Today, unlike most of her time as personnel within the PDF, Spitfire's outside on the front lawn, yelling at Launchpad, as any drill instructor would.

"..and that's why I've been avoiding her. I mean, she is sort of a military war machine. You don't seem afraid of her because you're a Gigantos and, quite frankly, way stronger than I am." said Oboyo towards Hastur, no doubt having been in a conversation with him in the Main Hall about a silly suggestion he once made.

Hastur smirks and shrugs. "That's a fair enough reason, boss. I would avoid her, too, had I not the hardiness and strength of a Giganto, combined with the training and versatility of a martial artist." He smiles and stretches, popping his back several times in the process.

Gizmo is off in the corner, sharpening and polishing her anchor. In case it should ever be needed.

Helios hovers in from the east hallway, slightly charred. "Perhaps a Tesla coil was not the right answer..."

Gizmo finishes her work and does... something to put it away. You didn't quite see what, you weren't paying attention. Yes, YOU. Anyway, she takes a seat at the table and starts drinking orange juice out of a tall glass with a straw. Actually, it's probably a screwdriver.
Gizmo waves over to Helios as she sees him hover in "Oh hey! Good to see you! Err... what happened to you? Rough night?"

Helios hovers over to Gizmo, shaking the ash off of himself. "Just trying to run some experiments. Oh, you might know the answer to our problem. Was a Tesla coil the answer, or should we have used the bananna smoothie to balance out the void rift?"

Gizmo ponders this for a second "Well, I'm just a time traveler, not an oracle. So I can predict the things I either saw you do the first time around, or which I learned about after the fact. So, on that note I'm gonna have to ask: Which void rift?"

Trixie trots in slowly, heading straight toward Helios, a scorch mark on her upper foreleg and what looks like a trashed watch floating nearby surrounded in a magenta aura.

Hastur blinks and looks at Trixie. "Yeesh, you look like you went through a pretty bad experience. You okay, Trixie?"

"Um... It was the blue one that raises taxes, though that was the one Egon picked out. We had a good feeling about the one behind the kitchen sink, but..." Helios seems to shrug. "That frog chef threw us out of the kitchen when we tried to get to it." He shakes his core sadly. "Cooking over science... How ridiculous."

Gizmo hmms "Never heard of that one so I'm guessing you resolved it without incident. Or you messed it up so badly there was a big coverup. Definitely one of those two so... hope it's the former!"

Helios glances over at Trixie curiously as she walks in, turning back to Gizmo after a moment. "Well, It did shoot lightning everywhere, though that could judt have been the Tesla coil. It must still be getting to the cover-up phase, because we weren't able to get it to make edible computers yet." He pauses for a moment. "Do they have edible computers in the future?

Gizmo thinks on this "No, I... Helios, are you attempting to joke around with me? Why would anyone even want an edible computer?"

"Huff..huff..that's..the..100th push-up, Captain!" said Launchpad in between breaths, collapsing to the ground.'

After a while, though, Spitfire raises one forehoof to her mouth and whistles to get Launchpad's attention as she turns to fly back to the manor. "You've done pretty good today, so go ahead and rest. You've earned it."

"Lightbulb? That's a new one." commented Oboyo, watching as Trixie confronted the floating tin can. Yes, Oboyo enjoyed quiet days such as this, when Elenor and Graham weren't pushing him out the door to go save some country and recruit an army, where nothing could possibly go wrong.

Hastur slaps his hand against his forehead, then looks at Helios, not amused. "So much for safe, huh, Helios? Did you even test that damn thing before you gave it to Trixie?" He sighs and shakes his head. "This is why I don't use many technological devices. Too many things can blow up."

"No, it was some crackpot scheme Egon thought of, don't ask us. We just want it to make better armor for our mechons." He seems to shrug beore turning to look at Trixie. "What blew u- Oh, for Mechonis' sake!" Helios hovers down to look at the broken device. "Did you stomp on this? We... What happened to it!?"

Trixie grumbles as she shakes the broken object "Don't change the subject, it was sparking far before Trixie tried to fix it!"

Helios groans. "Well, what were you doing with it before you broke it even more?"

A figure zips down from the sky, heading for the Jinsaka Manor. Her head and torso are armored, aside from her back, which has two large fluttering insect wings sticking out from it. She lands in front of the manor on her chitin covered legs, charging up for the door, almost pushing Spitfire out of the way as she begins pounding on the door to the mansion. "Mister Jinsaka? Oh dear I hope this is the right manor... Mister Jinsaka answer the door!" the girl shouts, pounding on the door as loudly as she can manage.

Hastur begins to say something to interject into conversatio between Trixie and Helios, then stops as he hears the knock on the door and the shouting. "Hey, boss, someone's calling for ya. You should probably answer the door."

Oboyo turned his head after hearing a voice coming from the door. "Thank you, Hastur." he mumbled softly as he gave a nod to a new attendant, who nervously opened the door widely for the sudden guest.

"Wh-watch it!" The sudden arrival of the unfamiliar woman has Spitfire stepping back out of reflex, before the Wonderbolt fixes her with a weak glare. "What're you in such a hurry for?"

