Route 8 became little more than two narrow parallel dirt paths separated by three-foot high dying weeds as the two cyclists rode through a region known as 'The Haunted Woods'. Although the sun was still high in the late October sky, the forest on either side of them held ominous pockets of deep shadow and the unnerving sense of being watched was a constant factor. At times, the inhabitants of the dark wood rustled the near by trees, and strange, all too human screams would echo, some from safely far away, and others frighteningly close. But the most unnerving part of their journey towards Lavender Town wasn't the occasion sound of a child's whimpering, or the strange lights that beckoned unwary travelers into the depths of the forest, or even the ghostly call of murkrows. It was the calm, blaise almost bored expression on the face of Miranda Lilcamp as she peddled along the bumpy, treacherous path as though the whole thing were a regular occurrence. Misty glanced over at her lover from time to time, her sea-green eyes as wide as dinner plates, her face so pale she almost seemed like a ghost herself. Upon the handlebars of her mountain-bike, the thoroughly unnerved trainer's knuckles were even whiter as she panted through gritted teeth. After nearly an hour of biking at top speed, Misty's legs were about to give out, and she'd had to slow her pace, but there was no way she was going to stop until they reached their destination. "I can't believe you don't find this the least bit unnerving!" she muttered, wishing she could hold Miranda's hand for the a little reassurance it would bring. The courier shrugged, exhaling thoughtfully. "Sorry, dear," she said with a weak smile, "I've lived here for most of my life, and I've been through these woods dozens of times. Aunt Laurna says that the sounds are harmless. So long as you don't actually try to follow them in at night that is. Oh, and don't loose sight of the road." "That's reassuring," Misty grumbled, nervously trying not to think about just how Professor Laurna, the world's premier ecto-parazoologist, had come about those findings, and just what happened to those who lost sight of the road, "Just please promise me that when we get to your parent's place we can sit down in a nice, normal room, with no scary noises, no dark freak forests, and NO ghosts!" "Um, no offence to Wraith," she added hastily with a bit of a chuckle. "I'm sure he'd understand, dear," replied Miranda with a smile, "But, yes. Lavender is a surprisingly normal place most of the time. It's just these woods and the Tower you have to be careful about. I'm sure you saw how boring it was last time you were here." Misty shrugged as she stood up on her pedals to see if the town was in sight yet. "Actually we really didn't do very much site seeing," she explained half sadly, "You know Ash, rush, rush, rush." Miranda twitched a bit and quickly changed the subject, "You know, if you don't let them scare you, ghosts really aren't that bad." Her lover glanced over at her, sitting back down and giving a weak smile. "I know," Misty replied, "And I'm mostly used to Wraith... Again. But strange ghosts still unnerve me." "Even after that incident in Saffron?" Miranda inquired, unable to hide the involuntary look of helplessness that crossed her face at the thought of what happened when she had challanged Sabrina. Misty smirked, finding the incident vastly more amusing. "What?" she inquired teasingly, noticing how uncomfortable it made Miranda, "You've said before that ghosts occasionally behave in strange and unpredictable ways..." "But... But they..." Miranda stammered, leaning back on her bike and peddling handless as she looked imploringly at her lover, "They played rock, paper, scissors to see who'd win!" "Best two out of three!" laughed Misty, wishing all ghosts were as amusing as Wraith or Sabrina's Rakshasha. Miranda sighed heavily, shaking her head in utmost dismay. "Ya know," she commented guiltily, "I really think I should have given that badge back." Misty found it hard to stop laughing at the thought of Wraith and Rakshasha facing off against one another. For several long dramatic moments, the two haunters had stared one another down, exchanging ghostly threats and macho posturing. But once they'd started trying to out do each other by seeing who could do the most warped and condeluded things with their own ephemera, Miranda finally lost patience and ordered Wraith to attack. Wraith had responded quickly enough, both haunters suddenly glowing with a dark purple light, ready to blast one another with nightshade, but that was when Rakshasha suddenly realized he had the wrong hands. The two haunters spent another five minutes trying to figure out who's floating disembodied hands were who's and eventually just gave up the concept of dueling, and played rock, paper scissors instead. "But Sabrina apparently found it funny!" Misty chuckled, forgetting all about the strange noises that followed them as the trees seemed to loom closer, their dry, twisted branches slowly beginning to creep together above the traveler's heads until they nearly blocked out the sun entirely. Miranda sighed, deciding to give up. "Well, at least you got see what Umberlee was really capable of," she added as a small bright light appeared in the distance. Misty nodded, a prideful smile crossing her face. "Yeah," she said proudly, "It was certainly nice of some of the instructors at the school to give me some advice on tapping into her true potential." "Saves her learning from Wraith," Miranda chuckled teasingly, catching Misty's sudden shudder. "I think she picked up enough bad habits already. Living with my sisters all that time couldn't have helped," the trainer said with a bit of shudder before catching a glimpse of civilization not far ahead, "Hey! Isn't that Lavender Town?" Miranda turned to look, just as the two narrow paths began to merge with a single lane gravel road. "Yeah," she replied a little distantly, noticing the purple hued cobblestones of the road ahead, and making out the shapes of the large, Victorian style houses of her home town, "it won't be long now." "Hey," said Misty, her tone serious, "I just want you to know, I was serious when I said I'd help you out when we got there, eh." Miranda nodded. "I know," she said quietly as a cold breeze met them just as they left the forest behind, "This Halloween's going to be different than any other. I can feel it." "In a good way?" inquired Misty hopefully, ignoring the Lavender Town population sign that had what appeared to be a huge bite taken out of it where the actual population number would have been. The courier glanced at her with a weak smile, her cloudy gray eyes searching Misty's. "In a good way," she promised, suddenly grabbing the handlebars as her bike tires hit the cobblestones, "Just promise me you'll back me up if I need it." Misty gave her a curious look. "How so?" she inquired suspiciously. Miranda glanced out across the field of half harvested corn to her right, trying to make out the rooftop of the Lilcamp Trading Company's head office. "My mom's always trying to get me to stay," she explained sullenly, "But I can't. It's just too sad here. And besides, if I quit being courier crew and got a cushy admin' job like she wants me to, we'd have never met, right?" Her beloved gave the courier a concerned look. "That's true," she agreed with a tight smile, "But you know that it's just because she misses you." The woman nodded sadly. "I know, I know," she muttered, giving a short wave to the group of children, all varying in age, who were helping their parents in the next field over which was filled with wheat, "I don't mean to be a bad daughter or anything, but she has Bob. She doesn't really need me there all the time, right?" Misty sighed heavily, breaking hard and causing her bike to skid dangerously across the cobblestone road. "Miranda," she said in a serious tone, her eyes seeming hard and unyielding as she gave her lover a look that broached no argument, "Look, I don't mean to be harsh about this, but..." "I should be thankful for what I have," Miranda finished for her, stopping her bike a little ahead of Misty's before circling around to park beside her, "I'm sorry, dear. I guess I just get caught up in my own selfish misery." "That's okay," Misty assured her as they hugged awkwardly astride their mountain bikes, "I don't expect you to be perfect." "That's good," replied Miranda with a bit of a chuckle, "I'd hate to be on that high a pedestal." "Didn't know you were afraid of heights," Misty teased, leaning away and laughing as she pushed down hard on her bike pedal to get a head start on the final leg of their journey. "As if!" laughed Miranda as she got her bike turned around, saving her next comment for when she finally caught up with Misty, half way to the nearest major intersection. "The only thing I'm really afraid of," she said breathlessly, "is loosing you..."
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