds of a metal rolling door coming down and Jeff running back. Jeff mentioned something to Goblino, who replied back, “Bob’s looking after the shop?! Good thinking!”
“Yea! Let’s go, Bob!” Screech cheered as he looked over Jeff’s shoulder, but noticed that Bob wasn’t around, so were the wooden crates in-front of the shop, only a metal stainless steel door to be seen, “Oh-...”
BANG!
“Rahhh!!”
Screech, Jeff and Goblino all froze quick after hearing two wild-like growls close by. The trio faced the opposite side of room 52, only to see to red glowing entities coming in, breaking through the wall with a powerful force. Wood debris flew everywhere, onto the chairs, wood crates, mostly all over the floor. Jeff shoved Screech and Goblino out the way, himself too, as wood debris flew just past them into room 53. The trio all ducked to the floor for cover, as debris flew over their heads.
“Ey düd! What was that?!” Goblino gasped as they all got back up again.
“Rush and Ambush found us-...AHH!!”
Screech quickly mentioned just before he suddenly got swept away from Goblino and Jeff, feeling something grab onto one of his arms, collapsing onto the floorboards on his back. The impact made Screech’s head fall off his collar, as his body caught it and placed it back on the collar again.
“Ow…!” Screech groaned as he glanced up, seeing one of the red glowing entities appearing in-front of him.
“R-Rush?!”
Screech gasped in pure terror, just as the glowing red entity pounced towards the smaller one. Screech yelped and dodged quickly, almost tripping over his own feet, as Rush zoomed past and skid on the floorboards on all fours before turning to face him. Screech kept his eye contact firmly at Rush’s evil menacing stare. Screech felt like Rush’s unsettling grin was trying to catch him off guard.
“Oh goodness…” Screech muttered under his breath, “W-Why i-is he acting like this…?!” He could feel his own body starting to stiffen up from his own fear rising. His legs were slowly trembling, feeling like he was about to collapse. He tried to keep his breathing under control, but soon gasped again as Rush came running towards him. Screech dodged the other again, this time Rush bumping into the wall a second after. Rush ran into the wall so hard that he pierced through the wood without even trying. The sounds of the collision and the wood breaking echoed throughout the upcoming and previous rooms. Screech got over to Goblino and Jeff, both were so stunned that they couldn’t even move their bodies to run.
“Ok…uh…” Screech started off, “D-Don’t panic…uh…” he couldn’t get himself to stop looking at Rush, who was slowly crawling back out into the room while groaning, “I-I’ll keep him busy…! You two get to the others…!”
“No way düd!” Goblino immediately protested, “You’re gonna get affected by that red glow if you stay!”
“I-I know…!” Screech mentioned, sounding very scared since he knew what the consequences will be, “That means, only one of us will get affected, not all of us.” Jeff made a sad expression in his glowing white eyes, completely saddened from hearing what Screech said. Even Goblino was upset too. Now seeing their sadness, Screech was now starting to regret his choices.
“G-Guys…! I-I didn’t m-mean t-to-…”
Jeff picked up Goblino, using two of his dark grey tentacles, bringing the small goblin just on his back. Goblino held on as Jeff started to run out of the room, heading into the upcoming rooms to catch up with everyone else. Screech stayed silent as he saw Rush’s glowing red eyes from the shadows.
“Well, I’m guessing this is the part I’m gonna get my butt kicked.”
Screech wasn’t prepared enough as Rush came flying in and punched the other back. Screech braced for the impact, but didn’t feel himself move, except opening his eyes to see a very shocked expression on Rush’s face. His bright red glowing eyes explained it all, fully widened while staring at him. Screech wasn’t sure what was going on, until he looked down.
His head become detached from his body, only his body got punched back into the wall behind him, leaving him floating.
“Hahaha!! Alright!” Screech squealed before he headbutt Rush, somehow gaining enough force to knock him back onto the floorboards while holding onto his own forehead while growling in such a demonic tone.
“Sorry about that!” Screech apologised just as his body got up, attached his head back on, and attempted to run into the next room, but soon collapsed after something caught onto him.
“AH!” The small entity screamed as they turned to see Ambush’s ink black eyes. Not a single thought behind them.
“A-Ambush!! How are you so strong-...”
WACK!
“Agh!!”
Ambush shouted as he let go of Screech and stumbled back while pressing their palms onto their own face, stumbling about until he collapsed onto his left knee. Screech jumped away and saw Ambush in his current state, not even sure what had happened until he left something grab onto his shoulder and pulled him into the next room. He was soon met with a bright cyan-hue cloak taking up most of his vision.
“Halt?!” Screech gasped.
“Room 60, now!”
Halt demanded firmly, as they started to move their right hand around. Screech wasn’t sure what they were doing until he felt the floorboards starting to vibrate and start moving on their own. Somehow the floorboards made him slide away from the other, making him fly into the next room - only leaving Halt to stay behind with Ambush. Screech stopped and looked back at the other, scared since now they’re in harms way.
“Halt!! Come on-...!”
“RUN!”
Halt called out firmly again, rising both of their arms up and pulling them close to their body, their cloak flying upwards as if a powerful gasp of wind was summoned. The command from their movements made all of the furniture fly back into the open doorway, preventing anyone to get in. Screech stumbled back as he watched the doorway get blocked up so quick. Halt’s demand travelled throughout his mind, eventually he listened and started to take off towards Room 60.
“...Sorry Screech, but you’re too weak to go up against Ambush in this state...”
Halt thought to themself, as they spotted Ambush glancing up at them. Halt stood their ground, as their cloak lightly fell back down, hanging close to the floorboards. Halt also spotted Rush coming into view from the broken wall on their right, slowly getting up while groaning in an echoey voice. They didn’t really expect to see Rush in the same room at all.
“Alright, Am...” Halt called out to Ambush, ignoring Rush’s presence slightly, “You wanna dance?”
Ambush’s eyes narrowed down a bit, staring right into Halt’s eyes, in an attempt to be intimidating.
“Let’s dance.”