Shin Megami Tensei: ParAbnormal

A few doors down from Aaron's room, Dom was having a hard time getting to sleep from all the commotion. "What the hell is going over there?" he asked nobody in particular. He took his best guess. "Oh, that's real nice. I thought that crap doesn't happen 'til college. I hope there are at least some people here who know enough to wait until they're of age." He drowned out the noise with his pillow. "Hopefully they at least remembered to put a sock on the door."

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Aaron was filled with surprise and excitement upon seeing the strange wisp creatures rushing about tidying his room. "Daaayum! This is gold!" He immediately pulled out his camera, eager to capture the balls of light on film. To his dismay, however, they were too bright to show up on film. The video would simply look like he edited in moving lights after filming.

Yet, his excitement was hardly dampened. His new friends have powers AND he gets a clean room? Kickass! "This is epic! Can I keep some of these things? I could use some help with the math test in a few weeks. How'd you even DO that?! Can you teach me? Huh? Huh? Hu-Hey! That's MY bed!" About to yell at the two fox brothers for getting a little too comfortable, he decided against it at the last second. "Oh, fine. You can sleep there. Call it my thank-you for all that. The carpet's more comfortable anyways."

At that moment, he noticed Mina falling to her knees. He rushed to her side. "Mina! Are you alright?" He noticed she was looking at that article. "Yeah. That police sketch freaks me out sometimes too."

He took a look at the paper, trying his best to read the faded print. In the end, he decided to simply recall the story from memory. He's heard it a billion times already anyway. "About 50 or so years ago, a lot of bizarre murders kept happening left and right in the area around here. This was back when this town was much more lively. Supposedly, they were all caused by this one kid who lived around here. How and why he did it is anybody's guess. All of the crimes went unsolved. Some say the killer's still out there, maybe even still killing. All I know is, that's the main reason why hardly anybody lives here anymore...Well that, and the steel mill meltdown..."

Aaron sighed. "It's one of the biggest unsolved mysteries ever recalled. It seems completely illogical, I know, but...it still scares people. Not even historians like to talk about it. That's why the only people here old folks who can't bear to stop living in the past, kids sent to school here by uncaring or skeptical parents...and paranormal investigators."

"So that's why I begged my mom and dad to let me go to school here. Some people may say I'm being stupid trying to search for ghosts...and maybe I am...but, it's just I can't bear to let justice go unserved, you know?" He turned, facing the board. "Call me too ideal, too foolish...just don't call me a freak. It seems I'm one of the few people who care anymore. I just want to help."

"Well, if that's all there is, I guess we should get ready for tomorrow. School starts bright and early." He turned towards his new friends besides Mina. "If you want, I can see if I can forge some sign-in papers if you guys want to pose as students. Otherwise, you're gonna have to hide in here."

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Elsewhere, Mina was right. Many of the local ghosts were warning her, but many other, less noble ghosts were in a panic as well.

"Mr. Vice President, this plan shouldn't be brought up so sudden! What will Lord Slender say?"

"Mr. Vice President, I think it's best if you stick to Lord Slender's words!"

"Mr. Vice President, can I get you some water? Soda? Coffee?"

"Mr. Vice President, CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!"

"For Zalgo's sake, BE QUIET!" Jeff shouted. He had returned to Zalgopolis, and was now seated in his office in the Slender Building, changed from his brown-haired, green-eyed Illusion Form to his black-haired, bug-eyed, pale-skinned, white-suited True Form. At the moment, he was being swarmed by several servant ghosts. They immediately stopped their wailing and swooshing at the Vice President's words.

Jeff pointed to the first ghost. "You! Lord Slender didn't specify how to bag us a mortal! All he said is he wants one as soon as he can get one!"

He moved to the second ghost. "You! Lord Slender isn't the one directly controlling our operations! I've been the best one to choose a course of action for half a century now!"

"You! Get me my usual. Scotch! Two ice cubes! My favorite glass!"

"And you!" he said, pointing to the last spirit. "F@#$ off and die!"

"Sir, I can't die twice! I'm already dead!"

"THEN JUST F@#$ OFF THEN!"

The four ghosts whooshed out of the room. The third ghost proceeded to fetch him a glass shaped like a bloody skull filled with ice-cold scotch. The fourth ghost proceeded to F@#$ off.

