//------------------------------// // A Wooloo Stampede // Story: Pokémon/Digimon Mystery Dungeon: The Adventure Begins // by StormPhoenix246 //------------------------------// Another beautiful day rose over in the town of Ponyville and began with the rising. In the Golden Oaks Library, the sun’s rays shined through the window and hit the faces of Tom and Pikachu. Neither of them wanted to get up from their shared but he had to fight the urge when Tom remembered today was the first day of his new job. He fought against his urge to go back to sleep and rose from up from the bed. He stretched his limbs and took a deep yawn, as his body was beginning to wake up. While he may want to go back to sleep, he made a commitment to the Apple family to do this job and he wasn’t gonna fail them. “Time to get up, Pikachu,” Tom said, just as he hopped off the bed. “No. 10 more minutes,” Pikachu said, rolling her face onto the pillow, trying to avoid the sun. “You can sleep when we get to the farm,” Tom said, finishing his stretching before looking at the sleeping mouse. Pikachu turned her head towards him with a look of annoyance. She said, “And let Winona chase me around again? Not happening.” When she was done talking, she turned her head back to the pillow. Tom sighed and said, “She was just trying to be friendly. All dogs do that when they meet someone new. You didn’t mind it when Rocky was rubbing her rock next to you.” “Well, Rocky wasn’t licking my face so much that my fur smelled like dog food,” Pikachu said with a slight hint of disdain in her voice. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Winona won’t bother you as much as she did yesterday. She’ll probably just be running around the farm, doing what all dogs do. And if you’re still bothered by her, I can ask Applejack if you can stay inside while I work.” Tom explained, hoping Pikachu would finally agree to come with him. Pikachu let out a long sigh before saying, “Fine. But, if I get covered in dog slobber again, you’re washing it out.” “Alright,” Tom said, picking up his treasure bag just as Pikachu finally got up from the bed and onto the floor. Keldeo left his room with Pikachu following right behind him, before he began his trek down the stairs. He grabbed his Arceus phone to see what time it was and saw he still had enough time before he was late. When he made it down the stairs, he made it towards the kitchen and fixed himself and Pikachu some breakfast. When he entered the room, he could see Twilight reading a book and Spike making breakfast as usual. Twilight looked up and saw him, and flashed me a smile. “Good morning Daniel." Twilight greeted. Tom smiled back and said, "Morning, Twilight. Sleep well?" Twilight said, “Very well, thank you." He gave her a nice smile before continuing to fix plates for him and his electric friend. Once he was done, he grabbed his plate of food, while Pikachu grabbed her bowl and sat down at the table. Spike brought fresh slices of french toast to the table before he sat down and enjoyed his gemstones. Tom was eating his breakfast slightly quicker than he did yesterday, which Twilight and Spike took notice of. "You seem to be in a hurry," Spike said. Tom swallowed his food and said, "Yeah. I got a job at the farm and I don't want to be late." "You don't have to rush. I'm sure Applejack will understand." Spike said. “I know, but I want to make a good impression on my first day,” Tom said. “I’m sure she won’t hold it against you if you’re a few minutes late on your first day,” Twilight said, trying to reassure her friend to not rush his eating. Tom thought about it and shrugged. He said, “Okay, I'll take it slow, but I still don't want her to wait for me for a long time." After around 4 minutes or so, he finally finished breakfast and we were ready for his first day of work. He cleaned his and Pikachu’s plates, then headed for the door. When he and Pikachu walked towards the door, he noticed Twilight and Spike following right behind him. He asked, “Are you two going somewhere?” "We need to go to the supply shop to get more quills and scrolls," Twilight answered. He understood, realizing that she must go through a lot of scrolls, being such a scholarly mare. Before he could open the door, there was a knock on the door. This took him by surprise and he opened the door to see who was behind. Once it was fully open, he saw the knocker was a Pegasus mare with a grey fur coat. She had an unkempt, blond mane and tail and a mark that looked like three bubbles. The most noticeable about her was her yellow cross-eyes. She was also wearing a mailman outfit, meaning she was a delivery mare. “Good morning. I have had mail for Twilight Sparkle.” The mail pony said, taking out envelopes from her bag. “Oh, thanks, Derpy,” Twilight said, accepting the letters with her magic. The mare, now known as Derpy, notices Tom standing next to a violet unicorn with her cross-eyes. She said, “Hey, I’ve seen you around Ponyville. You’re the new stallion in town, right?” “Yes. My name is Tom, and this is Pikachu.” Tom said, introducing himself and his Pokémon friend. “Pika,” Pikachu responded, waving her paw at the new mare. