Satan’s Space Amusement Park Chapter 6 - Fear!? The Haunted Mansion

“Well then, where do you suggest be our next visit?” Schezo asked Arle, after calming down again. She took a look at the stamp rally card.
“Let’s see...the next one is a haunted mansion.”
“Eep!?” Ringo froze up upon hearing Arle say that.
“What’s up, Ringo?” I looked at her.
“W-W-Well...I must decline.”
“Huh, what for?”
“But it’s not any ordinary mansion, it’s a...”
“A haunted mansion?”
“THAT, YES THAT!”
“You can’t handle haunted mansions, Ringo? Not too good with ghosts?”
“Now you’re just repeating yourself! Stop that! It’s driving me to tears!”
“Uh...”
“A-Are you serious, Ringo?”
“Gugugugugu...?”

---

Arle and I swapped surprised looks with each other. This one heck of a twist! Ringo's usually the super calm one and a lover of all mysteries. Yet, when it comes to keeping her cool in haunted mansions...

"At any rate! They have no scientific basis, none of this or that or such residency to gather at, haunting this very plane of existence because they cannot or do not feel the need to do anything else!"
"You have that much to say!?"

Whoah, Ringo's unusually shaken up hard about this.

"Oh, well, since I find it scary, are you okay with me staying out here and waiting?"

I patted the blue-faced Ringo by the shoulders.

"I'm not that great with ghosts either, but I can do it with everyone here, so come and tag with us!"
"Amitie...are you actually a goddess...?"
"Nah, Ringo, that's crazy talk!" I clasped my hands together, and then Ringo got all teary-eyed. But...
"Uhm, hate to break it, but..." Arle timidly held her hand up. "The stamp rally card has some fine print: 'The stamp will not be granted unless all the participants enter and enjoy the haunted mansion attraction.' is what it says."
"S-...Seh WAAAAAAAHT!?"
"Guess Ringo has to come along anyway..."
"EAAAAAGH! HEEEEECH NUUUUUUUUUUOHH!!"
"Ringo! Don't let your ability to talk spiral out of control!"

Oh phooey, now what...Ringo's absolutely scared out of her mind. Poor her!
We're at a loss right now, just standing silently at the uproar until Schezo the bystander let out a sigh.

"Fearful of ghosts, are you? Ridiculous." Schezo grumbled getting a rise from Ringo.
"H-Have some sympathy here!"

But Schezo kept his cool and looked down on Ringo.

"Why, what of them strikes fear in you?"
"I cannot deal with them because they're unscientific, unexplainable beings!"
"Science? I do not comprehend, but despite the inability to explain that black shadow's existence, you had many mysterious experiences with it to this day."
"W-When you put it that way..."
"Then what of ghosts strike fear in you?"
"Uh, uhhhh, um..."

The unconcerned Schezo drove Ringo further back, having her drop her head and mutter in shame.

"I must confess... Listening to grandmother's ghost stories left some lasting trauma when I was little..."
"Tou-rah-ma?" I glanced blankly, making Arle chime in with "She has an espe~cially horrified reaction to it when she remembers it."
"I-I see. You had a lot of ghost story time when you were small, and that gave you 'trauma' for the ghosts~"
"Y-yes. Grandmother's ghostly tales made me especially scared of them..." Ringo confessed, trembling in fear. Everyone else...just gulped. "It's likely that trouble duo will appear, with their noisy sleepless demeanor, eternally spouting lame puns on and on and dropping quizzes I don't know the answers to!"

*shiver*

"A-And you find that scary...?"
"And then, to my utmost bewilderment, they will scout people for the ghost life and find me okay to convert me a ghost...!"
"Mmmh, each to their own on what's scary I guess, Carby?
"Gu guguu..."

We gathered and huddled around Ringo, to which Schezo lets out an irritated-sounding "You truly are foolish."
"It'll be alright, Ringo."
"W-what was that?"
"Whatever's in the haunted mansion, it's all made-up. Not real."
"Now that you mention that..."
"But if you take the charge, nothing's gonna scare you."
"Nh..."
"You're the one that made the fear. In other words, you gotta go fight it!"
"Nnnnh...!" Ringo clasped her head.
"Now that you say it...Yeah, I understand what your reasoning. The haunted mansion isn't that scary..."
"!"

