CHAPTER 51

"Nothing in there?!" I yelled out.

"I'm afraid not, it's just another bedroom," Cecilia answered.

We split into groups to fasten the search. The mansion didn't really have a lot of depth to it, but it was very large, horizontally speaking. That meant that it would be better to split the group into two and reconvene in the foyer every time we were done searching. If a group found the ghost, we were supposed to not engage and run to get the others as fast as possible. It wasn't the best plan, but we needed to cover as much ground as possible.

"I think that's every room on this side," Denzel sighed. "Let's head back."

"What number does that make? Is that our fourth or our fifth?" I asked as we walked through the mansion's huge hallway.

"Fifth," Cece said. "How mind-numbingly boring."

I looked down at Elekid worryingly. I hadn't gotten mad at him, of course. It was my fault for not stopping him and opening that door, but I couldn't help but wonder. Why? Why had he freaked out like that? What was the common denominator between the power plant at Valley Windworks and this busted mansion? No matter how much I racked my brain over it, I just couldn't figure it out. Cece, Denzel, and I walked down the giant staircase into the foyer and saw that Justin, Pauline, Louis, and Emilia were already waiting for us. Emi wasn't a part of the search because of her wounded leg, so she just stayed in the lobby waiting for us every time we moved on to another mansion. She had protested, mostly because being alone terrified her, but she knew it was for the good of the group, and at least it didn't look like Mismagius had brought any wild Pokemon into this made-up world.

"Nothing?" Louis asked with a grimace.

"Nope," Denzel said. "Let's move on?"

I sighed. "Yeah, let's."

I bit my tongue. Were we just wasting time here? For all we knew, maybe Mismagius would simply leave us here forever. The good news was that Cecilia's theory appeared to be correct. We weren't getting tired, or hungry after hours of searching, so it appeared we could theoretically stay here forever. Unfortunately, we didn't know what that entailed for our real-world selves. Had we passed out in that dining room, or were we whisked away to Mismagius' world? So many questions with so few answers. I brought it up to the group since I felt like it was an important discussion to have before we split up again.

"I mean, I definitely think we were transported somewhere," Denzel said. "Our Pokeballs still work, right? And so do our Pokedexes, save for Justin's."

"If this was a dream of some sort, there was no way for Mismagius to know what the rest of our teams looked like, and yet they are still intact," Pauline added.

I nodded. That made sense, and I should have figured it out on my own, but right now, I just wasn't myself. The issue with Elekid, and the guilt over dragging everyone into this mess was eating me up inside.

"Alright, we take the right, you guys take the left again," Denzel said.

Think, Grace, think! I internally screamed. Elekid had dragged me to the Power Plant, but when he did, team Galactic hadn't been in the building yet. At first I thought he just wanted to steal some of their electricity, but then he told me that he knew something bad was there. Something bad…

"Elekid," I said, my eyes widening. "You also knew something bad was in the dining room before we went inside?" I asked him.

Denzel and Cece looked at me confusedly, but I raised my hand at them before they said anything.

"Kid…" He said timidly.

"I'm not mad, honey, but I need to know."

The electric type nodded.

"Alright. Does it have something to do with ghosts? Like, actual ghosts, not Pokemon like Frillish."

Elekid nodded again, more confidently this time. I exhaled in relief, jubilant I had finally figured it out. He must have… felt, or sensed the Dusknoir in the power plant at first, and then the Mismagius. But that still didn't answer the how. People often said that when ghosts were near, they sometimes felt wrong, like Pauline had before Mismagius attacked us, but Elekid's ability was something else.

"So if I understand this correctly, Elekid can find ghost types?" Cecilia asked.

"Ghosts, not ghost types. There's a difference," I said. I stared into Elekid's eyes. "Could you help us find the Mismagius again? You could tell Dusknoir was in the plant from pretty far back in Floaroma."

"Wait, it knew that Dusknoir was in the plant?!" Denzel asked incredulously.

