"Can you sit still?" Gina asked. She was holding a stylus and stuck her tongue out scribbling something on a tablet.

She was talking to Tunky, the new teddysprout. The fluffy creature was standing on the nightstand of her living room. She was drawing it. Or at least, she was trying to. Zach came over behind her seat and laughed.

"Is that supposed to be a rabbit?"

"It's Tunky, Zach Mole, Tunky."

"It looks like a rabbit."

"Well, Tunky is a rabbit. Or looks like one."

"No, it isn't. It's a teddy bear."

"With Coker Spaniel ears? Sure," Gina was finishing her drawing.

"Tunky is a little dog," Paris said from the counter of the kitchen. "It's obvious."

"Well," Hunter landed on the nightstand flapping – in a matter of a flying insect –, "it's more like a dog with rabbit ears and parts of a bear. Let's just not judge the teddysprout's appearance and quit whatever Gina is doing."

"For your information, I'm making a teddysprout database," she said triumphantly. The girl crossed her legs and rested her back to the armchair.

Zach Mole took a seat as well as Paris.

"A teddysprout database?" Mr Mitchell asked cleaning the silverware over the dining table.

"I thought it was a cool idea to collect the information of the teddy's we've seen so far. Now that Paris," she stopped talking and scorned her with the eyes, "has a second non-talking teddy," she hinted, "we have a total of five teddysprouts in the way."

The black-haired girl dropped the tablet on the nightstand and Zach Mole picked it up and slid through the files while perused.

"I think it's fair," he said. "Nice idea Gina! Such great about you."

"Marry her, Zach," Paris said annoyed. Zach blushed to death.

"We're here to talk about the akki that blew half of the stadium in Aznar," Hunter rose its voice. The rest of the teddysprouts, including Zach's and Tobby, paid attention. Although Hunter also believed Gina's data was a nice idea, the dog wouldn't admit it.

"You mean Troubles," Gina said. She was relaxed in her seat.

"Whoever he is..."

"Well, we'll call him like that, am I right guys?" Gina asked. 'Yeah,' 'I think it's a good idea,' 'I'm tough,' 'Shhh, Randall.'

"Ok, ok," the dog repeated, huffing. "It's clear that he and that rubin girl..."

"Venciello."

"...yeah, her," Hunter affirmed, "they're after the meteor and sure they've started to collect rubins on their own."

"That's not alright," Zach said.

"We can't allow them to complete the Great Sphere before we," Hunter emphasized.

"What do we do next?" Gina asked, breaking her relaxation.

"It would be great to find out where they're hiding and attack them."

"Like ambushing them?" Zach added very concerned. Paris was putting makeup on.

"Sure. Just one seal and they'll be banished."

"By the way," Paris talked. She opened her handbag and threw her mascara in, then snapped it. "Didn't you receive a direct hit from Troubles? You know, you got paralyzed and stuff," she shook her hands, mimicking a spell effect.

"I'm fine," Hunter responded. "He must've cast any weak spell, which makes me think, the akki knows about sorcery. I need someone to start investigating about that."

"I'll do it!" Gina volunteered.

"No," Hunter said. "Let Zach Mole do it. Billy Bear could be useful for that matter. I want you," it meant Gina, "to give a flight and try to look for suspicious places where that creature could hide."

"What do I do?" Paris asked.

"You ... you could watch over that one ..."

Hunter pointed its right foot to Tunky who was shivering below a chair. The teddy had resulted a shy one and with whoever that surprised it, it ended up curling its body and poke metal thorns out of the plush.

"I can't even understand what it tries to say and I don't want any teddysprout acting irrational at this moment that we just battled publicly."

Despite this, Gina was sure nobody had seen Hunter at that fight. There was too much smoke anyway.

---

"I'm ready. I just called Zach Mole, and he and Paris Healtown are too. We're just ..." Gina was standing at the threshold of her pink bedroom. She was talking to Hunter, letting it know the changers were all settled to go hunting again. However, the little Dalmatian seemed not ok.

The girl frowned and advanced in. Hunter was laying on the floor, beneath her bed, like a cadaver. Gina's memories took her back to when she found Hunter in the alley, swollen in rain water. She crouched down and stretched her arms to poke its body.

"Are you sleeping, dog?"

Hunter didn't reply.

"Did you switch yourself off not to work today?"

She egged on poking.

"If you're dead, I hope your plush doesn't stink my bedroom." No response, she kept on poking. "Hunter!"

"Huh? What?"

"Finally! Where were you?"

"I'm up, I'm up," but it was hard for the dog to pick up the pace and staggered while incorporating. Gina found this a little absurd.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine."

