33 3/10. Would Not Recommend

{Author's Note}

What's up, motherfuckers!? Gambler is finally back with a chapter that honestly should've been completed two weeks ago! But, It's here now, so all of you can stop asking when it's going to be coming out. (This is not me criticizing you for doing this, btw. You guys calling me out helps me try to get back on track.)

Now, this chapter was annoying to write, so I hope all of you like it. Also hoping that I continue to write consistently, but not holding my breath.

JOIN THE DISCORD SERVER TO DIRECTLY BOTHER ME TO CONTINUE POSTING!

LINK TO THE DISCORD (Just take the spaces out): https:/ /disc ord.gg/3 CBazz8 C4H

***

It goes without saying that the duo lost track of the fleeing monster girl rather quickly, considering the fact that the latter was running and the former were walking at a casual pace. It wasn't a problem, though, as Kevin wasn't completely sure that she was the one they needed to find. For all the Spookeon knew, the small girl could've been a lacky to whoever the source of the Dark Type Energy was. Without access to the sensory powers of her Eevee form, she was flying blind.

Or was she?

With a quick series of mental commands, she navigated through the System Settings and activated [Clairvoyant Path] while thinking about locating the source of the Dark Type Energy. A moment later, the ethereal trail of glowing smoke faded into existence, extending ahead and around the corner. At the same time, the thirty second countdown started, prompting her to increase her leisurely pace to a speed-walk.

As for Sylph? She was mesmerized by the sight of the trail. Despite knowing that the only reason she could see it in the first place was due to her connection to Kevin, she tried to see if it had any physical/magical presence. Unsurprisingly, it was undetectable by any other means, even those available to her as a Spirit.

They followed the trail through the winding maze of hallways that made up the mansion, eventually coming back out in the main entry room. It looked mostly the same, aside from the presence of two figures standing in the middle. The first was the diminutive form of the horned girl, who no longer appeared to be terrified of Kevin and Sylph. Instead, she had an expression of smug confidence that made the Spookeon want to remove all of her limbs and push her down a flight of stairs.

[Necromancer Chrome]

[Type: Dark]

Behind her, towering at around ten feet tall, was a zombie that looked far more dangerous than the ones the teenager had incinerated. Judging for the surgical sutures, numerous bandages, and the contrasting skin pigmentation of various parts of its body, Kevin easily deduced that it was a custom-made project of the small monster girl. It would've been incredibly intimidating, if not for the fact that – just like everything else in this world – it was hyper-sexualized. From the massive breasts, to the delicate hands, to the pristine state that every part of its body was kept in, devoid of all traces of rot and decay, every part of it screamed 'undead sex toy.'

To Kevin, whose interests her current form leaned heavily toward actual horror aesthetics, the zombie was nothing short of disappointing.

[Frederica]

[Type: Ghost]

The short girl, Chrome, was the one who broke the silent stare-down. "What's with you? Why are you going crazy in my laboratory?" she called out as the Spookeon descended to the ground floor.

Kevin tilted her head to the side. "I'm here searching for a special Victim to….play with."

"…What?" Chrome asked, slightly put off by the response.

"Never mind that," the slightly-transparent teen waved off her concern. "You said something about this being a laboratory?"

Regaining her composure, the monster girl smirked again. "Yes. My name is Chrome, and I'm a necromancer. Not too long ago, this land was an execution ground, and now it's a graveyard. Since there are so many corpses, it's great for my experiments."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? And what kind of 'experiments' are you performing?"

"I said I'm a necromancer, so obviously it's experiments on the dead," Chrome snarked. "For example, this girl, the daughter of the rich guy who owned this mansion, is a particularly good specimen. I want to reanimate the dead into something even more powerful than normal monsters!"

Silence remained in the room after that boastful declaration. At first, the necromancer thought that it was because of the uninvited guests either staring at her in awe or trembling in fear. However, when she focused back on the girl that looked somewhat like a zombie kitsune, all she saw was disappointment. The silent judgment went on for a whole minute, before it was finally broken.

"Three out of ten," Kevin stated.

"Ex…excuse me?"

"I said: three out of ten," the teen repeated, her tone no less deadpan than the first time. "And that's being generous."

Chrome didn't know why, but she felt mildly insulted at the intruder's statements. "I heard you the first time! What I want to know is what you mean!" she growled.

