Chapter 7: Two-Way Shriek

Out in one of the residential streets of Pure Heart Valley, Mao Mao helped himself to a cobbler-flavored candy obtained (legally) from the doorstep of a Sweetypie's house. Surprisingly enough, he observed Momo and her two friends legitimately go up to those same houses they visited before to receive a second helping of candy.

Part of him couldn't fathom how kids could get candy from houses they've been to more than once. As far as he felt and understood, it just wasn't proper. But if Momo was enjoying it, then Mao Mao could be sure it wasn't all bad. He admittedly would have stopped this behavior had it been some other Sweetypie, but ever since he befriended Momo, he learned to take these people's quirks more in stride, even if he had yet to understand them more fully.

But now wasn't the time to get cozy with Momo right now. There was a prankster on the loose who just committed the crime of vandalism by toilet paper and he had to find out who. While he was searching because he needed evidence and anyone who might have done was still innocent until proven guilty, he had a good feeling it had to be Pinky…or Slim Pigguns…or both…or maybe someone else entirely. Either way, he had to investigate, since he was the sheriff and all.

He couldn't help but stay close to Momo as he allowed her to lead him through the neighborhood, getting a second helping of candy from each resident while giving the sheriff a turn to do the same, even giving him some from her basket as she technically got extra. He was indulging her in allowing her to be his guide for the whole festival experience, but at the same time, he was just being his own protective self. After all, even when remembering her fighting off legions of ghosts with a magic wand, she was still a little girl. It wouldn't be in good character to just leave her unattended – he was a gentleman, not just a hero.

He cleared his thoughts once he noticed Momo and her friends stop at the doorstep of the most recently visited house. "So, who will be giving us candy here?" he asked Momo.

"You'll see," Momo answered him with a wink and grin. Everyone waited for the door to open after the doorbell had been rung. Upon witnessing the door open, Mao Mao was surprised to find Ol' Blue, the blue-furred dog-Sweetypie, being the resident.

"Hello," Blue greeted in his usual tired and somber tone, "back for more treats?"

"Yeah, we are," Momo nodded. "But this time, we brought the sheriff along for a treat too!"

Blue looked past Momo in Mao Mao's direction, seeing the bigger black cat behind her trying his best to take the interaction as modestly as he was willing. "Oh, hello Mao Mao. Finally having fun?"

Hearing him ask something so inherently endearing if not affectionate made Mao Mao flinch. "O-of course not!" he turned his head away with a harsh huff, trying and failing to mask a blush on his cheeks while he had his arms crossed over each other. "I'm here to provide supervision for Momo and her friends here while they're out enjoying the celebration." Momo appeared to give the sheriff a funny look, as though there was something discrepant in his statement.

"Is that so?" Blue gently asked further. "These kids looked rather safe without you the first time they came to my house."

"Yeah, well things change!" Mao Mao hastily tried to backtrack. He figured he'd rather not beat around the bush any longer. "I'm here on an investigation into an incident of mass toilet paper vandalism. I just need to ask a few questions."

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Back in the ramshackle house behind the school, a badger and bat were frenetically going from corner to corner of the attic, trying to catch an outed ghost.

"Gotta aim this thing," Badgerclops panicked to himself as he tried to simultaneously adjust his robot arm to ghost catcher-mode while keeping the flying ghost in his line of fire.

Adorabat did her best to keep the ghost from leaving the house for the outside by flying into its path and screaming at it with her powerful voice, continually scaring it back inside like a wolf to sheep. She kept it up long enough for Badgerclops to finally load his ghost-catching gadget and shoot it at the ghost, encasing it in the familiar spherical orb of glowing light-blue energy that acted as an ectoplasmic net. No longer able to move, the captured spirit fell to the wooden floor.

"Score!" Badgerclops boasted confidently, deactivating his mechanical arm. "Mao's gonna owe me handsomely for this one!" He took a step closer to the ensnared ghost, which shivered and tried to cower away from the larger badger.

Adorabat appeared to notice the odd behavior of the ghost she and Badgerclops caught. "Look at how scared of us that ghost is," she giddily informed Badgerclops. "Maybe it remembers how we kicked its friends' butts back at the school!"

Badgerclops nodded in equal satisfaction and agreement. "Now what to do with you?" he missed out loud, intended for the ghost to hear. Indeed, the ghost heard what he said and trembled some more inside its trap. He took a few seconds to try and think of a few possible ways he could use the taste trapped ghost in his hands.

Apart from the ghost being the most likely culprit of the toilet paper incident that Mao Mao was investigating, it was also the first ghost they've seen since the day the rest were neutralized – that alone made that a rarity at that moment. Neither Badgerclops or Adorabat didn't feel particularly willing to hand it over to Camille and Honey this time, and he was already putting his inner creative genius to work in coming up with ways he could use the ghost to prank Mao Mao as payback for making him miss out on the better parts of Harvest Moon, though he still had time before the pie-cutting at Town Square.

Badgerclops reached over to pick up the trapped ghost, and saw it trembled more intensely the moment he touched it. For a moment, it made him start thinking. When he caught ghosts back at the school, both the ones in the building and the boss ghost on the rooftop, they were all aggressive and fierce-looking, having angry eyes and sharp teeth expressing an intent to hurt and scare. But this particular ghost looked more frightened than frightening, plus its eyes were soft and had no sharp teeth. This ghost, in comparison to the others from months past, looked harmless.

"Hey Badgerclops!" Adorabat called out. Badgerclops turned to look where Adorabat was, seeing her standing on a tall stack of boxes next to a dusty old painting. Both the bat and badger could see right away that it showed the image of scary ghosts terrorizing Sweetypies, but what grabbed their attention the most was the small crayon drawing of a ghost playing with a couple children attached to the painting's canvas. Now that was the biggest clue.

Surprisingly, Adorabat was the first one to get the hint. She flapped her wings and hovered next to the frightened ghost. "Did you draw that?" she asked the spirit about the crayon picture, since she also liked to draw with crayon on her free time. The ghost nodded slowly. Adorabat went back and took the drawing off the painting, showing it to the ghost. "You don't like scaring people?" she asked again. The ghost shook its head.

Adorabat turned to Badgerclops. "Maybe we should let this ghost go," she recommended.

"Go?" Badgerclops scoffed. "Adorabat, there are a hundred different uses for a ghost this rare. And I still wanna see how Mao –"

He was cut short by the sight of Adorabat looking at him with a sullen expression in her eyes, looking almost glassy. She was also accompanied by the ghost inside the energy net looking at him as well, its eyes widened and almost teary, as though it was begging the badger to be spared.

Badgerclops couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Oh no," he said slowly and resistantly, "No, I'm not doing this." The pitiful begging looks continued, getting more intense and concentrated, but Badgerclops continued to resist. "No. Nuh-uh. No! No…"