Taking a sip of his drink, Jeff groaned. "At this point, I hardly care what Slendy says! I'm the real boss here! Besides, the guy hasn't made his own Proxies in centuries! Maybe now I deserve one of my very own!"

Jeff leaned back in his chair, laughing to himself.

"We were going to sleep here weather you permitted us to or not." Lucian said undoing his half-robe and tossing it in the air to be caught by another wisp that quickly inflated it into a make-shift curtain that draped around the bed. "And you couldn't do what I do even if I taught you." The redhead added as the sound of fabric being moved around in the background. "I find the will of most humans to be too weak or fragile to control their own dead kind. Cethin, you can have the right."

"Ok." Cethin replied with the duo settling in. "M-May I snuggle?"

"Yes, but only because we're in an unfamiliar place, but PLEASE keep your hair on your side of the bed."Lucian replied as he felt his brother nestle against his back. Almost habitually, one of the redhead's tails rested itself on his sibling's shoulder giving him a sense of security, and within moments, the timid child seemed to have fallen asleep quite quickly.

Formal request that you slow down your posting because the plot advanced a lot without my interaction and that's a little unfair

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Vadia didn't seem too impressed with the wisps cleaning up the room. She seemed to be engrossed with something else at the moment. She stood there with her arms crossed, seemingly in a trance. Aqua, on the other hand, loved the wisps.

"Wow! That was so cool! I wish I had powers like that!" she said, going around the newly cleaned room, looking at the things. She stopped when Mina fell down. "Hey, are you all right?" She asked, looking concerned.

"Hmph, so there's someone else that noticed." Vadia said finally. "The spirits are beyond restless in this place. So many..." She continued. She grew quiet as she listened to Aaron's story. "A murderer, huh? Sounds like this place is more interesting than I had thought." She muttered.

"A murderer! This is awful! I sure hope he's still not around...I'd hate to have to get into a fight..." Aqua said. Sure she had her powers, but there were still limits to what she could do and that would still disadvantage her. "But I'll help! Any way I can! ...I hope..."

((This plot advancing without you won't happen ever again))


“I’ll be ok.”  Mina said to Aqua and Aaron.  “It’s just that the ghosts here were talking to me all at once.  …Something about a boy being in danger…”  She sat cross-legged on the floor, still feeling a little dizzy.

The young girl then perked up her head when Vadia mentioned hearing the restless ghosts.  “You can hear them too?”  She asked.  “Wow!  That’s so cool!  I thought I was the only one!”

Sprite couldn’t take it anymore.  She had to get something in her ghostly belly fast.  She started opening drawers in Aaron’s desk hoping to find some candy or any piece of food for that matter.  And maybe Mina could use something too for her headache.

But to the spirit’s dismay, she couldn’t find any food in the young paranormal investigator’s desk so she flung herself onto the chair, put her mouth on a corner and started to suck on it.

((Agreed. Sorry about all that. Pretty sure I've got everything planned out for now.))

The later hours of the day were mostly uneventful. Aaron was left to find the most comfortable piece of floor to have for himself. True, the carpet was not completely unbearable, but he was pretty sure not even the wisps could take care of the long set-in soda spill stains.

Of course, as you may know from reading the last post, some real freaky shit is about to go down.

Far away in the Reaping's dimension, Jeff paced around his office, having a bit of trouble forming a coherent kidnapping plot in his head.

"Hmm. Let's see now. Never before have I snuck into that awful little school at night before...Actually, come to think of it, I've never before snuck into a building at night without killing anybody! I think I may have bit off a little more than I can chew with this one..." He wiped the sweat off his brow, muttering.

Just then, Jeff heard a knock at the door.

"Closed for the day!" Jeff shouted.

"I know, Mr. Vice President, but...um...it's important!"

Groaning, Jeff opened his door. It was none other than little BEN.

"BEN? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be asleep? And before you ask, I'm not in the mood for autographs."

"I know, sir. But...I want to help!"

Jeff was bemused. "You? Help?" He laughed. "You're just a kid, BEN! You probably don't even understand what I do for a living!"

BEN looked down. "I...I know. But that's not what I mean. I mean, I've...got help!"

At that moment, BEN was shoved aside by somebody else entering the room. Or rather, three different somebodies.

Three little kids around BEN's age cackled and giggled as they ran into the room. They each wore little masks on their faces, concealing their identities.