"Where should I begin?" Kevin droned as she slowly approached the necromancer. "Well, to start, your presentation as a whole is terrible. You could've made your zombies scary, or even just mildly unsettling, but every one of them I've seen has been sexy in some way, shape, or form. Unless they have something like fangs in their vaginas or the ability to split open and reveal all of their disgusting organs in an eldritch fashion, that's just a waste of corpses."

"Second is your whole motif," she continued, gesturing to Chrome herself. "The 'creepy nurse' angle only works when said nurse is either tall or average height, and constantly shows an unnerving smile. You, on the other hand, opted for black and pink instead of white and red, completely ruining the bloodstained/filthy uniform angle that truly adds to the creepiness of the ensemble. Your grey skin gets you one point, but that's it for that.

"Really, the only thing you did completely right was set up shop in a creepy mansion that is obviously haunted and decaying in a way that alludes to forces beyond comprehension having a hand in its advanced state of destruction. That's where the remaining two points come from, and like I said, that's just me being generous.

"Overall, I give you a three out of ten on the horror scale."

"…"

Chrome had never felt so insulted in all of the one hundred years she'd been alive. Not only did this intruder break into her private testing grounds and destroy multiple test subjects, but they also criticized her work as if she were the subject of a crappy horror novel. She wasn't TRYING to be scary! She was TRYING to create creatures that would make even the Monster Lord herself look insignificant in comparison!

"Out of all of the corpses I've reanimated, yours will be the most satisfying to experiment on," she growled, her expression morphed into a full-blown glare toward the teenager. "Frederica? Kill her."

There was no verbal response from the large zombie, but it did start to move forward at its master's command. Despite its size, it wasn't as slow or clumsy as one would expect. Being the 'perfect specimen' in the short necromancer's eyes had evidently translated into the body being augmented with both physical and magical enhancements.

Sylph, who up to this point had been giggling to herself at Kevin's roast of the necromancer, once again disappeared to the depths of her host's soul so as not to get in the way. Knowing the state of mind the Spookeon was in, she was excited to see what kind of scary Moves would be used against the approaching zombie.

Kevin didn't visibly react to the approaching 'danger,' aside from slowly tilting her head so she could continue looking at its face. "It really is a shame that THIS is my next Victim. I doubt it can even feel pain. *sigh*," she lamented.

"Stop being annoying and die already!" Chrome shouted, already sick of the lack of reaction from the teen.

As if the shout were some kind of trigger, Frederica suddenly lunged forward, one of its delicate-yet-powerful fists striking out against its enemy. A cloud of dust, wood shards, and chunks of stone was thrown up upon the punch making contact; but there was no satisfying crunching or squishing sounds associated with a body being mangled.

Instead, the irritating teenager was now standing to the side of the zombie's hand, hands in her pockets and looking just as disappointed as before. "Well, I can at least say that your creation is strong. Won't really help it in the long run, though."

Without giving any further warning, Kevin took a step forward and unleashed a punch of her own. The main difference being that instead of being backed by pure strength, her fist was imbued with a massive concentration of Ghost Type Energy that momentarily obscured it, before revealing it to be ten times the size it was before. Frederica was subsequently launched across the room, slamming into the opposite wall. Surprisingly, the wall didn't collapse from the impact.

[Shadow Punch – Ghost Type Move]

[Description: The user throws a punch from the shadows. The punch lands without fail.]

Chrome's eyes widened in shock as the mangled-looking kitsune girl knocked her prized creation across the room with seemingly no effort. It made no sense, scientifically or magically, for someone as short as her and in such bad physical shape to hold that much power without the necromancer being able to detect it.

And indeed, she was right. However, while Kevin was radiating elemental energy on par with an Elemental Spirit, her signature was undetectable to any being below Queen-Class. Ghost Type Energy was unique in that it existed only on the spiritual plane, so only monsters powerful enough to perceive the afterlife would be able to detect her at all.

Frederica wasted no time in recovering from the unexpected launching it had received, quickly regaining its footing and trying to approach its opponent again. Muscles and tendons worked overtime to propel it forward on all fours, the commands of its master taking precedence over any instinctual knowledge that this was a fight it could not win. The only outward sign of its reluctance was the frown that was now forming on its face.