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Ditzy Doo.” The mare said. Tom raised a brow and said, “But, Twilight just called you Derpy.” A sad look was brought to the mail mare’s face. She said, “Yeah, that’s a nickname from when I was a filly. Ponies called me that because of my eyes. “I’m sorry, Der- I mean Ditzy. I didn’t know.” Twilight apologized after learning of the mare’s childhood. “You don’t have to apologize, Twilight. Every pony got used to it after a while and I just couldn’t correct them. And it’s all because of my stupid eyes.” Derpy said, lowering her head, feeling depressed about her birth defect. Tom saw her dad look and just knew he had to lift up her spirits. “Well, I think your eyes are really cute,” Tom said, gaining the attention of both mares and earning a blush on the mare’s face. “Really?” Ditzy asked, hoping he wasn’t joking at her expense. “Sure. I’ve never met someone with those kinds of eyes before. They’re really nice. You shouldn’t say bad things about your eyes. Those eyes are what makes you so unique.” Tom said, finishing with a smile. Never, in all of Equestria, has Ditzy heard such a nice word before in her entire life. For years, every pony has made fun of her wall eyes and called her Derpy. Whenever she messed up and made a mistake, she would be reminded by her old bullies that she was a klutz. She did have some friends who knew her real name and did not blame her when something bad happened. But, no one has ever said such nice things to her because of her clumsiness and her eyes, but he didn't care about it. Ditzy dropped the mailbag and hugged Tom. she said, “Thank you, for saying those things. No pony has ever been so nice to me.” Tom smiled and hugged the mare back. He said, “No problem. Just telling the truth.” The hug lasted for a few minutes before Ditzy left to deliver more mail. Once she was out of sight, Tom decided it was time to leave for the farm. He and Pikachu left in one direction while Twilight and Spike went in the other. While walking towards the Apple farm, Tom got to take in the sites of all the ponies just waking up for the new morning. Some of them were opening up the stores while others were setting up their stands. Since he didn’t seem like he was going anywhere, Tom changed to another form that would offer some more speed. A familiar glow appeared on his body as his body shifted shapes. Once the glow disappeared, he morphed into an equine Pokémon with cream-colored fur. He had brown eyes and triangular ears with reddish interiors. Yellow and reddish-orange flames made up his mane and tail. The mane formed a short crest on top of his head and a short strip down his back to his tail. Additional flames are present behind his elbows and knees. He had four long legs, each ending in a single, gray hoof. Bending down, Tom grabs Pikachu with his mouth and places her in his flaming back, avoiding burning her with his flames. ”Hang on.” Tom ran down the dirt road, avoiding collisions with various ponies while not slowing down in the slightest. The leg strength of the fire horse Pokémon really helped him make up for any lost time. A fee minimized later, they came along the dirt road on the far side of Ponyville. “Still hanging in there, Pikachu?” Tom looked at the Pokemon clutching his back. “Just fine. Can’t wait to get some more sleep when we get there.” Pikachu’s head was face down in Tom’s fur, waiting till they reach their destination. Her ears suddenly rose from her beard before she raised her head. “Do you hear something?” His ears perked up from hearing someone shouting in distress. As it got closer, he could tell whoever was screaming was in some kind of distress. He looked ahead of himself and caught sight of a rolling ball of fluff. A closer inspection told him the rolling ball had a face, and it was screaming. As confused as he was right now, he focused on the immediate problem in front of him. Once he grabbed Pikachu and placed her on the ground, he changed into another fire type that would useful for stopping this tumbling creature. He turned into a bipedal, reptilian Pokémon with a primarily orange body and blue eyes. His underside from the chest down and the soles of his feet were cream-colored. He had two small fangs visible in his upper jaw and two smaller fangs in his lower jaw. A fire burned at the tip of this Pokémon's slender tail. Just as it was closing in on him, a white aura surrounded his body as his strength increased. Acting completely on instincts, he raised his paw at the being, feeling its fluffy wooly once his paw made contact with it. With incredible strength, he was slightly pushed back, barely kicking up any dust clouds under his feet. Tom dismissed his aura as he relaxed, walking around to take a look at what he stopped. Once he came up to the trembling creature’s face, he