Lights Out

Amelie snaps out of her job-searching trance to respond to Percy's suggestion. "Making a snack? Sounds messy! Please let me know if you do so, Percy. I will clear my schedule to clean up afterwards."

Then the wall shifts and some of the cans drop onto the floor. Luckily they are merely dented. None the less, Amelie has found a job to do and gets to work picking them up, not even noticing the generator in the other room.

While Amelie knocks cans onto the ground with a crash, and Parish apologizes to the others, and Percy laughs off his own needs, Viv quietly examines the fuse box and determines wether any fuses are blown and fixes what she can, making sure that they have, or know, what they need to get that generator running.

Whoopsie! When the thunder crashes, Viv startles and instinctively cowers behind her hair!

"Fear not, dear Viv! It is only an atmospheric disturbance!" Parish declares. "Or maybe it is giants bowling in the sky! Ha, can you imagine that? Giants in the sky! Big, tall, terrible giants in the sky!"

The frog gets a wistful look in his eye and begins to wax poetic. "When you're way up high/And you look below/At the world you've left/And the things you know/Little more than a glance/Is enough to show/You just how small you are..." Clearly, he's been watching too many musical on TV. He barely registers those around him as he hops forward in to the next room.After wandering through a series of dark and dusty rooms, Parish shines his flashlight on the generator! It is tucked into a crumbling crawlspace...

"There it is, friends! Who among us will be brave enough to go in there to get it started?"

Amelie follows the group after they're done picking up the different cans. "Oh that's what a generator looks like!" they say when Parish announces that it's been found. However the way to it seems small.

No problem for Amelie, though. They press a button on their body and their arms and legs shorten to create a mini version of Amelie. "Leave it to me!" they say as they head down into the crawlspace.

Unfortunately, it appears that mini Amelie is not quite mini enough. After wheeling forward a few meters they hit their head on the ceiling and a grinding noise signals that the fit is too tight. "Oh my. I believe I have wedged myself between the floor and ceiling." They have inadvertently become a support beam for the crawlspace.

As the jar hits the floor, a few of the tiny glass shards hit Amelie's joints and cause a few sparks to spring forth from their circuitry. *zoinks - zoinks - zoinks* The sound of electrical discharge fills the air as it messes with their speech protocols. "A g-g-g-g-ghost!"

Percy blinks at the ghost circling around him, not entirely sure what would be a polite reaction to being haunted. "Hello? How may I help you?" He tries to offer the spirit a handshake, to little results as the phantom seems more interested in dramatically flying about and utilizing the ambiance of a thunderstorm to its full potential. "You have a very fashionable sheet. Are you also the part of these... Erm... Vampire musicians? Or dancing skeletons? This is a very artistically inclined basement!"

He is then distracted by sparks of light emitting from Amelie, jumping to assist the robot. Or try to, as there is no chance he can fit into the crawlspace. "Amelie, are you alright? Do you need help?" The elemental bends over to offer them a hand in case the maid needs any assistance getting up since they seem to be having technical issues. He also examines the fuel tank; it smells edible, although probably not to his companions.

"The r-r-r-records don't show that they are part of the Crypt-Kicker Five." Amelie responds to Percy's question. "I'm sorry ab-b-b-bout smashing your jar." They call out to the ghost. While they are there, they might as well clean up the glass shards, so they get to work.

"Uhm... I'm f-f-f-fine." Once again, they run a diagnostics program to see if anything vital has been damages by the glass. Nothing that can't be fixed once they get back to their room. "However, it seems that I'm st-t-t-t-tuck." They tell Percy as they reach out one arm. "If someone would p-p-p-pull my arm."

"OoWooOOwoo! the ghost moans again, circling around Percy and Amelie and generally being a pest.

Parish squares his shoulders as he marches up to the ghost. He raises his broom and pokes at it. "Hey! Go on, now! Get! Remove yourself from this place! Find somebody else to haunt!"

The ghost contemplates the courageous frog for a few moments, then shrugs. "ooWoo," it groans before phasing through the wall and vanishing from sight.

"There, now. One less poltergeist to worry us. We've found the generator, but we still need to find the fuel. It can't be much further, now! Come, friends, let us press on!"

Yazeba sighs, not for the first time this morning. It'd been her philosophy for last few decades that a person only had so many sighs allotted to them in their life, and that a sigh should be reserved for an important situation and a strong look would suffice. Right now, though, she couldn't help it and so her quota lost yet another among it's number.

"You all stay here, I know where the fuel is." She sets off, long strides with her tall frame. "Who knows how lost you'll get if I let you go."

"Huzzah! Well done, Yazeba!" Parish cheers. He eagerly fills the generator's fuel tank and pulls the ripcord. It begins to chug and churn, and the electric lights hanging above flicker on. A distant cheer comes from the Bed & Breakfast above as the power is restored.

"Our quest is complete. Come friends. Let us ascend triumphant from this Underworld!"

---

Soon enough, the party returns to the safety, warmth, and comfort of the B&B, a cozy shelter from the storm outside. Parish accepts the accolades of the other guests and residents, happily passing around mugs of hot cocoa or warm tea to everybody. He settles into an oversized armchair with a sigh as he smiles at Amelie, Percy, Viv, and Yazeba. "Now that was an adventure. I couldn't have asked for a better group of brave individuals to share it with. Cheers, my friends!"

---

And that is the story of the night the lights went out at Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast!

"Hu-r-r-r-r-ray!" Amelie says, still stuck in the crawl space. "N-n-n-now I can finally get back to my duties." They are soon helped from their precarious situation by the other residents.

---

Once back in their room, they manage to repair the speech issue and head back to the kitchen to start their cleaning routine. After all, Percy had made the remark of wanting to do some cooking.

Amelie enjoys the rest of the day in a positive solid state.

**The camera on this scene zooms out and moves to show a glimpse of Amelie's room, where the album of the Crypt-Kicker Five is hanging on the wall with Parish's signature clearly visible.**
Don't stop believin'!