"Good evening, Mr. Vice President! How are you doing this fine night?"

Jeff was surprised, but his face quickly changed to a look of brilliance. Of course! This was the exact help he needed!

"Well! What a pleasant surprise! You're-"

"Hoody!"

"Masky!"

"Totheark!" The kids each took off their masks as they introduced themselves, revealing their faces looked much the same as said masks.

"The Reaping's finest trick-or-treaters!" Jeff beamed.

"And your biggest fans!" The kids all said at once. BEN's face became notably downtrodden as they said this.

"Little BEN here told us you needed a little help!" Hoody began.

"So we rushed on over quick as we could!" Masky added.

"If anybody can kidnap anyone, it's us!" Totheark finished.

"Wonderful! Why didn't I think of this? You're the perfect kids for the job!"

These three little munchkins were Reapers-in-training. However, since they were not yet old enough to get an actual job, they settled for small-time work. Yet, this did not stop them from finding work at...other places...

"Now, listen closely, kids." Jeff bent down to their level. "The person we're looking for lives in the world up above the well! Unlike here, it's not dark all the time there!"

"Not dark all the time?! S-s-scary!"

"It's not too bad. It's actually just getting dark over there now, so you have some time left. Now, his name is Dominic DeLuca. See, he's staying in a big brick building with many other people. So, make sure you remember that THIS is his room!" Jeff pointed to a map of the academy on his desk. One room had a circle around it.

"No problemo, Jeff!" the three boys cheered at once.

"Remember, this job is top-secret. It requires craft, cunning, mischief..."

"And we thought you didn't like us, Jeff!" Masky giggled.

"Absolutely no one is to know about it, not a soul! Now...one more thing..." Jeff stood back up, at normal height. "Leave that good-for-nothing, no-account Rake out of this!"

The Rake was a bizarre, human-like monster too insane for even the Reaping. It lurked in a hideout just outside Zalgopolis. It had no interest in furthering Lord Slender's motives, it simply wished to kill. The three trick-or-treaters had made a sort of friendship with the creature, providing them Reapees in return for potential victims.

"Whatever you say, Jeff!" laughed Hoody.

"Of course, Jeff!" giggled Masky.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Jeff!" cackled Totheark.

The three gave their most sincere smiles as they crossed their fingers behind their backs.

"Good. Now go! I want him here by dawn! Good luck, now!"

The three young Reapers saluted their Vice President and went on their way. As they piled out of the Slender Building, they hopped into a walking bathtub that seemed to have a mind of its own. Totheark gave the back of the creature a shove before jumping in himself, sending the tub into a frenzied run.

Far away in a mysterious hide-out, a shadow could be seen. Part of what had made this shadow reached out into the light of a torch, showing its extremely long, extremely sharp fingers. Its hand tossed two dice just below the torch.

"Dominic DeLuca, eh? Heeheeheeheehee!" The creature let out a menacing chuckle as a snake crawled its way from one dice to another.

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The boy heard a knock at his door. Groaning, he looked at the clock. "Jesus, it's 2 in the morning!" He got up and opened the door.

At his door were three little boys in Halloween costumes. "Trick or treat!" they exclaimed, holding out a sack.

"Trick or treat? It's not even Halloween ye-AAAHHH!" He couldn't even finish his sentence as he was bagged up.

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Not three hours into the night, the trick-or-treaters returned to the Vice President's office, carrying a huge Halloween sack.

"Jeff! Jeff! We got him! We got him!"

"Back already? Maybe I really was right to hire you!" Jeff clasped his hands together, excited. "Alrighty! Open it up already!"

The boys did as they were told, and out popped...an entirely different kid.

"Oh, shyet, son! Where in tha hail am ah?"

Jeff blinked. The boys' smiles were wiped off their faces for once.

"Boys." Jeff began. "You did go to the brick building outside the woods, right?"

"Uh, yeah..." Totheark said nervously.

"And you remembered to turn left, correct?" Jeff felt his blood boiling.

The boys were silent.

Jeff screamed as loud as he could. "YOU FOOLS! THE MAP CLEARLY SAID TO GO LEFT! INSTEAD, YOU TURNED RIGHT AND BROKE INTO THE JUVENILE DELINQUENT CENTER!"

"W-we-we're sorry, Jeff!" The boys started to tear up.

