Maybe it had been a bad idea to visit the Halloween district at night, Joe thought to himself as he took in the eerie shadows of the abandoned church he was working on. The path and the courtyard were well designed, but the interior had to be furnished, and a little extra decor would be nice.

While his project was certainly spine-chilling in its own right, that wasn't what was making him so nervous. The brightly colored, and quite frankly, slightly garish statue of a phantom from last year looked quite different when you looked at it through shadows cast by the trees in the swamp.

Almost menacing, in fact. Almost alive.

Of course, such an idea was ridiculous. It was a statue to advertise the Phantom Hunt from last year, nothing more than that! Certainly not an actual, sapient, giant phantom. That would be impossible.

Surely, it was just an illusion, an apparition. A phantom of a phantom, Joe realized, laughing at the thought. Definitely not the strangest thought the eccentric poet had ever had, but it amused him tonight nonetheless.

He continued working on the exterior, trying to give the build a feeling of being overgrown, but not entirely claimed back by nature. It was a delicate balance, but one he would have to find. Fueling himself with coffee to keep himself awake, he worked tirelessly. If the build didn't look good at night, when people would most likely come and visit, well, that was just something he couldn't allow.

He heard the screeching, from a distance at first. And swooping down from the statue, three winged terrors came for him. Great. Of all the times he didn't have a sword on him.

Well, okay then. He was a member of Team Chaotic Neutral and a close ally of the Convex. Time to cause a little confusion.

"Can you not? I'm working really hard right now, and I don't want to be interrupted." The poet said, sounding annoyed. The first phantom barreled into the wall next to him, seeming surprised at the Tennesseeans reaction.

The second phantom circled above, watching its brethren as the first came up to meet it. There were more confused phantom screeches, and the second one swooped down to attack. But Joe ducked down to go through a shulker box full of terraforming materials at the same time.

"No, I think we 've got enough vines for now... maybe some shrubbery?" He thought aloud. Joe looked at the third phantom. "What are your thoughts?"

The phantom, not speaking English, took this as a challenge and flew towards him, screeching loudly as it did so. Joe stepped away so that it could have a closer look. Although he couldn't see how the phantom was noticing enough while its head was stuck in a bush. Joe was kind enough to release the little guy with what he did have on him.

That just so happened to be a flint and steel.

Needless to say, this terrified all of the phantoms. They kept screeching, but this time, they sounded more scared than bloodthirsty. The three overgrown bats flapped away, the fire on one of their wings slowly dying.

Joe blinked, and decided that maybe it was about time he got some rest. The coffee was wearing out now, leaving him feeling drained. He headed down to the unfinished basement of the abandoned church and stayed there until the sun came up, not actually getting any sleep due to the caffeine still flowing through him.

The next night, there weren't any phantoms in the area. And the statue in the Halloween district no longer seemed alive.

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So this is pretty bad. But my mind was like, phantom statue, fire, and a similar Joe to the one in the cursed episode, and this is what came out of it. Don't underestimate him. He's chaotic neutral for a reason.

Hope you enjoyed.

Sea you later!

-Aqua