The girl steps in when the door is opened, looking about the room, the antennae atop her head twitching about. "This is Jinsaka Manor, right? Queen Antoinette is in urgent need of the... Paranorman... Derivitiv- Look, she just needs Oboyo Jinsaka and whoever else he brings along!" she shouts, pointing back, "Ghosts have invaded our castle, we need help now!"

Gizmo takes another drink from her screwdriver before stashing it away someplace. "Ghost. Castle. Damsel in distress. Where's Mekis, I'd love to see how he reacts to this." She pauses for a bit before adding "Oh, yeah, and sign me up."

Carmichael came out from one of the side rooms, he looked to Oboyo to see what is was was currently being discussed. Anders was not far, he was up in their room, Carmichael would allow him to sleep for now, he'll wake up eventually now that he was here.

"Sounds serious. Alright, we'll gear up right away. I'm Oboyo, by the way." said Oboyo towards the girl. "Any other volunteers?"

Helios nods and hovers forward. "We can fix the cloaking field later, for now let's go and help out this girl." He radios the M85 and gives it a quick status update, telling it to meet him out front.

Hastur cracks his knuckles. "Count me in, boss. Always willing to help deal with ghosts that're up to no good."

Carmichael raised his hand and adjusted his glasses, "I will wake Anders and we too will be in attendance."

Trixie grumbles as she wanders for the door "I still want answers, so count Trixie in."

With a sigh, Spitfire just shakes her head, before simultaneously pulling her flight-goggles down over her eyes and flaring her wings wide in preparation for flight. "No WAY am I just sitting this out and leaving all the action for the rest of you. As a commander, I should be there too. So of course I'm ready!"

The girl quickly takes multiple steps forward to Oboyo, pulling her helmet off to reveal short-cut blonde hair and a mouth full of fangs. "Thank you Oboyo Jinsaka!" the woman says, taking Oboyo's hand, giving it some strong shakes, "I'll go wait outside to lead you all there once you're ready. I need to take a breather, the fly here was exhausting." She salutes Oboyo and turns around, walking outside to keep a slow, paced walk, fluttering her wings every so often.

Trixie walks past the wasp on her way to the helicopter "Y'know... we do have a way to fly there ourselves. It likely wouldn't be an issue to drag you along if you wanted to take a break on the way."

The whole gang collects into the Gitmidur, ready to depart. The insectile girl replaces her helmet and flutters up into the air, motioning for the monstrous contraption and other flying friends to follow after. A long journey passes, the woman leading the PDF to a large, light yellow structure sticking out Mc Neil Woods. She leads them down to land in a clearing beside the small castle.

"Phew! Ha, we're here, at Queen Antoinette's castle," the woman says, panting heavily, "Go on in without me, but be careful- There are ghosts running around through the halls chasing everyone."

Once she's touched down in the clearing, Spitfire pulls the goggles up off her eyes, tucking both wings tightly against her back as she trots into the castle. "Guess I'm taking point..."

Mogwai hops off the Gitmidur and strides up behind Spitfire. "Ghosts, beware! I am armed with a screwdriver. This is your final warning."

Helios hovers off the Gitmidur and looks around, hurrying after Spitfire and Gizmo. "Wait for us!"

Hastur hops out of the Gitmidur, popping his neck. "I'll be up front with the pegasus. Any ghost who comes across me is gonna have a bad day."

"Gee OJ, I never saw this place on the map. What'd she call it again?" asked Launchpad, peering behind him towards the back of the chopper. "Not sure, but I guess we're about to find out. Keep everything hot, we might need extra support." said Oboyo, giving a nod and hopping out of the Gitmidur. "Sounds good, Captain. Everyone else, we wait for the ghosts to make the first move. We all learned our lessons about jumping the gun, right?"

Anders ade the motion of a yawn as he walked off the Gitmidur, Carmichael close behind him. Both looked at the paper castle, Carmichael was expecting what he had seen with the Boo manor, old architecture and art, but his mood dropped noticing that the castle was made of paper, he windered wether he should study the architecture or the origami. Either way he and Anders fell in suit behind Hastur.

The inside of the castle is wide, filled with various tunnels through the top. Several smaller insect women jump out from one of the higher tunnels, before entering another, and turning back. Two floating figures come from the tunnels, one covered in a large red sheet, the other in an orange sheet.

The two ghosts collide between the two tunnels, before shaking off their heads. "Hey, watch it- Clyde, again?!" the red ghost says, before the orange one speaks up, "Sorry Blinky, I really thought I got them this time! Uhh... Which way did they go?" Blinky sighs, before looking about, noticing the newcomers. "Forget about them, Clyde, looks like we got company. Get outta here, this is our place now!"

"Thinking you'll be able to scare off the Captain of the Wonderbolts and the PDF, just like that? Nice try, but it's not going to work. You're about to find out why I'm called Spitfire - ready, everyone?" With a serious expression settling on her face, the pegasus mare extends her wings before taking flight and staring the ghosts down.

"No." says Gizmo "From the sounds of things, you've taken this place by force. We are perfectly justified in taking it back. By force if we have to."

Helios peers at the two ghosts. "Besides all that, are you two supposed to be scary? You look like something out of an arcade game." He tilts his core. "Franky, we just aren't threatened by you two."