Jeff wasn't having any of it. He gave them the scariest face he could muster. The boys screamed, backing into a corner.

Jeff sighed, approaching the kid. "Listen, I'm very sorry. We were looking for somebody else, and-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YA GANGLY-ASS MAHFAWKER!" The kid reached into his pocket, pulled out a gun, and shot Jeff point blank in the head.

The room was coated in blood. The trick-or-treaters screamed even louder.

Only a few seconds later, Jeff got back up, the wound in his head slowly decreasing in size until it healed itself.

"Ugh...do you have any idea how much that stings?!" Jeff yelled at the jive-talking kid.

The kid backed away from Jeff in fright as Jeff pinched the bridge of his nose. "I just knew something would go wrong!" He turned his attention back to the kids. "As punishment, you three will clean up this mess..." he pointed to his own blood currently all over the room. "...and take this poor kid back! Make sure you apologize! And count yourself out of a deal, too! You kids need more discipline!"

The three kids grumbled as they were handed a scrub brush and some cleaning products.

"Don't worry, guys." Totheark whispered. "We'll get him back for this!" The three giggled eerily.

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The next morning, Aaron woke up with a start. Glancing at the clock, he saw it read 7:30.

"Oh crap! School starts in half an hour!" He quickly ran to the bathroom, brushing his teeth and hair at the same time. After spending several minutes looking for his school uniform before realizing he was already wearing it, he alerted the others.

"Guys! Wake up! School's starting today! I know some of you don't have to go, but we need to figure out what to do if you're not!"

"Be quiet!" Lucian said slowly getting out of bed in his rainbow boxers. "The sun is still low in the sky and I don't care what this 'school' thing is ether! It's too early to be this loud!" He walked from behind the make-shift curtain sliding his glasses on. "We're staying here, that's for certain." The redheaded child ran his hands across his hair feeling for all the locks that were sticking up.

Cethin rolled around restlessly when he sat up and rubbed his eyes. His hair was laying everywhere all over the bed and some even dangled off the side and rested on the carpet.

"Cethin, put your boxers back on if you're getting up. I would like to avoid you getting yourself worked up over an accident." Lucian said with his one ear turned towards the bed. "Oh, that's right. I also wanted to tell you that you may want to wash your sheets then. As to why, well, you'll figure it out on your own because I know you humans aren't THAT stupid." He added before he went to try and find a mirror.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.  “Aaron?  Is anyone awake?  It’s Mina.” 

When Aaron opened the door Mina was standing their smiling, school bag in hand, and a piece of chocolate in her mouth.

“Good morning!”  She said cheerily.  “Ready for another day of school mister paranormal investigator?”  She playfully messed his hair.

Sprite then suddenly appeared in front of Aaron’s face.  “Spriii!”  She said, licking the boy’s face, covering it with saliva before flying into the room to give the closest person another one of her face licking.  She dangled her big tongue over Aqua’s face before licking her with her.  Covering her face with saliva too.

After Aaron wiped Sprite’s spit off his face Mina suddenly said, “Hey, do you want a kiss?”  She held up a bag of Hershey’s Kisses (THE “R” THING) Milk Chocolate (TRADE MARK).

Vadia had been up since 6. Currently she was doing pushups in her pajamas, which was nothing but a short white shirt and baggy camo pants. Now that everyone was getting up, her morning exercise routine was going to be disturbed. "146, 147, 148, 149, 150." She counted as she continued. She stopped and immediately started stretching her arms. "I guess that's enough for today." She got up, doing arm circles. "If it's all the same to you, I'll stay here with Aqua while you're at school. Any formal investigations should be carried out with the person that actually knows what it is he's looking for." She said, looking at Aaron. "We aren't suited for investigating on our own and you know it." 

Aqua was sleeping quietly in a corner, on a bed she made herself with her shapeshifting ability. Though with everyone getting up, it was hard for her to stay asleep. Instead of getting up like a normal person would, she instead turned into a puddle of aquamarine liquid, spreading out all over the corner she was in, before it reformed and took shape back into her usual self. She looked extremely tired. "Mm...it's loud...Please be a little quieter." She said. Even though her hair was perfectly made and her face looked rejuvenated, she still hadn't opened her eyes yet and she was still a little slumped over as if she could keep sleeping. "I'm not ready to go outside just yet..."