"I'm quitting today's hunting."

"Why? No, we are looking for rubins."

"If you're sick, you'll just make things worst. Anyway, none of the other teddy's can smell rubins so ..."

"Teddysprouts," it hinted, "can't get sick."

"Then you're tired."

"I'm not."

Gina frowned again but acted it out. She was really observant. They left.

The next day, Mr Mitchell was coming in and out of the store room they had down the stairs. The Belts use to keep things in there, things that don't work, that means Mr Mitchell's gimmicks. Gina was watching tv in the living room but wondered about her dad making noise with drilling and soldering and his untiring walk through the living room.

"Where's the dog?" He asked her before she started yelling at him. The man was shirtless and covered in grease.

"Dad, please, put some decency on. Imagine if Samantha drops by. The dog's sick."

"It's a plushie. How can it get sick?"

"I don't know and it swears it isn't but it walks and suddenly plops down, or spends the time sleeping unconsciously. What am I going to know?"

"Shouldn't you be worried?"

Gina was. She couldn't understand how teddysprouts worked and who to ask?

Some days passed along and Hunter's somnolence went further, almost not coming out of Gina's bedroom. The Belts almost didn't see it in the morning wrestling to eat with them at the table or sitting on the couch, dabbing its feet to control the remote and change the channels on tv. Gina kinda missed sprawling with him and dishing out. When she finally decided to consult with Billy Bear about Hunter's state, the dog had reappeared brilliantly.

"What's going on?" It said, trotting down the stairs. "What's for lunch?"

"Eh ..." Mr Mitchell hummed, he had a teaspoon in his mouth, "it's already night."

"Oh, really?"

Gina was sitting with his dad at the table.

"Are you free of viruses?" Gina asked. She was eating an onigiri.

"Yeah," Hunter followed. "I guess I threw up a fuzzball on your bed or something."

Gina's face changed to a demon's and started flaming plasma balls everywhere without any touching the laughing Hunter.

By the mirror in the bathroom, the black-haired was combing her less long hair. She was seeing herself and suddenly her vision blurred. Her mind started filling with memories of the last three months. Her unusual connection to Paris Healtown, the big billionaire, the teddysprouts' show, her more active life. By last, she started reviewing the battle in the Sport Garden. She was trying to capture every photogram like she hadn't been there inside but outside, like a cameraman. Gina's violet eyes jiggled, scanning her own neuronal information; she continued combing while reviewing the details about the sabotage in the tracks ...

What she was really interested in catching was if there was someone else witnessing the flying dog. It was a circus of smoke, thankfully, and assuming the police had come to take every visitor of the race – including the racers and organizers – outside, there was no witnesses. Sure the battle had been up there but Hunter was smaller than the rest and hey, did they see Troubles?

Gina wanted to cut her thread of thoughts but they didn't want to be cut. She managed to review the information she needed but her own brain made her think about Troubles himself. It was the first time for Gina to see such creature. The buff body made of white bone, the infernal glow in his sockets, the skull without skin ... the broken red horn.

'How did that happen?'

Then, she wondered what the motivation for this entity was. What is his background story? Why Minna Shiro? What was the symbol in his forehead?

Gina stopped combing. She sat up violently and went to her bedroom. She prepared herself to sleep. The girl took Hunter by its tail when she found it cuddling in her bed, she threw the teddy out the bedroom and closed the door with a slam.

Finally, a night of relaxation. She covered herself with the quilt and started breathing weightless.

"I have something to tell you."

Gina shook. She opened her eyes with so much violence that the strain hurt her eyelids. She sat on the bed and observed the wide room covered in dim darkness. She could swear she heard someone. When she grabbed the alarm clock, she could saw the time. It was 3:05 am. She had slept a lot.

Carefully, she laid again and closed her eyes.

"I have something to tell you."

She woke up again afraid. Gina usually didn't believe in ghosts or paranormal activity but it was hard for a sceptical to live in the country of yōkai. Past events also proved her wrong.

"Who's there?"

The bedroom was empty. Only the nightstand and the wardrobe in front of her bed, the drawing set to her left, the window uncovered.

"I swear I heard a whisper."

Gina couldn't sleep well that night.

Samantha was getting ready to beat the smartball from her side of the court. The teams were divided by the net in the middle, sort of a mutation for volleyball with an invisible 3d ball. The girl jumped high –the redhead was way too good at sports – and when Cindy Junson served, Samantha's slapped the ball, making it slam the side of the other team and winning.