"Is it now? Barging in and taking over is hardly appropriate, don't you think? You guys don't belong here, so scurry along and quit tormenting these poor bugs." said Oboyo, crossing his arms.

Hastur reaches into his backpack and pulls out two papaer talismans, each with the words "Seishin hanpatsu" written on them. He holds them in between the middle and index finger of each hand while dropping into a Hapkido stance. "If ya don't, we'll just have to make you. And you REALLY don't want us to have to make you."

Trixie trots over to knock on the wall with a hoof, giving a small scoff before she walks up into clear view of the ghoste, her voice more than loud enough to be heard "The good news is, Trixie knows a brilliant way to evict them." a dark globe appears in midair, a small spark running across its surface, turning to fire and spreading out until it becomes a spiralling ball of flame "The bad news is, I don't think anyone else will like it either."

Blink laughs loudly, before saying, "Hah! You two think you can take us on?" "I dunno Blinky, didn't they say they were the uh... Paranormal guys? I hear they killed all the boos!" Clyde says, before Blinky responds, "No, no, those are rumors. These guys can't do nothin' to us! I mean, their best ideas are fire and some chinese papers!"
Meanwhile, two other ghosts sneak up behind the group, one pink and one blue. "Boo!" the pink one exclaims, before the blue one flies and hides behind her, "AH! A GHOST!"

Guarded as she is, Spitfire turns on the duo that snuck up behind them, flapping her wings rapidly to stay aloft as she starts going over strategies in her mind. 'Four of them, and at least eight of us, if my count is correct... Not counting the bugs that live here...'

Carmichael looked down to Anders, "Hey Anders, wanna play Blastoff." He nodded to the ghosts as he said this, Anders got a smile on his face, "Yeah." Grabbing Anders' left leg and arm, he began to spin him counterclockwise, Carmichael and Anders the countdown all the while gaining momentum, "3." "2." "1." "BLASTOFF." Carmichael released him at that point, the small golem was now flying in the air towards one of the ghosts behind them with his fist out.

Hastur turns quickly to the new duo. "Trixie, I don't think that's the best idea. And boss, I don't think they're willing to leave peacefully. Might want to make it so we can do something, here."

"Put that away, Trixie. We're here to save the place, not destroy it." said Oboyo, widening his eyes as he heard a voice from behind. "Looks like they weren't alone. Alright boys, we warned you!"
Oboyo then began to hold up his left hand, causing the Spirit Rune to emit a powerful cyan glow. He then aimed his hand towards the front two ghosts, firing two hazy balls towards them. He then turned around and fired two more towards the rear ghosts.

"Huh?" Helios turns around to look at the new ghosts. "And now they come in pastel colors too. Yay." He sighs as his lens begins to glow red. "Oh well, they should be fun to kill, at least.."

Gizmo shrugs "And you four haven't showed anything to even threaten us yet... and I'm not sure you'll get a chance to."

Trixie glowers up at the two before her, not paying any attention to the ones behind "Trixie never said anything about killing you with the fire." the flames do something odd, imploding for a moment before turning a blueish green "Trixie is simply here to evict you. If Trixie needs to cause a little, or a lot, of property damage, that's an added bonus for fun." she lobs the flames at the red ghost, the flames going out along the way but quickly engulfing the creature in a dense cloud of hot smoke.

Anders hits the pink ghost, before being painfully flung off into the ground. "Oh sugar, you should know you can't hit us without getting- YOWZA!" the pink ghost exclaims, before turning a deep blue at the hit from the spirit rune, "Blinky, they have power pellets! Let's get outta here!" All of the ghosts begin to scramble away, aside from Clyde, who can't seem to decide which way to go. "Uhh, wait, left... No, right- RIGHT!" Clyde shouts, zipping away from the black smoke down one of the many tunnels.

"Not so smug now, are you?" Laughing amusedly, Spitfire flies off after the formerly pink ghost, pulling the goggles down over her eyes and working to build up a mach cone around herself. "I'm coming for you, so run all you want! It won't keep you safe!"

Carmichael hurried to Anders' side he helped him up and looked back to the others, "Anders and I are going after the pink one." He looks down to to the little golem. "Come on." The duo then proceeded down one of the many tunnels.

"You can run, but you can't hide!" Helios acticated his sensors and follows Clyde down the right tunnel. "Get back here!" He fires off a short, unaimed laser down the tunnel.

Hastur bolts after the previously red ghost. "Get back here, let me show you what we can do to you, aka baka tare!" He sprint at full speed, working to quickly close the gap so he can catch the fleeing spirit.

"Don't assume they're as weak as they appear, it could be a trap! Stick in pairs and split up! Hastur, you're with Trixie. Gizmo, go with Spitfire. Helios, you're with me." barked Oboyo, following after Helios and reaching into his jacket for his custom staff.

Gizmo struggles to keep up with Spitfire. Wearing heavy armor doesn't exactly make her the fastest party member, but she certainly gets an A for effort. "Do you still have a visual on the suspect?" she calls out to her lead.