Upon the zombie coming within range, the Spookeon didn't allow it to try attacking again. Instead, she decided to do something to restrain its movements. With that in mind, she proceeded to open her mouth and [Lick] the undead sex doll.

Now, while this might sound like a relatively harmless – and even childish – action, the usage of a Move made it a lot more…unsettling. When Kevin's jaw dropped, it didn't stop at what any anatomy textbook would claim was the natural limit. It just kept going down, the skin stretching and tearing, blood leaking from the lips and cheeks as they were pulled apart by the action. Once it was open as wide as it could go, a massive, decaying tongue lashed out from the dark depths that lurked in the dark depths of the mouth. It was at least half the size of Frederica, which was an easy comparison to make when it slammed into the zombie and slathered it in ghostly saliva.

One or two of the creature's bones were broken on contact, but that wasn't much of a problem for an unfeeling undead abomination. What actually ended up stopping the monster in its tracks was the additional paralytic nature the Move added to Kevin's saliva. It seeped into the zombie's skin, its magical nature interfering with the necromantic magic keeping the undead up and movie. Within seconds, Frederica collapsed into a heap on the floor.

[Lick – Ghost Type Move]

[Description: The target is licked with a long tongue, causing damage. This may also leave the target with paralysis.]

Retracting her tongue and returning her jaw back to normal, Kevin gazed down at the immobile zombie in disappointment. "Any last words?" she asked, not really expecting anything more than grunts to come out of the creature.

To her shock, the paralyzed zombie DID speak up, "Please…kill…me…" it begged, its silky smooth voice filled with despair.

The teenager raised an eyebrow, turning her head slightly to glance at the stunned form of Chrome. 'Trapping the tortured soul of the body's original owner within the zombie? I'd raise my opinion of her if I wasn't certain that this was an unintended result,' she thought.

Without another word, she formed a [Shadow Ball] in her hands and fired it directly into the zombie's head. This time, though, she made sure to have her [Sealing] power turned on; as such, instead of reducing the head to a messy stain on the floor, she merely severed the connection the soul had to the body, leaving it completely inanimate instead of just immobile.

To be honest, the only reason she held herself from completely destroying the corpse was because she could, in fact, see the potential in it to become a really powerful zombie. Maybe if the necromancer could shift her focus from 'sexy' to 'scary,' it would be a true marvel of zombie horror, like the Nemesis and Tyrants from the Resident Evil series.

Speaking of Chrome, she was now cowering in fear off to the side. She had no idea what gods she had upset with her reckless disregard of common sense when It came to messing with the dead, but she found herself praying to every last one of them in that moment to be saved. It was obvious to anyone with functioning eyes that whoever this intruder was, they were more powerful than anything she could throw at them, and likely faster than her as well, so there was no point in running away.

"Now, on to you," Kevin stated, slowly turning and walking toward the horned monster girl –

– before stopping as a loud series of cracking sounds echoed through the room.

It seemed that the short necromancer's prayers were being answered, as the floor of the entryway seemingly chose that moment to finally give up on staying in one piece. In a matter of moments, fissures spread from one end of the room to the other, culminating in an enormous hole opening in the ground and dropping both Kevin and Chrome into the space below the mansion.

Instead of a regular basement, the nature of the property as a massive graveyard led to the area below the building being taken up by catacombs instead. Stone floors and columns stretched as far as the eye could see, with hundreds of coffins either lying on the ground or propped up against the walls. A small number of them were open and missing their occupants, obviously due the necromancer taking residence in the mansion.

Said necromancer didn't have as smooth of a landing as Kevin, who landed gracefully on her feet without any issues. Instead, the grey-skinned girl landed on her head, causing her eyes to fill with stars and her body to go limp. She didn't quite lose consciousness, but she was on the verge with the combination of cranial trauma and fear. It would only take a small push to send her into unconsciousness.

Unfortunately for her, she'd receive that 'push' in the form of Kevin standing directly over her upon her vision clearing. Now that Chrome got a closer look at her, she finally noticed all of the aspects of the Spookeon's body that she'd previously ignored: the endlessly-bleeding wounds, the unkempt and torn clothing, and their entire body being slightly see-through…as if they were a…a…

"Now, my little Victim," Kevin creepily grinned, leaning close enough for the necromancer to see her empty eye sockets. 'What should I do with you?"