Gina Belt was supposed to be hitting the ball back but when the gym teacher asked about her whereabouts, she was snoozing over the bleachers.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"She must be busy being the town hero," "Yeah, she can't deal school and crime fighting."

Samantha shut each of these comments up.

"If I hear a single one again," she threatened, "I'll beat your asses."

Everybody knew Samantha Wayne was not an easy target to deal with so, the class ended up with nervous giggling.

"What's wrong with you?" The redhead asked Gina in the recess.

"I haven't slept well these days," Gina yawned.

Indeed, every night since the week began, Gina has heard someone whispering in her bedroom. She has chosen to sleep momentarily in the guest room but the bed there was tremendously uncomfortable and when she goes back to her bedroom to get dressed, she feels herself observed.

Gina was having a hard time keeping things out of her best friend's reach. Even Samantha told her she was spending, ironically, more time with Paris Healtown and Zach Mole than with herself. The redhead wasn't jealous but curious of the relationship. However, Gina insisted on evading questions in a perspicacious way.

By the time Gina entered her house, the dog was happily sipping on some coffee from a cup on an armchair. The dog waited for Gina's plasma blast but she just dropped her backpack and tumbled on the couch like a log.

"I told you your bedroom is fine," Hunter said, sipping coffee and moistening its plush snout.

Gina mumbled. "My bedroom is haunted."

"Whose bedroom is haunted?" Mr Mitchell had come in, tingling the keyset. He had the pizza place uniform.

"There's a ghost in my bedroom," Gina said almost sleeping.

"And why suddenly a ghost shows up in your bedroom?" The man asked in his pitchy voice. "Did you two kill someone there recently? Don't be ridiculous, Gina, you must be stressed with all of these rubies and criminals."

"Rubins," Hunter corrected.

"That." The man left the keyset on the dining table and started ascending the staircase. "Remember when you used to say that Demi Lovato's ghost played a ghost piano here in the living room? You were like eight," Mr Mitchell laughed.

"She looked like her!" Gina yelled. "But I guess ... I was just seeing things."

"I already told you there's nothing there."

Gina had fallen asleep.

"You know what," her dad's voice sounded somewhere, "I'll sleep there tonight and prove you wrong. You heard that, Gina? Gina? Gina?"

"SHE FELT ASLEEP!" The dog responded.

By the night, Hunter was participating in the experiment. Gina didn't care at all, she took possession of her dad's bedroom and was already in the dream realm when the two of them – dog and man – organized everything to sleep.

Mr Mitchell was a youthful man of 40. He sported his body every time he had the chance, bragging about his model days back in Fukuoka. That hasn't brought to him more than a few dates and disillusionment but he didn't lose hopes on finding a good woman to share his life with.

"Well dog, we'll prove Gina wrong. This house doesn't have any ghosts. The only weird thing here is a talking dog."

"And your briefs," Hunter recriminated in its bossy tone. "Are you gonna sleep all naked?"

"I'm not naked, I have underwear on." Mr Mitchell closed Gina's window and then catwalked through the bedroom to switch the lights off.

"Well, I don't know what that covers, Mr Mitchell," the teddysprout scolded. "You're always nagging Gina for the way she dresses and you're just like her."

"First of all, I'm in my house and it's night, second, Gina shouldn't be in the street showing her bellybutton to no one." He switched the lights off. "Now stay or leave but I like to sleep fresh."

The man jumped in Gina's bed. "This bed is so stiff." That bedroom didn't have air conditioner like his but it wasn't too hot. Hunter jumped in the bed too. He turned around a few times and laid down, resting its head onto its feet.

Sure the teddy said it was once a human but some behavior was just copied from a dog.

"Good night, Mr Mitchell."

"Same, dog."

The night advanced and the whirring of the wind made some branches of the apple tree scratch the window. Mr Mitchell was snoring buy Hunter lifted its ears, waking up.

It glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 3:03 am.

"Come ... Come ... "

There was tiny whisper.

"What's that?" Hunter said.

"I have something to tell you."

Hunter didn't have a spine but it felt the chilling.

"Mr ... Mr Mitchell ..." It trembled.

"I have something to tell you."

There was a female voice in the room.

Hunter stood on its four. Mr Mitchell, in somnolence, sat up, drooling. "What?"

"I have something to tell you."

"Who's that?"

"Come ... Come ... "

The man opened his violet eyes in fear. He jumped out of the bed and so did Hunter. The whispers came from underneath the bed.

"I have something to tell you."

"Go look down!" The dog advised.

"Why don't you do it?" The man had the pitchiness over the top.

"You're the homeowner."

"You have powers."