saw it was a weeping Wooloo. He bent down on his knees and said, “Hey. What’s wrong?” He scratched the sheep’s head to find out why it was crying. “We got scared…” The sheep said with a tremble in her voice. “We?” Pikachu asked. Before they knew it, the ground beneath the three Pokémon began to shake. Everything around them from trembling from the sudden tremor. It didn’t seem like a real earthquake, so they searched for what was causing this sudden shaking. The sound was coming from the same direction where the whining Wooloo came from. Up ahead of them was an entire flock of Wooloo rolling towards them. Acting on instinct, Tom stepped forward, taking a deep breath before preparing for his next move. Just when a soft flame entered his mouth, he was suddenly knocked down by a large object. He wanted to get up but it was holding him down. His eyes looked up to get a better look at who or what has him pinned to the ground. It was a quadrupedal canine Pokémon. It had orange fur with black stripes along its back and legs. The fur on its muzzle, chest, belly, and tail is beige, as is an additional tuft of fur on top of its head. Its coat was noticeably longer on its chest and tail. It had gray eyes, a black nose, and large, round and triangular ears with beige interiors. Its forepaws have two visible claws, while its hind paws have three toes each. Each paw had a brown pad. “Stand down, lizard. Let a pro handle this flock.” The Growlithe said, stepping off of Tom and in front of the rolling sheep. “Who are you supposed to be?” Tom asked, standing up from the ground. “I’m the one saving your flaming butt.” The Growlithe said. Tom didn’t know where this puppy came from but he did not like him. When the Wooloo was getting closer, he touch a breath before releasing powerful transparent sound waves from his mouth. Some of the Wooloo got scared and stopped rolling, while others continued to roll down the path. Seeing his howl was not completely working on the Sheep Pokémon, Tom knew it was his time to jump. Acting on his instincts, he ran past the Growlithe and stood in front of the rolling fluff balls. An orange aura surrounded his body and slammed his claws onto the ground. What quickly followed was multiple light blue stones coming out of the ground. Those stones were moving toward the approaching Pokémon, hitting a few backs. The multiple Wooloo were slowed down by each of the blue stones while being encircled by each rock that was created. One by one, every one of them was trapped by all of the stones before there was nowhere to go. While it looked like it was over, it really wasn’t when some of the Wooloo were seen still moving around in their trap. Tom needed to think of a way to calm them down and came up with an idea. He jumped in the air and surrounded himself with a prismatic aura. His body began changing into something skinnier than his previous form. When the aura was gone, he appeared with a body shaped like a fūrin wind chime. He had beady, yellow eyes and three stubby limbs. His body had a horizontal amaranth-colored pattern. Underneath his body extended a long, tag-like tail that had amaranth patterning at the bottom. A yellow, globular growth was connected to the top of his body. With his new body, Tom floated above the rolling flock of Wooloo and released blue-green energy from his body. A bell-like sound could be heard from within that energy. Each of the stampeding Pokémon was slowly starting to slow down and listen to the healing song. As sounds continued to ring through the air, the Pokémon finally calmed down and closed their eyes. When all of them finally stopped rolling, the blue stones disappeared and Tom stopped using his sound attack. He floated down to the Growlithe with a goofy grin on his face. “And that’s how you do it.” The Growlithe regained his original face and looked towards the calm flock. “You just got lucky. Any Pokémon could’ve done what did?” Growlithe said, turning his face away from the shapeshifter. “If any Pokémon could’ve done it, then why didn’t you do it?” Tom asked with a smug look on his face. Growlithe finally had enough of him and decided it was time to make a stand. He turned towards Tom and looked him in his yellow eyes. He said, “You’re really starting to test me, buddy." "I'm just saying you were having trouble catching all of them and I did it with one shot. Maybe you need to find yourself a new career." Tom said. "How about me cleaning the path with your face?" Growlithe said, baring his fangs at the floating pokemon. "I have nothing to prove to you," Tom said while turning his head away from the puppy. He, then quickly turned around and got in the dog's face. "But I could take you down with one hand tied behind my back." "You wanna go right now?" Growlithe asked. "Anytime, punk," Tom said, getting in his face, ready for the fast-approaching battle. Pikachu was watching the two argue the whole time while comforting the weeping Wooloo. She just rolled her eyes at this display of