'Ghost!' Chrome mentally screamed in terror, followed by her eyes rolling into the back of her head and passing out.

Kevin remained motionless as her potential Victim escaped to the land of dreams and nightmares. Her grin shrank from its unnatural proportions to a mere satisfied smirk. This was actually a preferable outcome to needing to directly fight the necromancer, as Ghost Types were weak against Dark Types. It was much easier to scare her into unconsciousness.

[Congratulations!]

[Due to defeating a Boss Type monster in possession of an Element you have not absorbed yet; you have unlocked the full power of Dark Type Energy!]

[Form: Umbreon is now exempt from the limitations of update 2.0 "The Downgrade."]

Unlocking the full power of another form filled the teenager with satisfaction. Not only because of the power-up itself, but also because it meant that she no longer had to waste her time in this failure of a haunted mansion. All that was really left was to find Alice and make their way out.

With the knowledge that the boss monster was defeated, Kevin decided to transform back into his base form. If Chrome's reactions were anything to go by, Frederica was likely the last zombie under her command. Plus, he knew for a fact that the trope of 'the boss being the last enemy' was in effect in this world, meaning there wouldn't be any monsters NOT under the necromancer's command coming after him.

Sighing as the intense desire to be a typical horror movie antagonist faded away, the Eevee once again looked down at the catatonic body of the mansion's current owner. "Now…what do I do with you?"

His answer came in the form of Sylph popping up in front of him, practically vibrating with excitement. "Oh! Oh! Oh! I know what to do! Pick me!" she exclaimed, raising her hand as if she were a student in a classroom.

"…" he stared at her for a few seconds, before sighing. "Fine. What's your idea, Sylph?"

"Yay!" she shouted, happy to be picked…despite being the only person raising her hand, and the only other conscious person in the room besides Kevin. "It's really simple: we bring her to Alice! Just imagine both of their faces when Alice learns that she's the cause of all of the spooky things in this mansion."

Considering how annoying the necromancer was and how much of a failure she was at creating scary zombies, Kevin couldn't see a reason not to follow Sylph's suggestion. Even while outside of his Spookeon form, he had a healthy appreciation for horror, and the horned monster girl had disappointed him in almost every aspect. Maybe if she knew what real fear was, she could do better in the future.

Crouching down, the teen grabbed the unconscious necromancer and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, not exactly worried about anything she might do should she wake up. Sylph flew over to the opposite shoulder to once again sit and ride around on her Host. (Not that way, you perverts.) With everything in place, Kevin started his search through the catacombs for Alice.

Normally, this would be a difficult task without the aid of the [Clairvoyant Path], but this time he had the benefit of his sensitive ears picking up the distant sound of terrified whimpering. A few minutes was all it took for them to reach the place where Alice had fallen through the floors of the mansion, and from there they found her a few yards away.

The Monster Lord was, once again, utterly failing to live up to the grand image associated with her position as she trembled in fear behind a coffin. Coming closer, Kevin was even able to make out the words she was whispering in between her whimpers.

"I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry…" she sobbed. "First Monster Lord, evil gods, Arceus, I don't care! Just please help me! I won't do bad things anymore! I won't bully the kitsunes either! I won't pull on their ears, or step on their tails, or steal their fried tofu!"

"…"

"…"

Both Kevin and Syph stared at her for a solid minute, contemplating whether or not they should break her out of this downward spiral of fear. On the one hand, they needed her to be back in her right mind to leave; while on the other hand, listening to her spout all of her wrongdoings while begging any higher power to rescue her was incredibly entertaining. In the end, though, Kevin chose to end the trembling lamia's torment.

"Hey, Alice," he said, tapping on her shoulder. "I found this necromancer. Apparently, she set this mansion up as her lab and has been using the graveyard to create zombies. Everything is her fault."

Her trembling suddenly stopped upon hearing his words. She slowly, creepily turned around, her eyes pure white and glowing with a mixture of power and mounting rage. "Are you sure?" she questioned, her voice deceptively calm.

Dropping the aforementioned necromancer carelessly on the ground and taking a step back, Kevin nodded. "Yep. She told me herself."

"It's her fault I was like that…" Alice growled, staring down at the body of Chrome as the smaller girl slowly started to regain consciousness. "I won't forgive her!"