Ah- Did Ringo just face it head-on!? Arle and I, even the fourth wheel Schezo, began encouraging her.

"Th-that's the spirit, Ringo!"
"We're right here with you!"
"Gu guguu!"

With a pat on Ringo's shoulder, we gave her three cheers and now she's feeling upbeat and at ease.

"I- I understand now... I'll get up and won't admit defeat."
"Ringo! You're in this!?"
"Yeah, I'm going in!" Ringo declared, clenching a fist. Alright, that's the Ringo I know!

...but then...

“MYOAAAAAAH! S-SOULS FLOATING EVERYWHERE~~~!”
“Calm down Ringo!”
“FWAAAAAAH! SO MANY PLATES AND LADIES IN MYSTERY~~~!!”
“It’s okay! They’re just dolls!”
“GUOOOOOH! MY FOOT- THERE’S A HAND~~~!”

The moment we stepped into the haunted mansion, Ringo screamed right off bat. While she's not really handling it that well, I'm not at all scared at any of this.

"Silence, you! Did you not say you wouldn't admit defeat!?"
"I DON'T THINK I CAN TAKE IT!"
"Force yourself to!" Schezo retorted in response to Ringo's shouting.
"Ah, about what I said. I may have a clear head, but anything I can't take, I can't take. My powerlessness against the illogical takes precedence over strong passion..." Ringo replied, sounding quite sincere about it. "With that, allow me to continue...Mi-GYAAAAAH! IT'S A NOPPERA-BO~~~!"
"Ringo! Did I just see you calm down one moment, then whiplash into terror!?"
"Hey, c'mon~. Wanna join hands, Ringo? Gimme your hand!"
"KYAAAAAAAH! AMITIE'S HAND~~~!"
"Geez, what doesn't scare you!?"

I really feel sorry about her, but we have to get through to the end. Slow and steady? Middle of the road? But before I know it...

"Hey hey~~~!"

It came from the shadowy void. I heard a cheery voice come from there.

"Eh!? Whatwasthat!" I whipped my head back to Ringo's direction, even if I was keeping an eye on her on-edge-ness. What I saw there...
"I had a feeling you rang, and dum dada DAA! Did you call for the ghostly twin Yu~?"
"Or Rei..."
"Wh...whoahwhoahwhoah! When did Yu and Rei show up~!?

Yep, this duo is a pair of ghosts, in other words, the ones Ringo fears most of all! They're always roaming around Primp Town, occasionally popping out to give someone a scare. When you hear the word 'ghost', you'd think they'd have a gloomy image. Yu, instead, has boundless energy in place! Rei's more soft-spoken and not as chatty, and while he's always idly tagging along with Yu, he's not that scary.

"Huh, genuine ghosts."
"Well of course, me and Rei are the sprightly real de~al! Looky-looky, at our nonexistent legs of dignity!"
"Yu's legs...don't exist..."
"Oh hey, they're right!"
"Being ghosts though, you do show up in places that aren't so cheery..."

Schezo and Arle aren't even at all fazed by them. Yu, still smile ear to ear, stuck out a finger at us.

"You many not know what you're getting into, but we're going to commemorate this 'hullabaloo' with a quiz 'rendezvous,' which you're in 'aren't you'~?"
"In, aren't we...?"
"Q-Quiz?"

I feel like I have to do something about that wordplay I just heard. Oh phooey, maybe responding to that quiz is our ticket out of the haunted mansion... For now, I asked some questions.

"Yu, Rei, what do we get if we answer your quiz correctly?"
"Before you’ll even notice, we’ll stamp you up and seal the deal for you~!"
"Seal the..."
"!!"

Arle and I turned over to Schezo, eye to eye. In short, we're not getting the stamp if we don't correctly answer their quiz! Quizzes are Ringo's specialty. But will she be able to shake off her fear of this cheerful ghost duo...? With that in mind, I turned on over...to see Ringo stiff and pale as a white board.