two pokemon going at each other as if they just hatched from their eggs. Instead, she continued to rub the crying Pokemon ahead as she tried to get some answers. "Don't worry. Everything's all right now. All of your friends stopped and have stopped rolling." The crying sheep stopped the tears from her eyes and looked towards the relaxed faces of all her fellow sheep Pokemon. This brought a smile to her face as she said, "Thank you for stopping my flock before they got themselves hurt." She rubbed her head against the electric mouse's stomach to show her gratitude, which she graceful accepted. "Oh, it was nothing. Actually, I didn't really do anything. It was all thanks to my idiot friend over there." Pikachu said as she pointed to her friend who was still in an argument with the fire dog. "Oh, really?" The Wooloo asked. "Yeah. He may be a little dense sometimes, but he's the bravest person I've ever known," Pikachu explained about what she admired most about her friend while gaining a small blush on her face. She shook that away and focused on the Wooloo next to her. "By the way..." She trailed off, hoping the sheep had a nickname she could call her. "Willow." The Sheep Pokemon responded. "Willow. I was wondering why all of you Wooloo were rolling down this path in the first place." Pikachu asked, wondering where the entire flock came from. "Oh, well, what happened was-" "Tom!" All four of the pokemon stopped in their tracks once they heard a loud voice ring in the air down the same path the flock of Wooloo came from. They looked ahead and saw Applejack racing down the path, clearly exhausted from the sweat running down her face. When she made it to them, she took a few deep breaths and saw all of the Wooloo with relaxed expressions on their faces. "What in tarnation?" Applejack wondered, looking towards the floating Pokemon. "Tom, is that you?" "Yep. It's me. Are these Wooloo yours?" Tom asked. "Yeah. They're a part of the flocking my family and I are raising on our farm. Would you mind helping me take them back before they start rollin' again?" Applejack asked before getting behind one of the Wooloo and began herding it in the direction of her farm. Tom joined in this endeavor by waking up the Wooloo and guiding them, right behind the orange mare. Growlithe did not want to be outdone by the shapeshifter and woke up the calm pokemon with a bark. He pushed them along the path, trying the get more Wooloo back to the farm than Tom did. He saw this and began collecting more Wooloo to outperform the fire hound. Pikachu just sighed at these two competing with each other and just walked beside Willow so she will have someone to talk to while beginning their trek to the apple farm. Nearly a half hour of herding the wool creatures later, they finally reached the Apple family farm. Tom wasn't sure where to take all of these Wooloo and decided to just follow Applejack. She led him to the outskirts of the farm where there were little to no apple trees. Out of the entire apple farm, this was the one place that had the least amount of apple trees. Once they made it to a clear field, they came across a big stallion that Tom assumed was Applejack's brother. He saw him tending to a large amount of Pokemon that he assumed were the rest of the flock. The first flock was made up of ovine Pokémon with a thick coat of white wool that made it look spherical. Their small, black head pokes out of the front of the wool, along with two short horns. Their eyes had yellow sclerae, black irises, and white, horizontal pupils. Two large ears were visible behind gray strings of wool that resembled braided pigtails. Their hooves were short and mostly hidden by the wool, along with a tail that was barely visible on their rear ends. The other flock consisted of ovine Pokémon with fluffy cream-colored wool covering its entire body, as well as a curly tuft of wool in the middle of its head. Its head is blue, and it has black eyes. Its four feet are blue and have two digits on each foot, and it appears to be on tiptoe at all times. Its conical ears and tail have a yellow-and-black striped pattern. Mareep has an orange sphere at the end of its tail, which acts like a small light bulb. When they finally made it to the field, they allowed all of the Wooloo to return to the rest of their flock. They all ran towards separate areas of the field and either ate grass because they were starving or conversed with their fellow Wooloo or the other Mareep. “So, how did all of these Wooloo end up rolling away from your farm in the first place?” Tom asked, helping the last Wooloo into the field. “Well, one of those electric sheep their wool against the Wooloo and that made sparks fly. That scared some of the flock and sent them rolling out of the farm.” Applejack said. “That makes sense. Mareep like to rub their wool against one another to build up electricity. Doing it with other Pokémon would not end well.” Tom said, catching site of a few of the Wool Pokémon rubbing together and