Soul Pool Haunting - A Good Scare

Aidan and Monet were hanging out with the rest of the Tokota folk, there was a huge celebration going on and there were contests being held by the TCA. Aidan had donned a Jack Skellington costume and then dressed the brown van gogh female as Sally to match. Aidan’s face was painted white with the signature skeleton look on his, black eyes and nose with a long black mouth that looked sewn shut. He had a pin striped suit on with a coat tail and even a bowtie that resembled a bat. Monet’s fur had been dyed blue and had the sewn patches here and there of the different patterns from Sally’s dress along with the sewn lines along her limbs. They were quite pair the two of them, Monet was not liking having to wear her costume and was in and even worse mood than usual. The two were walking around and talking to people and admiring others costumes. They spotted Mana and Echo walking around as well and figured that they should go say hello at some point during the night.

Aidan was planning on entering the costume contest but soon stopped when he heard a group of handlers near him talking. “Yeah, the soul pool has some sort of haunting going on”, this really caught his attention since he and Monet had been there before. “There is some sort of spirit playing pranks and scaring everyone who enters” another handler mentioned. “The TCA said they were going to make it into a competition to see who can get rid of the mischievous elemental”. Aidan perked up at that, he and Monet could go to the soul pool and try to defeat the elemental spirit. Aidan started to look around for a TCA member to ask about the competition, he finally saw the question booth and proceeded to walk over to them to ask about the competition.

They told him everything he needed to know about the competition and gave him the freshly made forms to fill out so they could start. He also noticed that they could go in pairs and thought of Mana and Echo from earlier but at the moment they were nowhere to be seen. A couple other handlers and Tokotas made their way over to talk to them about the Soul Pool haunting as well, there were only a few people entering and Aidan finally figured out why. They were only letting the dominant Tokotas go to the Soul Pool, which made sense since they were only ones who had been there before and were more experienced. It was more likely for dominant Tokotas to defeat an elemental rather than a submissive or average Tokota.

Aidan figured it would be best to find another handler and Tokota to go with him to the Soul Pool since going in a pair would prove to be easier. He started to look around and finally spotted Mana and Echo walking nearby. ‘Perfect!’ he thought to himself since he had originally wanted them to go with him. Aidan quickly drug an annoyed Monet over to the other two females and asked if they wanted to join them. Mana quickly took in Aidan’s skeleton face and striped suit, at first she didn’t realize who it was under all the make up but the small resemblance in personality to the young, crazy boy in the tribe made her realize it was Aidan. “So? You an Echo want to come with us to the Soul Pool?” he asked her impatiently. “Why exactly are we going to the Soul Pool?” Mana asked cautiously. Aidan quickly explained to Mana about the haunting he had heard about the competition that was now being held. “We are allowed to go in pairs and it would be easier if you went with me” he concluded. Mana finally agreed to go but before they headed out Aidan stopped. “Wait, you need a different costume, we need to match” he said while pointing to the four of them.

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Although he could tell from her expression that Mana was clearly a little confused by the idea, Aidan allowed the other handler a moment to puzzle it out herself before he helped. She preferred to do things that way after all.

“Would you like some help? I don't mind, it's actually pretty fun?” He smiled reassuringly, hoping that she would feel more comfortable this way. Mana didn't like to be told what to do, but this was just an offer of help. Even so, he almost breathed out a sigh of relief when she did accept the offer and began talking about what sort of costume Echo could be put into. After all, the hyperactive piebald female wasn't going to be wearing a costume at all for that long if it was loose, or if it had bits that she could grab in her mouth and pull on. Despite her status as a now dominant Tokota, she was still a puppy on the inside, and that was unlikely to ever change. (Not that Mana would want her to.)

Once the costumes had been decided on - after a fair bit of back and forth between the two handlers suggesting and then rejecting ideas – they were made and put on, with make up applied. Aidan stood back to admire his work. Mana beamed back at him from behind the paint, her smile rivalling that of the fake one. It was actually a little unsettling, but probably no more intimidating than Mana was usually.

It was safe to say that she was a fair bit smarter than she usually appeared. Mana's black tailcoat, though typically reserved for shows, did suit the costume very well. Matched with some dark trousers, not pinstriped though no one would question it any way, the ensemble was topped off with a stupidly large hat that tapered in the center and throughout the costume-making process, was almost constantly threatening to fall over. Pinned to her chest were several accessories, the first being a spider acting as a tie or some equivalent item of clothing. The second was a large red button with the word “MAYOR” scrawled across it. The dash of colour almost drew attention away from her painted face... almost. Though the obnoxiously large grin and rather manic eyes were hard to ignore.

Compared to the complex nature of Mana's costume, Echo seemed content wearing a white sheet with a few holes cut out of it so that she could see and move freely. More than a few times while the handlers were attempting to attach the costume to her body, and maneuver around her tack, the piebald female had shaken it off or out of place... but now it was finished and she was actually finding it quite comfortable. To set her aside from just a regular ghost however, they had attached a small light to the end of her nose, which she seemed very amused with and was trying to eat. Luckily enough she couldn't reach it, because that was what made her “Zero” costume complete.

