The Scariest Summer Quest

**The Scariest Summer Quest** (絶叫！！最恐！？サマークエスト *Zekkyou!! Saikyou!! Samakuesto*) is the ninth major event of Gate of Nightmares. It introduced new swimsuit outfits for Emma and Meruru.

## Story Summary

### First Half

#### Part 1

Since it's summer, Marro and Segerpop invited Emma and Meruru to the popular Ario Island. However, Marro is not here to relax and play on the beach. Instead, she wants help with a certain quest. Emma and Meruru are a bit diappointed as they already put on their swimsuits, but Marro remarks that they still have time for the beach once the quest is solved.

Emma is eager to go to the beach, so she asks what the quest is about. Marro draws their attention to the beach and Meruru notices that they are the only ones here, even though Ario Island is known as a popular tourist attraction. Marro nods and says that the same is happening in the city. Apprently, Ario Island is haunted since around one month ago. The inhabitants hear sudden laughter and footsteps, then the lights go out, and people are pushed and injured out of nowhere. They evacuated the island out of fear and asked Marro for help. She agreed as she thought that such an investigation could be fun.

Emma and Segerpop turn pale as they are afraid of ghosts. However, Marro explains that there is no way back. The Marianne is only coming back tomorrow. Marro wants to begin the investigation, but starts by playing a small prank on Seger and Emma by commenting a 'ghost hand' on their shoulders. Both of them shriek and collapse, while Meruru sighs because it might be a while until they can play on the beach.

#### Part 5

The group arrives in Ario Island's city and Emma instantly shrieks. She nervously says that she heard a voice. Seger turns pale as well, as he thinks that something touched him. Marro responds by shouting how annoying they are. She explains that Emma heard Marro talking to herself, and that she accidentall bumped into Seger. Since the two can't handle this situation, she wants to investigate with Meruru alone. Meruru is hesitant at first, but follows Marro. Meanwhile, Emma and Seger use this opportunity to take a small break. However, just as they calmed down, they suddenly hear an unknown voice...

Meruru and Marro walked around the whole island but didn't find anything unusual. Since it's getting dark, they want to reunite with Emma and Seger. But before they leave, Marro decides to tell Meruru the truth. She doesn't believe in the supernatural and assumes that there has to be an explanation for the weird events. That's why she brought Emma and Seger along; to let them conquer their fear of ghosts by realizing that they don't exist and that there is always an explanation. Meruru agrees to remain silent about this.

On their way back, Meruru notices something on the beach, so she goes over to investigate. It's a note that say "Get off the island, or else...". She wants to show it to Marro, but she seems to have disappeared...

#### Part 8

Meruru decides to go back to the city, so that the others can help her look for Marro. But just as she wants to go, Emma and Seger appear on the beach. Emma tells her, that they have already been looking for her. Meruru notices that a young girl is following Emma and Seger, so Emma introduces her as Jill. She missed her home on the island so much that she came back all alone. However, once she arrived the ghosts haunted her too, so she was too scared to move. She says that Emma and Seger saved her life.

Emma and Seger then comment, that they have experienced the haunting themselves. As they were escorting Jill through the city, they heard laughter & footsteps and the light went out, just as Marro described. This reminds Meruru to tell them that Marro has mysteriously disappeared. Suddenly, the group hears laughter from a rock formation nearby. Meruru wonders if that's where Marro is, so she goes over to investigate. Emma and Seger follow her, but tell Jill to stay behind as it could be dangerous.

Behind the rock formation, they find an entrance to a small cave. They sneak in and see a group of mermaid Nightmares deep in the cave. One of the mermaids giggles and hopes that the note she left behind scared away the visitors. Another mermaid laughs as she plays around with a hat she stole. She comments that they finally have the island all for themselves. Seger recognizes the hat as Marro's, so they reveal themselves to fight the mermaids and save Marro.