building static charges. “Why didn’t you tell me that they were here?” “Because they weren’t cause much of a problem here. All they eat are grass and don’t cause too much problems her.” Applejack said, reassuring him the Apple family had everything under control. “Besides, we have Scruffy and Chomper here to keep an eye on them.” “Yeah. And we’ve seen how helpful he’s been.” Tom commented which caused the puppy Pokemon to look in his direction with a scowl. “Hey! I’ve been taking care of these flocks before you even got here. So, don’t go talking like it’s easy!” Chomper said, snarling at him. “I’m not saying it’s hard. All I’m saying is that you probably could’ve done a better job watching those sheep so they never would’ve done run off.” Tom said, floating down towards the hounds growling face. “You think you could do better?” Chomper asked. “Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m sure I could do a better job than you.” Tom said, with a smug grin his face. “Creep.” Chomper said. “Loser.” Tom said back. “Freak.” “Flea bag.” “Weirdo!” “Mutt!” This exchange of insults were just continued on before they were launching lame insults at one another. The others were off to the side, watching the two Pokémon try to insult each other. Of course, the two ponies could not understand Chomper so they had to guess what he was saying was bad. Even from they were standing, they could see the hate in their eyes. “Boys.” Pikachu said with her paws on her hips and shaking her head at the two. “I hear yah.” Applejack commented. She may not be able to understand Pokémon like Tom or Fluttershy but she could understand when two boys were acting stupid. Before another insult could be said, a furry object appeared between the two. It was a light brown, canine Pokémon with a short snout. Its face has long, cream fur, which forms a mustache and a three-pointed crest. Its ears were large and perked, and it had a black nose. It had shaggy dark blue fur covering its body and a short tail. It had four short legs, with three-toed paws. Each paw had a dark blue paw pad. “Scruffy?” Growlithe surprised to see the other canine Pokémon’s responsible for protecting the Apple farm’s herd. “That’s enough, you two. We’ve had enough problems today without you the both your arguing.” Scruffy said, pushing the two fighting Pokémon away from one another. “Chomper, go over there and watch some of the Mareep.” “But he-“ “Go!” Chomper did not want to argue with him after seeing that look in his eyes. He walked towards another part of the grassland while silently grumbling. Tom was smiling while waving his scarf like body to the leaving Growlithe. He stopped waving once the angry Herdier looked him with the expression he had for Chomper. “And you. I have enough to deal with without you aggravating my friend. Don’t let me catch you two arguing on the job again. Understand?” Scruffy asked. “Yes, sir.” Tom said, nodding his head. With that, he turned around and resumed his post around the flock. Pikachu was laughing at her friend being intimidated by the loyal dog Pokémon. She said, “You got told.” “Quiet it.” Tom said before taking a sigh and moving his eyes to see the new pony. He was a red Earth Pony with an orange mane and tail, with yellowish hooves and green eyes. His eyes looked like they were almost always half closed and he looked slightly bored. He also has a girdle around his neck area. On his flank was a half green apple with a few sparkles around it. The two of their eyes met and all was quiet. None of them spoke and it was beginning to get uncomfortable, for Tom more than the stallion. Even though he’s seen a lot of large Pokémon, this stallion was the largest he’s ever met in his life. An entire minute passed without anyone speaking so he decided to break the ice. “So, you’re Big McIntosh?” Tom asked. “Eeyup.” The stallion dryly said. “And you’re Applejack’s big brother?” Tom asked, trying to get more than one word out of him. “Eeyup.” He said again, not the changing in his voice or the look on his face. Tom wasn’t getting anywhere with him. “You don’t talk much, do you?” Tom asked, hopefully expecting another word from the stallion’s mouth. “Nope.” Big Mac said. Well, he got another word out of him. “Yeah. I sorta figured. So, why weren’t you at the farm yesterday?” Tom asked. “Big Mac was busy making delivering across Ponyville.” Applejack chimed in. “Oh, that makes sense.” Tom said, changing into Keldeo and began walking back to the farm with the apple siblings and Pikachu. “With that said, it’s time to start working, Tom. Your first job will be delivering apples with me and Big McIntosh.” Applejack said, explaining the first days assignment. “Cool. Lead the way.” Tom said, following close behind the two, kind of excited to get his first day of work started. After walking back from the grass field, they gathered up a lot of buckets of apples and began making deliveries. Pikachu stayed at the farm house so she could finish go back to sleep, like