Trixie gallops off after the red one as well "Hey! All you need to do to get away from Trixie, is fly outside! Hahaha! But please, do stay inside! Trixie has a few spells to live test... well, maybe live is a little insensitive a phrase." she laughs again, continuing to charge after it.

Each of the ghosts is rather easily caught- Helios burns Clyde, Hastur tackles and grabs Blinky, Spitfire dashes into the pink ghost, and the blue one... Well, he was forgotten, and luckily this brought about his escape.

The other three ghosts are captured- At least, it looks that way, until a pair of eyes zips out from under the sheets, dashing off at a much faster pace deeper into the tunnels, leaving the PDF with a few blue sheets.

"It's moving pretty fast, but not enough to keep me from losing it! I may not be Rainbow Dash, but a Wonderbolt still isn't quite that easy to beat when it comes to speed!" Spitfire turns to look back, briefly, at Gizmo, before returning her gaze to the fleeing ghost as the mach-cone tightens around her head and forelegs, up until the moment she manages to take it down. "How are you holding up back there?"

Oboyo finally caught up to Helios, but found a fried sheet rather than a ghost. "Good shot..I think." he commented as he made his way over to the sheet to pick it up, letting out a heavy sigh. "Looks like this just got a little more complicated. Can you sense anything? I don't have any of Egon's trackers on me."

"Doing fine, just having trouble keeping up." Gizmo rounds the corner in time to see the ghost taken out, and the eyes zip off. She throws her screwdriver at the fleeing orbs, but only succeeds in getting it all over the floor. "Aww... poor screwy..."

Trixie breaks off after the eyes, charging after the remanant of the red ghost with a growl "Hey, get back here you bug eyed bastard!"

Hastur groans. "Slippery little bastard, ain't he? I'm wishing I had brought more talismans, then we could just place em around the area and the ghosts wouldn't be able to be around here, anymore." He sighs, then bolts after Trixie.

Carmichael looked ahead to see Spitfire taking care of the pink one, he told Anders to wait for a moment, "There was a fourth ghost wasn't there?" Anders nods in response, they both know what they have to do. Carmichael called out to Gizmo and Spitfore,"Anders and I are going after the blue one. We'll be fine." They ran back down the tunnel the way they came from, hoping to get some action with this fourth ghost.

Helios looks at the sheet dissapointedly. "That's cheating..." He nudges the sheet and sighs. "We are increasing the range now, but these tunnels are interfering with the signal." He hovers around the tunnel for a bit. "Think I got something going this way, come on." He hovers in the direction that the eyes went.

The eyes all zip away too quick, escaping. Carmichael moves through and finds the blue ghost again- However, he is back to being his other, lighter shade. However, he looks different- It's probably the large, wide rimmed glasses about his face. He continues moving toward Carmichael, saying, "BOOO! I'm a ghost!"

In another tunnel with Oboyo and Helios, there is another ghost. He looks just like the one from Carmichael's tunnel, aside from being only partially visible.

"Hold on, there might be more going on here than we see. Let's try to find the queen, Ant..whatever her name was. Maybe she can shed some light on the situation." said Oboyo, glancing back at the direction they came. "Of course..with as many tunnels as this place has, that's easier said than done..let's head back, maybe some of the others will be where we split up. If not, we take the widest one we see. Surely it'll get us closer to her."
However, Oboyo's plan was interrupted with the appearance of the new ghost. "You seem different..maybe you're more willing to behave than your buddies. Tell your friends to leave here and never come back!"

Helios tilts his core. "Probably a good idea, we can do that in a second." He hovers closer to the ghost. "It's strange, the signal this is emitting is weaker than a full ghost, like those others." He hovers back from it. "That's probably important, somehow..."

Carmichael remembered the blastoff, unless they were the dark blue shade, they were intangible. He grabbed Anders' hand and turned to run down the passage taking a right at the fork. Carmichael looked ahead in the passage to see the familiar giganto ahead, he called out, "RUN GUYS, He's right behind me!" Carmichael ran down the passage past Hastur and Trixie.

Trixie continued after the pair of eyes up until the crossroads in the tunnels after the last turn she saw them at, looking around with anger "Come on you coward! Did you want to try and scare Trixie again? I really really want to play..."

Hastur whips his backpack around and pulls out more paper talismans, all with the same words as before, and sticks them to spots in a ring along the wall, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel, praying that the power of the talismans work. "Trixie, we might want to be backing up. Those things look like they hurt if you try to touch em without them being dark blue."

The blue ghost continues to move along, following after Hastur and Trixie, unphased by the circle of papers. "Boooo! Run away before I get youuuu!" he says. His foggy double continues toward Oboyo and Helios, not making any noises or responding. Clyde comes down the tunnel toward Trixie, before blinking and turning around, shouting, "Stay away! I don't want to die again-again!"

Blinky moves down the tunnel in front of Gimzo and Spitfire, before turning around quickly, shouting, "Ack, Pinky, turn around! They're over here again!"

Spitfire grit her teeth as Blinky returned, turning around herself and calling back to Gizmo. "Figures..it was a trap after all. Fall back, Gizmo! We need to regroup!"

"Can you use the spirit rune on this one?" Helios' lens glows red again as he charges up another laser. "This one dosen't look like it will run away."