#### Part 9

After Emma and the others beat them in a fight, the mermaids flee without telling them where Marro is. Seger goes deeper into the cave to find her. Meanwhile, Emma realizes that they were just Nightmares who wanted the island for themselves, and nothing supernatural.

However, Meruru doesn't listen and is lost in thoughts, so Emma asks her what's up. Meruru comments that Emma said she heard footsteps, but the mermaids didn't even have legs. Right then, they hear a loud scream from Seger, so they follow him to find out what happened.

### Second Half

#### Part 10

Meruru & Emma return to Jill and explain that Segerpop has gone missing too. Emma concludes that **two** weird things must've been happening on the island. First of all the mermaids who wanted the island for themselves, and secondly something yet unknown.

Jill then remembers a story she was told. An infamous thief that caused trouble in the town was eventually chased away by the villagers. Eventually they were found dead and the mountains, and strange things have been happening ever since. She wonders if the spirit of this thief holds a grudge against the island and therefore haunts it.

Jill wants to got to the mountains to reason with the ghost, but Meruru notices that Jill is afraid to do so. Meruru therefore wants to do it herself and drags Emma along.

### Part 14

Meruru & Emma arrive in the mountains. Emma is shivering but blames it on the cold, but Meruru notices that she is afraid. Meruru asks if she wants to hold hands. Emma is relieved and gladly accepts her offer. To save Marro and the villagers they want to push forward, but suddenly they hear a ghostly voice.

Deeper in the forest, Luka and Ronja are arguing. Luka asks why she can't play with Marro and Seger after all the trouble of dragging them here. Ronja is annoyed and explains that nobody should know that they're here until the ceremony is over. She is angry that Luka kidnapped Marro & Seger despite that, and explains that they have to keep them for now until the end of the ceremony to stop them from telling anyone.

Meruru & Emma appear. The latter overheard the conversation and wants an explanation. With an annoyed sigh, Ronja explains what's going on. Ario Island is the home of a god the Nog Tribe worships, the God of the Night. The Nog Tribe is here to hold a ceremony for that god. It's a secret ceremony that lasts for exactly one month. The ceremony would've only continued for two more days, so Ronja is annoyed that so many people are puring in now.

Luka, on the other hand, invites them to party along. According to hear, the festival involves a lot of running at night. Emma concludes that those must've been the footsteps the villagers heard. She pieces together what really happened. All of the strange occurences were happening because of the Nog Tribe's ceremony and the mermaids merely took advantage of this to carry out *their* scheme.

Ronja apologizes but also draws her weapon, just like the other tribesmen. Now that the ceremony has failed and everyone knows about it, they want to show the god a grand fight at least to please him. The Nog Tribe gets ready to fight, leaving Emma & Meruru with no other choice but to do the same.

### Part 18

It's the morning of the next day, and Emma, Meruru, Marro & Segerpop are relaxing on the beach and reflecting on what happened yesterday. Seger is happy that they at least apologized but still thinks that the ceremony was disturbing. Meruru is just glad that the quest is over and that everyone is safe.

Jill appears to thank them too. Now that the truth is known, she hopes that the island will come back to life. Meruru invites her to play on the beach, but Jill says that she has to go. She leaves one last message, saying that she doesn't actually hold a grudge against the island, before vanishing into thin air.

At the same time, the mayor of the island appears after hearing the news and thanks them for their efforts. He is surprised but relieved that the little thief 'Jill' didn't actually haunt the place. He wants to put some flowers on her grave as an apology and leaves.

The group is silent for a moment and doesn't know what to say. They question Jill's motive, but now that the island is safe they can finally have a well-earned relaxing day on the beach. Emma is still nervous now that she knows that ghosts are real and asks Meruru if she can hold her hand again.

## Other Notes

* The Event Currency was 'Scariest Summer Coins'
* Since the next event is beach-themed as well, both Emma's and Meruru's banner were available until September 1, 2022