"Huh, what in the what now, You're scared of Yu!?"
"But...didn't she just say that..."
"Eh?"
"Quiet you poltergeist, enough of your tired out wordplay, on with the quiz..."
"Ah."
"IT IS WHAT GRANDMA SAIIIIIIID! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THESE GHOSTS HERE AND I WANT OUUUUT!"
"...You mean it, huh..."

Well this is a twist! Guess we can't rely on Ringo for answers this time around... Without much time to fuss around the four of us, Yu happily declared the start of this.

"Question Number 1! Ta-daa!"
"Ta-da..."
"Birds soar the sky, but what kind of bird doesn't fly~?"
"Uh...er well uhm-!"

Huh? Don't birds normally fly though? Schezo only scoffed at us when I looked over with distress written on my face.

"This is child's play...The answer is a penguin!"
"BZZZZT! Wrong!"
"What!?"

And despite Schezo's posed confidence in his answer, he got hit with an X from Yu along with an eye-opening wake-up call.

"T-then it's an ostrich!"
"BZZT! That is incorrect~. Were you listening~? Birds soar the sky..."
"Well, what about a baby bird?" Arle confidently chimed in. But...
"BZZT, that's not it!"
"Ee~~~h!? Do you know, Amitie?"

I shook my head in frustration. What do I do if I can't think of anything! This might be the end of the road... Or so I thought.

"Tweeters, mocking bird, what about a Joaquin bird!" Ringo suddenly shouted out an answer.

"Ding ding ding ding, CORRECT!"
"Correct..."

Yu spun around in the air and applauded her.

"Nice one, Ringo!" I cheered for her. "Wait, did you get over your fear!?"
"You tell me I'm alright when I'm actually not, my power of bravery is VERY NOT OKAY!"
"Eh..."
"Alrighty, onto Number 2~!"
"Number 2..."

Yu and Rei went onto the next part of the quiz without skipping a beat and losing me.

"Tell me the one time you can't eat some bread!"
"Hmph...It has to be when it has gone rotten..."
"When baking them went a-rye!"

This time, Ringo butted in with her answer when Schezo didn't even finish his.

"Ding ding ding ding, when baking them goes a-rye is right!"
"Right..."
"Question Number 3! You can eat pie, but what's one food you can drink too?"
"Toast...the answer is toast!"
"Way to go~! You~ are~ correct~, ONCE AGAIN!"
"Again~..."
"Hah, hah..."

Ringo continued to get more blue in the face and slouch-y, one quiz answer after another.

"H-hey...what's the matter?"
"Ringo...?"

Even Schezo and Arle are feeling the weight on their spirit.

"Ah, whatever it takes, I have to answer them right away so we can quickly escape, because my brain's undergoing a rush of adrenaline..."
"Wh, th-that's what it is?"
"I dunno if I follow...but that's wicked cool, Ringo!"

Moments later...

"During break time, what's can you find on top of a table~?"
"Periodicals...it's a periodical table!"
"Can you name me the biggest verse?"
"That would be the universe!"
"Then what about the most literate Puyo?"
"The Red Puyo! Because it phonetically sounds like 'read'!"

......

"Ringo's scarily good, huh...Carby..."
"Guu..."
"Ah, ahahahaha..." Ringo, who's at the breaking point of tearing up from the rapid-fire quiz answers, could barely keep eyes on us. She needs a breather.

"Ah, that was fun! It's only right to thank you for making this a spirit-ed night!"
"Thank you..."

We got a well-deserved stamp after Ringo's performance back there! And just like that, Yu and Rei were gone in a poof.

"Great work there, Ringo!" I gave Ringo a pat on a shoulder...
"..."

*THUD!*

Ringo, eyes all dazed out, up and dropped dead right on the spot!

"W-WAAAAH!"
"Bad news! Ringo, RINGOOOO!"

After the episode of absolute panic, we had to carry poor Ringo out of the haunted mansion ourselves...