"I'm not a Ghostbuster."

"A what?"

"Come ... Come ... I have something to tell you."

The man gulped. His hands were shivering. He got close to the bed and scooted the wood a bit then, he receded.

"Don't be a wuss, Mr Mitchell!"

"Shut up, dog!"

He came back and repeated the movement. As nothing was heard, the man slid the entire bed set around and observed what was beneath it.

There was a kind of pentacle drawn on the wooden floor and the head of an old woman poked from the center or the pentacle. "Come, I have something to tell you." She said.

Mr Mitchell almost fainted. The vision was blurry. He darted away with the teddy.

In the morning, Gina paced back and forth in the living room. Her dad was covered in a blanket half-asleep on the armchair – like a victim of a murder – and the dog was licking pn a donut. None of them left their house, Gina was supposed to have attended school and Mr Mitchell gone to his workplace but they were all traumatized of the events from last night that Gina urged for a solution rather than get her hands into anything else. Once the pair commented what had happened to her, the girl grabbed her gloves to fight the apparition.

But she wasn't.

Sure there was the symbols scribbled down on the staves and Hunter affirmed it was about a spell. Nonetheless, the teddysprout was just too calmed and Gina needed something to erase the possible reapparition of whatever her dad and teddy had seen last night. The black.haired girl had come too late to sprawl with the entity because once she was informed about the situation, the head that had been spotted just vanished.

"How come that thing just showed up? Hunter, I need answers."

"What am I gonna know?" It replied licking on the donut. "It's not my fault that your house is crammed with ghosts."

"This house is not crammed with ghosts!" Mr Mitchell said, he was angry.

"Dad's right. It all started after we came from the battle fro the race ..." Gina stopped her pace and slowly smiled. "It all started when you got hit by Troubles!"

"So, you say I got cursed?"

"We need a teddysprout that can get to know more about this. Do you think Billy Bear can help us?"

Hunter got up from the floor and grimaced. It felt a bit offended but it needed to confess its poor knowledge about curses and akkis powers. "What makes you think that teddsyprout knows more than I do? Do I need to remind you, lass, that I am ..."

"A supreme teddysprout," Gina mimicked, "yeah, but that supremacy didn't work for you last night when you shitted yourself after the demon."

"Don't make me throw you my powers!"

"It will be time to actually show some, don't you think?"

Mr Mitchell calmed them down.

"Whatever," Gina said. "I'm bringing all the help possible."

Three hours ago, Gina had brought Zach Mole, Paris Healtown and their teddys to her house. She showed them the pentacle and retold the story. She was eager to know from the teddysprouts how she could get rid of the mark and the demon. Paris had left Tunky, the new acquisition in the manor, she couldn't even touch it and the teddys spent its time curled up in thorns below the chairs, Zach had to fly home and picked his inside his jacket.

Billy Bear inspected the pentacle while Randall played around, then it called Tobby and Hunter and they made a circle of whispers. The three changers were curious but couldn't really decrypt what they were saying, even less with Tobby, who only was capable of saying its own name. When they stopped babbling, they unmade the circle and Billy Bear spoke.

"We know it seems to be a curse and the most probable thing is that Troubles has passed it on Hunter's body and then it fell down on the floor. Maybe he was just messing with us ..."

"Blah, blah, blah," Gina said. She showed her impatience in her body moves. "Tell me how to get rid of the curse. I don't wanna be sleeping in the guest room anymore."

"None of us know how to remove a curse, Ms Belt."

Gina's eyebrow started a tiny convulsive quake and her pacing came back. Her bedroom was a mess and not any or these magical entities could actually help her return to calm.

"I am sure something can be done," Billy Bear added.

"I haven't really ever tried to remove curses before," Hunter explained.

"Why would Troubles cast that on Hunter?" Zach asked. "To make everybody crazy?"

"Tobby, Tobby."

"Tobby meant Troubles was looking for ways to weaken Hunter," Billy Bear translated and then added by itself, "he knows Hunter represents a good opponent and an obstacle in his way to the rubins."

"You better have this be worth it, Gina Belt. My sister wouldn't like me to skip classes like you do."

"I know who knows about curses!" Randall said.

"Oh no, the creepy teddy again?" Paris complained. "Sorry, Zach, your tiny bear is ultimate cute and stuff but it always comes out with the creepiest stuff to say. You know what, I'm leaving. Tobby."

"Who, Randall?" Zach asked. He didn't care about the blonde leaving.

"Your sister, she reads and makes spells all the time. Billy Bear and I hear her from your bedroom."

"I knew she was a witch!" Zach exclaimed.