Tom promised. They stopped by a bunch of homes and dropped of their orders of apples. This gave Tom the chance to meet other residents of the pony village he hadn’t met before. He came across a few hungry Pokémon on the street and gave them a few apples he kept in his bag. After about two hours of walking around town, they were close to finishing with their deliveries. Only one more name was on their list of buyers. “Looks like we’re almost done. Just this last name on the list, then we can go back to the farm.” Applejack said, looking at the list in her hoof. “Finally. I thought we’d never get done. Who is our last stop anyway?” Tom asked. “It’s a new stallion in town. Says here his name is Harvest Moon.” Applejack said. “This pony just moved here?” Tom asked. “Eeyup.” Big Mac said while still pulling the cart. “He moved to town just two weeks ago. I heard he’s some kind of business pony looking to make some deals while in town.” Applejack said. “What kind of deals?” Tom asked, confused why a top business would move to a quiet town like Ponyville. “No pony knows. He’s barely been seen out of his house and hasn’t talked any pony in town. Pinkie hasn’t even thrown him a welcome to Ponyville party because he said he was busy.” Applejack explain, confusing Tom more and more with every word uttered from her mouth. Who was this pony and why was he here? More questions flooded his mind, but he pushed them aside for now. The three of them walked along the path before they finally came upon their designated location. Their eyes look ahead of them and they could not believe what they were looking at. In front of them was a large mansion with a dark theme to the exterior. It looked like it was designed with a gothic motif into the structure. Everything about it screamed, “Haunted House”. Tom could not believe any one would live out in the outskirts of the village with a house like that. With a house like that, it made sense why a pony this Harvest Moon wanted to keep to himself. A part of him did not want to go up to the door and the apple siblings would agree with him, but a job is a job. They gathered their courage and walked up to the front door to the creepy manor. When they finally made it to the door, Applejack was the first to knock. They waited for what felt like forever before hearing a lock come from the door. A few more locks unlocking could be hear from behind the door until the door slowly opened. They expected a young stallion, but saw an old unicorn stallion with a suit on answering the door. “Can I help you?” The old stallion asked. “We’re from Sweet Apple Acres; We’re here to make drop off a delivery for Harvest Moon.” Applejack said to the old stallion. “Ah, yes, of course. The master is busy at the moment. Just place them in the foyer.” The stallion stepped aside to allow the ponies in the mansion. They walked and saw the inside matched the outside with furnitures with dark brown and black colors, stairs with red carpenting, old suits of armors against the walls and a black chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It was more creepy inside than it was outside, so they focused on their job. They grabbed all the buckets of apples and placed them on the floor. Once they were done, the stallion paid them and saw them out. When all three of them were outside, the door was closed behind them in a loud slam. “Well, that was pleasant.” Tom said sarcastically. “Eeyup.” Big Mac said, agreeing with him before tying the cart to his back. “Wonder why Harvest Moon couldn’t answer himself?” Applejack wondered. “He was probably busy, so that’s why he had his butler answer the door for him.” Tom said, feeling a sense something sinister from this mansion. “Well, whatever the reason, we’re finished our deliveries. Let’s get back to the farm.” They all began their walk back to the farm so they could continue with the rest of the day. Inside the mansion, the butler was trotting through the hallway, barely making a sound while carrying a plate of tea with his magic. He came up a door and turned the knob with his grey magical aura. When the door opened, he stallion sitting on a chair in the Lounge. The room wasn’t bright enough to see his features but his brown hoof was visible as it was rubbing the head of a purple feline. “Tea, sir?” The old stallion asked. “That would be nice, Dusk.” The unknown stallion said, gesturing his hoof forward. Dusk walked up to a table where the stallion was sitting and poured a cup of tea. “The apples you ordered were just delivered.” “Perfect. Bring them downstairs.” The stallion said. “Right away, sir.” Dusk said before setting the teapot on the table and leaving the room to complete his next duty. The stallion grabbed the teacup with his hoof and took a sip. He let out a sigh, enjoying the taste of the freshly brewed tea. “So, where did we leave off?” In the corner of the Lounge where was looking, nothing could be seen in the darkness. There was nothing until yellow eyes appeared within the room.