I ignored him and kept looking into Elekid's eyes. He shook his head and sagged his arms. I frowned, trying to figure out what the issue was. Thinking back, he had only started feeling Mismagius when we started getting near the dining room door, which was a far cry from the range he had shown at Floaroma.

Cece caught on to what I was thinking. "Perhaps it has something to do with the ghost's power," She theorized. "That Mismagius may be capable of powerful illusions, but when we attacked it all at once, we did real damage. It's defeatable."

I hit my palm with a fist. "That's it!" I exclaimed. "But it still doesn't help us track the Arceus damned thing down that much. We still have to search."

"But at least we won't have to search the rooms anymore," Cece smiled.

"That's certainly an improvement. Some of these are way too big," Denzel said.

"Can you do that for me, Elekid? Try to feel the ghost through doors like you did last time?"

The electric type yelled out, finally regaining his usual energetic behavior. It wasn't much, but it was something.

——

Eight hours. Eight dull, mind-numbing hours had passed, and there was still no progress. We searched through twenty-two mansions, by our count. Our speed was greatly improved. Thanks to Elekid's help, by the time we were done searching our side of the mansion, the others still weren't even halfway done with their side, and we would always go and help out. Unfortunately, there was still no sign of Mismagius. We were starting to lose hope.

"What if it's in one of the ones toward the bottom? Or the top?" Pauline lamented. "How do we even get down there?"

We were currently taking a small break just to refresh our ideas and brainstorm another tactic, because this clearly still wasn't working.

"I could have Beldum drop you guys down with Confusion. Or bring you up," Pauline said in her usual quiet voice. "He can levitate with you, so you'll never be out of range."

Louis slouched into the defunct couch he sat on. "We can do that after we clear all the mansions on this floor, I suppose."

"This is going to take weeks," I sighed, looking toward the 'exit'. After a few seconds, I blinked and averted my eyes. Staring at what looked to be infinity gave me a headache. However, something on the ground caught my eye. I gasped when I saw a specific piece of wood we had placed hours ago to avoid falling to our deaths.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Guys," I started. "Isn't that what we put to plug that hole Beldum made?" I said, pointing at the piece of wood.

Cece stared at it intently. "That… that is!"

Denzel rushed toward the wooden plank, removed it, and smiled. "Holy shit, I can't believe our luck. If you hadn't seen that, we would have kept going and searched the same thing over and over again. Wait, have we been going in loops this entire time and not noticing?"

"That's a possibility," Justin said, resting his head in the palm of his hand. "How about we test it out? I'll run through the mansions and count how many I go through before returning here again."

"Alright," I said. "But if you count above twenty-two, turn back. It could be some ghost fuckery again."

The teen nodded, got up, and ran toward the exit. We watched intently until eventually blurred and disappeared.

"That was five mansions," He said, panting.

We jumped, hearing his voice behind us.

"Arceus, can't you run a little less silently?" Denzel complained.

"Five?!" Pauline yelled. "We already looped for no reason, then!"

"If there are five mansions, then we should be able to see… ourselves by looking toward the exits, no?" I asked.

"Mismagius might be using its powers to trick us," Cece said.

"What's done is done," Louis said. "Is it safe to assume that there's five in all directions then? Up and down? Toward the sides as well?"

"It's not safe to assume anything," Cece shook her head, grabbing a Pokeball. "I'll send Fletchling." She released the flying type, who landed on her shoulder. "Darling, please fly up through the ceiling and keep going. If there are more than five instances of this mansion, come back down right away."

The bird chirped and blurred upward impressively fast, and vanished as it created a hole through the upper floor. After around two minutes, she flew through our floor with Quick Attack, landing on her owner's shoulder and singing in her ear happily.

"Five upward, then it must be five downward as well," She said. "Fletchling, please go check the sides too."

The fire type nodded and flew up the stairs toward one of two hallways. It took longer this time, but she looped back, and Cece recalled her.

"Five times five times five is…" I started, trying to do the math in my head. "Any of you guys got the calculator app on your Poketch?"