"Normally, I wouldn't invite her in but," Gina grabbed Zach's arms, "can she help me? I'll pay her."

"I can't assure you she will come ..." Now that Zach had Gina so close, she couldn't look her on the eye.

Paris grabbed Tobby and put it in her infinite handbag. Tobby would be lost until she fishes it out again. She left the bedroom and while descending the stairs, she ran into Mr Mitchell but none said a thing. When the man entered the bedroom, of course he was dressed now, he heard Gina and Zach talking about Alexandra.

"You're talking about Alexandra Mole?"

"You know her?"

"She and I work together, don't you remember, Gina? I didn't know she was related to you, you know, she doesn't look like ... you. I don't wanna be rude."

Zach didn't like the comment that Mr Mitchell implied but to appease the water, Zach agreed on going to talk to his sister with the idea of taking her to the Belts' to talk to Mr Mitchell. The man said he had done a lot of favors for her recently and surely that'll bait her easily.

Half an hour ago, the crime scene was still populated by Gina trying to figure the symbols out and Randall being nagged by Billy Bear. Mr Mitchell called Gina from downstairs but she didn't get down, instead, he had to go up showing Alexandra and Zach. The two teddysprouts inside the bedroom faked fainting and kept quiet, Hunter acted like a regular dog.

"You could've said someone was going to enter, dad," Gina hinted. As Alexandra made her way to the part where the pentacle was painted, the girl and Zach tried to hide the teddy bears from sight.

Alexandra looked as enigmatic as the environment. She had been dragged to an allegedly cursed place and well, they lived in Japan. Those stories never ended.

The girl crouched down and ran her fingers throughout the lines of the symbols.

Then, she rose up. Mr Mitchell sighed while Gina shoved the teddy's inside Zach's bomber jacket.

"So ... how do you guys know I could be helpful with curses?"

Alexandra's expressions were grim like she herself was cursed.

"..."

"Whatever, my little brother probably told you I'm a witch or something."

"But," Mr Mitchell started, "can you help us? We couldn't sleep a thing!"

"You're as cursed as a graveyard," Alexandra explained, "someone left this well planned. This is made for summoning."

"What do we need to do?" Gina asked.

"First, we need to wait for the apparition to return ... There's no work if I can't see it."

"That means you'll have to stay here at night," Zach feared. He didn't want his mom to get angry.

"Just don't tell mom you know where I am," the redhead said once she noticed Zach's face. "I'll help you Mr Belt, just because I'd like to."

Zach left for home. Alexandra picked a corner of the bedroom and snoozed a bit there waiting for the late night. Gina and her dad were vigiling as the expectation grew higher. Gina was anxious downstairs but Hunter wasn't around. She was dishing out about it when a portal opened in the kitchen room and the dog showed up.

"Where do you go all the time?" Mr Mitchell asked. He witnessed how part of Hunter's body was invisible and then fully seen.

"Has the girl already started doing her witchcraft?"

"Are you against her methods?" Gina complained. "Because she's being more useful than yourself."

"I was made this by a witch, I remind you."

Gina was about to reply but ...

"I have something to tell you!"

Gina's hairs stood on end. Mr Mitchell ran to his bedroom screaming. Hunter poohed.

"I have to see it!" The black-haired girl dashed the stairs and saw the old woman's head on the stave floor. It was an appalling view, she was terrified as she was in few occasions.

"What's that?"

The demon head turned around when saw Gina and talked to her.

"I have something to tell you!"

Alexandra fished a book out her coat and chanted some awful ancient words and the whole bedroom illuminated in green. Some whirlwind was created while the girl spoke.

"I have something to tell you!" The whispers had become an aggressive voice.

"You're leaving now, specter," Alexandra commented. Her long red hair flipped with the wind that seemed to come from the book she had brought. Gina was astonished, she couldn't move from the threshold, Hunter was behind her.

"I have something to tell you! The war ..."

"I command you to return from where you came!"

"Th .. wr ..now .." the head twisted and screamed.

'How awful!' Gina thought. She was not prepared for that.

"Be gone!" Alexandra said. "Now!"

"I'll come back to you!" The demon head screamed at Gina and then vomited something directly at Gina's closet before Alexandra could finally made it disappear.

When the whirlwind and the green lights ceased, Alexandra collapsed and the lines on the floor erased themselves. Gina ran to help her.

She was holding her and soon Mr Mitchell had entered due to the screaming. She made Alexandra prop on him and he carried her downstairs.

Gina ran to peek at the closet interior but saw nothing interesting then it dawned on her.

"She had something to tell me!"