"I suppose it doesn't." said Oboyo, holding his left hand out and focusing energies on the rune. "Take him out and try to keep up with me. We need to check on the others." With that, Oboyo turned around and headed back the way he and Helios came.

Gizmo grits her teeth "Tch, fine kupo. I'm pretty certain these ghosts are harmless though." She says the last part loudly.

Trixie turns with a laugh and forms a long icicle, at the end of which is encased a ball of white powder surrounding a firework at its core "Run? But Trixie is just getting started, you guys are going to get such a Bang out of this!" she launches the javalin of ice for the ghost, aiming at the ground in front of it, her eyes sparkling wildly with mischief and glee as she watches the fuse, closing her eyes just before the spark disappears into the central core.

Hastur covers his eyes as the firework is about to go off. "Gah! Trixie, that's too damn close! You coulda blinded me! Do you think that'll actually work on that thing?"

"Excellent..." Helios fired the laser at the ghost before hovering after Oboyo. "Coming!"

Carmichael took a moment to catch his breath he looked behind him for a moment, he felt bad for putting Hastur and Trixie in danger, but he didn't want to risk Anders' safety. Besides they can handle themselves, he thought. He took notice of his position, a four way split, 3 possible ways to go, a possible threat down each hall; Carmichael remembered an old tactic about traversing mazes, he took a small handful of components out of his bag and took the front path dropping the components periodically as he went.

Chunks of the wall fly out with the explosion... But it does nothing to the blue ghost, aside from startle him. "ACK! ...Oh, wait, I can't be hurt, haha!" the blue ghost shouts, chasing after Hastur, Trixie, and Carmichael again, "That was mean!" The double is similarly unaffected by the spirit rune, and then the laser, which fizzles on contact. However, it doesn't follow Oboyo or Helios, taking a different turn.

When Oboyo, Helios, Spitfire and Gizmo reach the main hall once more, there are several insectile woman standing there, all surrounding a much, much large woman- Nearly nine feet tall, and massive in every respect, dressed in a regal purple dress. "Ah! You there, you four," the large woman speaks, "You must be here for the ghosts. I am Antoinette, queen of these wasps. Thank you for coming- Are the ghosts gone yet?"

Hastur blinks and looks at Trixie. "See, that didn't do anything. We need the help of the others. Come on, let's get out of here for now, we can wreck his week when we know how to hurt it." He steps in front of Trixie, putting himself between her and the ghost.

Trixie laughed as she heard her weapon explode, opening her eyes after a second to... watch the ghost be completely unphased by the burst of light, taking a few steps backwards "Uh, Hastur.... not to be rude or anything, but it's time to run. Stop being a body shield and lets go!" she turns after a moment and gallops down the hallway.

Hastur begins moving back slowly, then just turns and runs with Trixie, doing his best to keep up with her and trying to remember which ways lead to the main hall.

Gizmo waves a paw noncomittally in the air "Kinda working on it. I'm used to things that fight back. Not things that run away like crazy. I'm hoping I got one to chase me though. Right into a trap. Soon as I think of the trap."

"Well, no. They are proving more resilient than we anticipated." Helios looks back down the tunnel, wondering what was up with that ghost. "Can you tell us anything that you have noticed about them since they showed up?"

"Perfect! It's good to meet you, I was hoping for the chance to talk before getting sidetracked. I am Oboyo Jinsaka, we were on our way to find you until we were interrupted. What can you tell us about these ghosts? We wound up pretty unprepared in here." he glanced towards Spitfire and Gizmo, giving them a nod. But where were Trixie, Hastur, and Carmichael?

Carmichael heard the explosion from behind him, "Must of been Trixie." He said to himself, he hoped the two were ok. The duo continued through the maze taking lefts and rights as they came, attempting to get out of the path of the blue ghost.

Spitfire remained silent as she joined up with the others in the main room. Their casual attitude towards one who was called a Queen bothered her a little though. She merely gave a respectful bow as she awaited further instruction.

Antoinette hums, her antennae twitching as she taps her chin. "They appear to wear sheets- We were able to knock the sheets off a few times, but they'd just run off and come back with new ones," she says, placing her hands on her hips, "But hitting them hurts, so we started running. They seem to love the maintainence shafts- And really don't want us around. Those five ghosts are really a bother."

Trixie and Hastur continue down the hall until it turns into a sudden, steep, slippery slide, sliding them down and into... A pile of sheets! Trixie's fall is broken by the sheets, but Hastur's fall is broken by the mare. "Ack, they found us Blinky!" Clyde shouts, before Blinky stands between him and Hastur. "What's the big idea getting into our closet?! That's against the rules! Like, the yellow guy never did- Oh forget it! What do you want?" Blinky shouts, crossing his sheet-coverd arms.

"So, we should check around in the tunnels, then? That works for us." Helios looks around. "Um... How do we get down there?"

Hastur clambers up and off of Trixie. "Crap, sorry, Trixie! Are you okay?" He then looks up at the ghosts, and drops into his Wing Chun stance. "We want you gone. Can't you hear? We want you to pack up your... sheets, and ship out of Queen Antoinette's and her wasps' home."