As for Chrome herself, she was just coming to after her fear-induced unconsciousness…only to be met by the sight of a VERY upset lamia. Before she could speak a single word, Alice proceeded to smack her around with her tail. The pain that resulted was enough to bring her completely back to the waking world, although she immediately wished it hadn't.

Cries of pain and grunts of anger echoed through the catacombs, punctuated with the sounds of flesh slamming against flesh. Tearful apologies escaped from the shorter monster girl's mouth every once in a while, but quickly devolved into pain filled sobs as Alice berated her for being the cause of her fearful cowering.

It was only when it had gone on for a whole ten minutes that Kevin decided to step in again. "Alright, Alice. That's enough. As much as I approve of beating up annoying children, this is starting to get repetitive."

"Hmph," Alice huffed, looking up from her victim. 'Just because a monster looks young, it doesn't mean they really are. This girl is a hundred years older than I am."

Kevin shook his head. "That just takes even more enjoyment out of it." He then turned to Chrome. It was obvious from the fact that she had no visible injuries that the thrashing Alice was giving her was more superficial than serious. "Chrome, was it? Just apologize to Alice so we can leave."

"…I'm sorry," she pathetically groaned.

"And one more thing," the boy continued. "For Arceus' sake, change your priorities. Zombies are supposed to be powerful and scary, not a necrophile's wet dream. If you're gonna mess with corpses, at the very least make them intimidating. Seriously, it was embarrassing to have to fight that 'perfect' one that you created."

Chrome was a little confused. She expected to be scolded for her desecration of the dead and their graves, not how disappointing the results of such actions were. Actually…now that she thought about it, the shapeshifting monster boy and terrifyingly strong lamia were likely the results of all of her actions coming back to bite her. Maybe…she shouldn't be so careless with the dead. Maybe…

"Get lost already!" Alice suddenly shouted, breaking the necromancer out of her daze of character development. As a result, the startled monster girl cried out in fear and ran away as fast as her short legs would allow her to go.

After a moment of silence, the lamia scoffed. "Sheesh. So, she was the cause of all the crap in this mansion. The townspeople saw the zombies and must've thought they were ghosts. How stupid! Ghosts don't exist!"

In response, Kevin gave her a deadpan look. "Really? Then what would you call those things behind you."

Turning around, Alice was met by a gathering of spectral figures, led by the same elegant woman from the photo she'd seen earlier. She was immediately frozen with terror.

"Thank you, Hero," the ghost of Frederica smiled at Kevin. "Now my…no, OUR souls have been saved…"

"With our bodies turned into zombies, our souls were bound here. But now, we're finally free" another ghost stated.

A third one spoke up as well. "Even if I'm just a soul, I can finally return…to the homeland I've missed so much…San Ilia…"

Thousands of ghosts rose from the coffins all around them, ascending to the land above the catacombs. Whether they were going to pass on to the afterlife or continue to roam the land of the living was up to them, as there were apparently no grim reapers or other such entities in charge of ushering the dead to the afterlife in this world, according to Sylph's memories.

Speaking of the fairy-like Spirit, she had left her spot on her host's shoulder and was now flying around Alice, who hadn't moved a centimeter since seeing the ghosts. "Uh…Kevin? I think she's dead," she said uncertainly as she poked and prodded the Monster Lord.

Walking around to see the lamia's face, the boy chuckled. "No, she's still alive," he reassured. It appeared that she'd fainted while standing up. A single poke from him resulted in her collapsing in a heap on the floor, like limp wet noodle. "…getting her fat ass out of here is going to be a real pain, isn't it?"

***

{Author's Note}

And with that, the haunted mansion quest is over! Kevin now has ultimate power in his Umbreon form, and all of the side quests in the Natalia region are completed! All that is left for them to make a quick stop back in San Ilia, where they can resupply, and then they will head over to the Safina region to continue their quest for PLOT!

In other news, I'm gonna post the Discord link again here because I can, and because I know that a lot of people (including me) find it hard to read the Author's Notes sections. Make sure you read the rules if you do end up joining the server!

LINK TO THE DISCORD (Just take the spaces out): https:/ /disc ord.gg/3 CBazz8 C4H

As always, comment on the paragraphs and the chapter itself. Try not to be a dick, memes are appreciated, and correct my grammar so I can fix it for future readers!

See you later!