All dolled up and kitted out, Aidan and Monet led the way out of the tribe grounds and towards their actual destination. The 'Soul Pool'. It wasn't a particularly long ride to reach it, although the costumes didn't make things particularly easy as they would catch on vegetation at almost every turn... Haunted or not, both handlers were actually quite glad when they did finally reach their destination, because it meant an environment without trees trying to grab at them and ruin all their hard work. Despite the smile painted onto her face, Mana was very clearly frowning, almost as though she actually were the character she was dressed as, and her face had altered with her change of mood.

Simply as it was the most convenient approach, Echo led the way, her nose lighting their path through the cave to reach the pool. They hadn't even thought about it before they had reached the darkness of the cave, but now they were rather happy with the choice of character for Echo. It was actually fairly useful. The piebald female seemed to enjoy the feeling and all the praise she was receiving for ignoring her desperate wishes to play with the shadows that the light created on the walls. But she was behaving herself, maybe to try and prove herself to the van gogh female who was following behind her. Monet was very well behaved, which was actually fairly surprising although it was probably linked to the fact that Echo was behaving, for now. The van gogh female was usually a little grumpy, particularly towards playful Tokotas like Echo, so at some point there was bound to be some trouble for the two handlers. But for now, it was actually going very well.

Spirits have a habit of ruining good moments though... So when a second light appeared at the end of the section of cave that the group were in, Echo found that she just couldn't resist chasing it. There wasn't even any hesitation, she just had to do it. She raced off, tail spinning like a propeller behind her displaying all her puppyish delight, leaving Aidan and Monet in the dark. Aidan found himself rolling his eyes, but he couldn't blame the young Tokota for her actions. Monet on the other hand was more than happy to blame Echo entirely for the sudden darkness, and her mood changed very quickly back into her usual one. When they reached the other two again, there was going to be trouble. Monet would make sure of it. Echo needed to grow up.

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Without the light it was harder to see but that didn’t deter the two that were left behind. Even the though the light was gone they could still see dark shadows moving along the walls. It was giving Aidan the creeps and so he had Monet quicken her pace. The van gogh female was not happy that she was left without a light, the younger piebald female needed to learn to behave according to her. The two followed the tunnel and finally saw rays of light further down. It didn’t take long to reach the end of the tunnel and the two were met with the large room that held the soul pool.

Echo and Mana were in the water, the female was trying to reach the floating light which was now above them. The piebald was jumping up and down causing the water to splash up and soak the ends of her white sheet that hung of her body. Mana was trying unsuccessfully control the female with a hard look on her face.

Aidan and Monet took a moment to look around the cave, there were multiple colors dancing across the walls with the same creepy black shadows from inside the tunnels. The cave that held the soul pool was usually filled with bright light blue and purple colors, it wasn’t usually… spooky. With the spirits haunting it it was dark and tinged with deep orange and red colors. Echo’s lit red nose wasn’t helping with the atmosphere either, it casted her and Mana in a blood red light while the darkness and spirits started to cast shadows on them as well.

The bright light that Echo was chasing disappeared in an instant and made it even darker. Monet and Aidan proceeded to walk closer to Mana and Echo, although, when the piebald female saw them she bolted towards Monet so that they could play. The van gogh, however, did not want to play… at all. She whipped her towards Echo as she neared and snarled with a deadly glare. The spirit casted a horrifying shadow on her face that resembled the face of a demon. Echo skidded to a stop and quickly started to whine but Mana reached down to pet her through the sheet and calm her down.

“Is it just one spirit, or multiple?” Aidan asked quietly as human like shadow made itself known on the wall in front of them. “I’m not entirely sure, it looks like multiple but it could be one” Mana whispered back while keeping her eyes on the figure ahead. The shadow then seemed to detach itself from the wall and move closer towards them. Where a human’s eyes should be started to glow red as it got closer. Mana had to calm Echo down once again as it got even closer, although, Monet only growled at it and took a defensive stance.

As it got closer it started to move faster and faster and right when it was about to reach them the smoke like cloud of darkness burst into a colony of bats that flew past their faces. Echo and Mana both slightly flinched at the thought of the bats hitting them in the face. Monet was as still as a statue during the whole ordeal but Aidan was taken by surprise. He somehow managed to flinch so hard that he came out of his saddle and ended up landing in the shallow water.

A witch like cackle sounded throughout the cave and the darkness left the soul pool through the tunnel. Everything was back to normal as the bright colors shining within the water of the soul pool returned to give them light to see. Aidan was still in the water with his make up now running in certain places on his face. All of four of them looked around confused, “Uhhh… What just happened?” Aidan asked still searching for the playful spirit they had just encountered. “Maybe it only wanted to give someone a good scare” Mana suggested while looking down at Aidan and trying not to laugh. “And you, sir, gave it a perfect reaction” she added while chuckling. Echo gave a bark at Aidan as if also laughing at him now being soaking wet with his skeletal face running down his own. Monet only rolled her eyes and ignored everyone, she wasn’t amused by this spirit and thought its trick wasn’t that great. Aidan finally returned to his feet and climbed back into the saddle. Monet growled lowly at the cold water dripping off of him and onto her, she was definitely going to take a nap and ignore everyone as soon as they got back. “Well, no matter. It looks like we got rid of the spirit anyways… Just don’t tell anyone what really happened” Aidan said the last part with an amused smile. Mana just chuckled, “Let’s just head back” she suggested while having Echo start heading for the tunnel to lead the way with her brightly lit nose.