"Five ghosts, huh.." mumbled Oboyo, holding a hand to his goatee. "We only saw four before." Oboyo nodded at Helios, approving of his suggestion. "Furthermore, three of our friends are missing. Can your people help us find them?"

Trixie gives a yelp as she's landed on, squirming with a muffled noise of annoyance until the giganto got up off her "Hmmpf, you're the one who chased us down here to begin with! And you have the indignity of telling Trixie she's doing something 'against the rules'? The nerve!" she stumbles to her hooves, her horn glowing as she plants her hat back on top of her head, a small spark and a wisp of flame forming in the air beside her "Trixie has the urge to just burn your dirty laundry her laundry here and now if you don't give a good reason not to!"

Anders looked up to his friend, to him these halls all seemed like the same passage, he had no idea how Carmichael was able to keep track of all the corridors. Carmichael at this point was entirely lost, he focused entirely on sound at this point attempting to listen for a familiar voice or sound, finding another member of the PDF would be nice.

"Whoa, whoa, no don't burn anything woman! Kinky, where are you?!" Blinky shouts, before the blue ghost jumps down, from the tunnel, his double coming from another tube. "Boo! Get away from our sheets!" the blue ghost says. "Ah, Kinky, Inky, there you both are! These guys are cheating! Look, we just need somewhere to live- Lots of tunnels turns!" Blinky says, moving forward, "And this place is perfect! So get outta here, and we won't have any trouble! From what I can see your power-pellet buddy isn't around, so you can't hit us!" Blinky shouts. "Now hold on, Blinky!" speaks a voice, coming from the glasses on Inky's face- The glasses pull off, and a yellow ghost pops out, adjusting his glasses as the double ghost disappears, "There is no reason to be so violent. These people mean us harm, so we may wish to listen. Where, perchance, would you two like us to move to?"

Antoinette nods, snapping her fingers. Several of the wasp girls around her move down some of the tunnels, their antennae twitching. "My girls will sniff out their scents and find them quickly. Hopefully you have some method to capture the ghosts, yes?" Antoinette asks, stepping closer to Oboyo, "But, you wished to meet with me? Merely about these ghosts, I presume."

Hastur holds his stance, looking at all of the ghosts. "While I do love a good fight... I don't 'want' to have to hurt anyone. I don't have any idea where you might go, but you can't stay here. If you'll come with us, I'm sure we could figure something out with our boss. We could find you somewhere to go to stay, without having to hurt or be hurt by anyone. What do ya say?"

Carmichael was sitting against the wall of the passage, he was utterly lost. Periodically he would hit his head against the wall in frustration for not being able to find his way.

Oboyo nodded. "The trapping expert is in Fa'Diel right now, but we've got his equipment. Right, Gizmo?" He then pondered another thought. It was clear that the wasps numbered many and were each victims of ghostly terrorism. "Perhaps..but for now we should just focus on this ghost problem."

Trixie stops to think about that, lightly bouncing the fireball in the air beside her "Well, that idea has some merit if jinsaka had some sort of tunnels below the manor." she grins widely "I haven't heard anything about one of those yet... but maybe the boos have one."
Trixie stops bouncing the flame for a moment to think before simply extinguishing it "Actually... there -is- a tomb nearby, and I think that does have winding tunnels."

Gizmo shakes her head "Nope, not a single one, kupo. Didn't think I'd need one. What I do have is a few bottles of booze, an anchor, some twine and... well, other little things

"Not a single one? That seems like poor planning..." Helios grumbles.

With her wings twitching, Spitfire remains seated, keeping her attention focused squarely on Antoinette and staying quiet.

The ghosts collect together and whisper amongst themselves, before several wasps drop into the room, shrieking for a moment. "Whoa, whoa! Okay, okay, we'll get outta here if you just stop leading people into our base! It's against the rules! Find us somewhere to go and we'll leave these bugs alone," Blinky says, crossing his arms, "Now scram! Out!" The wasps wipe their brows, and offer up their arms, saying, "Here, we'll carry you out. Your boss was looking for you."
Another wasp makes her way to Carmichael, and she smiles, poking him on the side. "You must be one of those guys! Come on, this way, I'll lead you back to your friend," she says, starting to walk back off through the tunnel, leading Carmichael back to Oboyo.

Antoinette nods, crossing her arms. "Well, we are indebted to you, at least to some degree. Or we will be once these ghosts are gone," she says, nodding, "We shall pay you back as well as we can."

Despite her training, Spitfire turns to one side as she yawns, before rising to her hooves and flapping her wings to fly back to the manor. "Better head back to my quarters and get some sleep..."

Trixie looks up at hastur and nods "Trixie believes you're right... but at least theres no wheels." she stands nearby, waiting to be lifted.

Helios looks around. "So, guess we wait?"

Hastur smiles and lifts Trixie into his arm, then nods at the wasps. "Alright, let's go."

The two wasps wrap their arms around Hastur, pulling him up and flying off after he lifts Trixie up. The five ghosts follow behind, quickly, as they are lead back to Oboyo.

Gizmo points at the ghosts "Hah! You've fallen right into my.... yeah, I got nothing."

Inky suddenly jumps behind the rests of the ghosts, shouting, "EEK, IT'S A TRAP!... N-no, wait, nevermind."

Trixie shrugs and yawns as she looks about at the rest of the group from her spot in Hastur's arms "Eh, just more homeseekers and vagrants loitering in the intermediary is all. No real probelms. New home promised, etc. Are we gonna go home now?"

Oboyo raises an eyebrow as he sees the ghosts accompanying Hastur and Trixie as everyone is regrouped. "I..take it you guys got them to surrender again? Very nice! We'll take it from here, Atoinette. Can you guys go ahead and lead them back to the Gitmidur? I'll be right behind you."

Hastur nods and turns to the ghosts. "Come on, guys. Let's go." He heads out to the Gitmidur and climbs aboard, still holding Trixie in his arms.

The ghosts all sigh, and follow the group out to the Gitmidur.

Helios nods and follows the group out.

Oboyo shook his head. "There's no need for that. Although.." Oboyo stopped, glancing around at the different wasps. "What if I were to tell you that this is just the beginning? That far more vicious spirits in greater numbers were on their way?"

Antoinette crosses her arms over her chest, raising her eyebrow at Oboyo. "I would likely be rather worried about such a scenario. Preparations would be in order, training would be required," she says, nodding her head, "Is the implication meant to be that such a group of such spirits will be coming?"

Oboyo nodded, turning his attention back towards Antoinette. "Yes, and not just here, but all over the cleft. I realize such a 'doomsday scenario' is hard to take in and I have no way of proving it, but I know it will happen. An invasion of malicious spirits. For that reason, I'm putting together a group of volunteers to face this threat when it comes. You and your forces here would go a long ways in helping when they arrive."

Antoinette taps her chin, closing her eyes as she thinks for a moment. She opens her eyes and nods once, saying, "If help is needed, we can most certainly join in- Assuming, of course, that we are provided with a means for fighting the spirits. It is not as if we can fight something intangible in any reasonable manner, which is why your aid was requested."

Oboyo stared at his hand for a second before responding. "I can't be everywhere at once..but we do have other ways of engaging them. I don't really know details on what we'll do when it happens yet..only that we need as many helpers as we can. If we come up with other means, I will certainly provide them for you."

"Consider us on your side, then, Mr. Jinsaka. We will gladly defend our home," Antoinette says, holding out her hand to Oboyo, "If you are ever in need of our aid, you know where to find us."

Oboyo nodded and reached out his hand to shake hers. "Thank you, Queen Antoinette. I'll keep you updated as more develops. The others are waiting for me, so I'd better get back. Let us know if you need anything else!"

----------------Meanwhile, back at the manor...-------------

Mekis enters the mansion, surprised at the lack of activity. A passing servant notices him and stops. "I'm sorry sir, but the master and the PDF are away. May I get you something to drink?" "No thank you. Tell me, is there anyone else here? Beside you and the other servants." "Well, Miss Lenai is here as we-" "Take me to her. Now." The servant took Mekis to Lenai, saying little else. Mekis' urgency had caused the servant to become silent.

Lenai hums and inspects her toe-nails, sitting on her bed in thought. "I wonder why they grow- There's no real reason," she says to herself in thought, poking the toenails, "Maybe I can turn it off, nya. But I do like them." She grabs a bottle of nail polish from beside her, working on painting her nails a deep blood red. She hears someone come toward her door, and the servant knock, before saying, "Come on in, nya!"

The servant opened the door and Mekis and Esteban entered, the door closed behind. Mekis looked upon Lenai, a slight smile upon his face, but with a hint of concern. He walked up to the bed, then got Esteban to stand by as he stood upon his back. "Hello Lenai. It's nice to see you again."

"Oh, hello Mekis," Lenai says, smiling as she continues to paint her toenails, "Did you ever get my shorts fixed? I kinda need them, nya, don't have any other pairs..."

Mekis sighed, both at finally noticing her lack of pants as well as the limit of pairs. "Yes, I did. Sewed them myself. Difficult to learn, but I wasn't going to let anyone else handle them." Mekis searched through a few various pouches on his saddlebags before removing the shorts. Here and there new stitches could be seen, but otherwise they were the same. "Here you are. Hope they fit." He placed them upon the bed, laid out flat.

Lenai claps and hops up, grabbing her shorts. She begins to pull them on, struggling a bit near the end, but she finally gets them zipped and buttoned. "A little tight, but they're good, nya!" she says, before moving forward to engulf Mekis in a tight hug, "Thank you!"

Unable to move much, Mekis stayed still, enjoying the warmth. He said, "Anything for you." as he snuggled further into Lenai. As much as he could anyway. Esteban left the bedside and went to the corner, promptly falling asleep. He wouldn't leave, but Esteban respected privacy, so he slept, just to be safe.

Lenai giggles and drops Mekis, ruffling his hair. She returns to her toes, saying, "So what are you doing up in my room, nya? I don't have anything fun in here. I should get Monopoly!"

"Well, I was concerned. After you ran away from the Boo mansion some time ago, in such dismay. I wanted to make sure you were alright. It appears you are. Are you?" Mekis sat on the bed, confused a bit by her interest in her own toes.

Lenai shrugs, blowing lightly on her toes as she finishes a second coat on each. "Fit as a whistle. No, wait... Fiddle? Yeah, sure, nya," she says, shrugging, "I could be better. Just found out my friend was murdered, that's all!"

Mekis was a tad shocked at the statement. "Friend, murdered? That's awful. Would you like to...uh, well is there something I can do to help? Something to relieve your mind? I might have something else for you, if you want. A treat or jewelry, maybe." Mekis thought of the loot he had with him to offer.

Lenai shakes her head, wiggling her toes. "I'm fine- Although I suppose a snack would be, meow, delicious," she says, laying back on her bed, "Oh, also, Oboyo murdered him. His name was Dusk. Although I guess he was two people? Either way, he was my friend, and Oboyo.... I guess it wasn't hit fault, completely."

Mekis thought of the perfect thing. He removed his pack and retrieved a clear cylinder with maroon goop in it. "Here, try this. It's the ground intestine of some variety of ice bear. Acts as a good solvent, as well as something tasty. Tastes like a variety of wildberries, common to the diet of the bear." He placed it next to her."Anyhow, what did Oboyo do? And two people?"

Lenai gulps down some of the goop rather quickly, licking her lips. "Well, Dusk and Florence I guess, some ghost inside him, but they were...fused, I don't know," she says, sighing, "Separating them killed Florence and lead Dusk to his death..."

"Oh. I'm...sorry. I..." Mekis had become silent, unsure what else to say. He looked at Lenai's face, attempting to find an answer there. Not that he would. He was never very good at such things. He, then, looked at the bed, tracing a finger about the sheet. "How long has it been since he passed?"

"For longer than you've known Oboyo. Florence's death lead to him starting the PDF," Lenai says, finishing up the goop, "But don't worry so much, nya! Go grab some cards, we'll play Uno!"

"Alright. Where are the cards? Also, Uno? How is it played?" Mekis began looking about the room, glad for having something to do with himself. He had begun to feel a tad useless, even with his ego.

Lenai taps her chin. "Probably under the bed! I can't fit down there anyway, but you're small enough maybe you can," she says, smiling, "I mean, you saw me get stuck last time, it was fun! ...But it'd take a while."

Mekis raised an eyebrow at this. "Under the bed? An odd place to place them. Still, I'll look." He jumped to the floor and looked to the underside of the bed. It was big enough for him. He slid under rather easily and looked about. "Little dark. Hope I can find these cards." He began feeling about, touching a number of mysterious objects.

"That's where I keep my trinkets, nya," Lenai says, crawling over to lean down and look at Mekis, her head handing upside down, "If you need some light there's probably a flashlight down there."

Mekis searching for a bit more, he accidentally pressed a button, bringing a flash of light into existence. All around was a variety of panties, in a multitude of colors. First, it shocked him to near death. Second, it made him wonder why she only had one pair of shorts. He continued to crawl, flashlight in hand, hoping to find the cards soon. Luckily, he did, at which point he quickly scurried from under the bed. When he stood, he had a bit of dust in his fur and, unbenounced to him, a pair of Lenai's panties hanging from an ear.

Lenai giggles and smiles, winking at Mekis. "Taking a souvenier?" she asks, pointing at his ear, "Nya, stealing my things isn't very heroic. Unless you consider me a beast you've vanquished."

Mekis reached toward his ear and felt the cotton. A bit dread flew through him at this. He grabbed them tentatively and pulled them off. He considered them a moment and didn't drop them. Yet. "Well, were I to take this, it would be less a piece of loot and more a memento of someone I care for. Perhaps a gift of good luck. But it would require that you allowed me to have them. Oh, um...I also found the..cards." He waved them about a bit before letting his hand fall to his side again.

Lenai nods, holding out her hand. "Go ahead and hold onto them for me! Undies are always nice to have, nya!" she says, smiling, "Now, the cards, pretty please?"

Mekis handed the cards to Lenai. When they were out of hand, he looked at the panties a moment, then folded it into a small square. He placed it in a velvitine coin purse containing a silver arrowhead, a small doll, and a small piece of resin. He climbed up onto the bed with a bit of difficulty, then asked, "So how is this game played?"

"Oh! Well, you see, you draw seven cards and play colors on colors and numbers on numbers and..." Lenai says, rambling the instructions in a confusing manner, "...Then I get tons of points and win because you love me, nya! Understand?" She bats her eyelashes at Mekis, smiling with a toothy grin.

Mekis looked upon her face and just smiled. "Yeah, I do. Kind of. I know the important part at least, right?" He said, a simple smile upon him still.

"And which part is that, fuzzy-wuzzy?" Lenai asks, pulling the cards out as she begins to shuffle them quickly and efficiently, "Was it how wild draw fours only work sometimes? I bet it's that one!"

"No. It's the part where I let you win. Because I love you. Which I do. Though what you said is important too, I suppose." Mekis looked at the cards moving this way and that, a tad fascinated by how quickly she shuffled.

Lenai quickly deals them both their cards, smiling wide. "No, you don't let me win, I win because I'm a better player!" she says, giggling, picking up her hand and placing the first card down from the top of the deck, "You go first!"