"It's one hundred and twenty-five," Emilia said. "That's such an easy calculation."

I shrunk down in embarrassment. "I've never been much of a math girl."

"But that means that there are one hundred and twenty-five mansions in total," Justin said. "We've already looked through all of them on this row."

"Then we keep going," Cece declared in a determined tone. "First, we check the rest of them on this floor, and then we'll do the same on other floors."

——

Being lifted by Confusion felt funny. That was the only world I could describe it with. I felt a thousand different palpitations on my skin as Beldum hovered in front of me with its shining eye. My body was completely stiff, and I couldn't move whatsoever. I was at the steel type's complete mercy, and that was certainly a sobering feeling. A few inches above the floor, it finally let me go, and I messed up the landing, falling to the side and onto my back. I cried out in pain.

"Fucking… fuck!" I hissed through my teeth. "Gotta stick the landing next time."

Denzel and Cecilia helped me up. I was the last one to go down, so we were finally all there, on another level of Mismagius' fucked up world. Another twenty-five mansions to look through. It would take time. It would take effort, but we would make it.

"Well, let's get looking," Denzel said, clapping his hands.

——

"Still nothing?" I asked Elekid. The electric type shook his head.

"Let's head to the next one, then," Justin said.

We were currently helping them search since we had finished looking through our side a while ago. We were currently on our fourth floor. Nobody knew how much time it had been anymore, but we were starting to consider the possibility that Mismagius was moving to avoid us.

We made our way back to the foyer, but right before we were about to head toward the entrance, Elekid's eyes widened. He started spinning his arms, making my hair stand up.

"Feel something?!" I asked urgently.

"Kid!"

"Holy shit, this might be it," Denzel said. "Get ready."

All of our Pokemon that knew long-range attacks got into position, and Growlithe and Eevee were still out in case they ever managed to Bite the Arceus damned thing. We hadn't come up with a plan of action aside from throwing everything we had at Mismagius, so we weren't going to hold anything back. We edged our way through the door and into the kitchen, where Mismagius stood completely still, hovering over the dinner table as if it had been waiting for us.

"Gothita, Psybeam! Charmeleon, Dragon Rage!" Pauline ordered, breaking the silence.

The attacks passed through the ghost type, but it screeched out in pain anyway, and it began its incantation again.

"It's trying to trap us again!" I yelled. "Elekid, Thundershock! Frillish, Hex! Togetic, Fairy Wind!"

Mismagius screamed as a dozen attacks kept passing through it. It was behaving strangely, not dodging or attacking back. The singing was getting louder. I covered my ears and kept ordering my Pokemon, but I wasn't sure if they were even hearing me. My jaw trembled as contemplated the fact that we might get transported deeper into another one of Mismagius' worlds. An illusion within an illusion.

A Dragon Rage from Gible hit the ghost, and it disintegrated into purple smoke. A deafening silence settled into the room, but a few seconds later, the world around us started to do the same. It was all coming apart.

"Did we do it?" I asked in a worried tone.

"Well, either we did it, or we're all about to disappear," Denzel said, laughing nervously. "I hope it's the former."

The world was unraveling, and soon, only darkness was left.

And then I blinked.

We were back in the dining room. The original one, where Mismagius had first trapped us, and it was still there. Everyone was in the same positions they had been, along with the Pokemon we had out when we first got transported. It was as if no time had passed at all.

"Magius!" The ghost type yelled a shadowy force began to swirl into a ball around its mouth.

"Deino!" Cecilia yelled.

The dragon type roared and let out a Dragon Breath, hitting the ball and causing it to explode into a thousand shadows.

"Elekid, hit it," I simply said as orders thundered around me.

He hollered in approval as his arms began to spin. Beldum let out a Flash Canon that completely ripped apart Mismagius' form, but it coalesced again, and the steel type's body started to smoke. I recognized Hex immediately. Mismagius darted left and right as it tried to avoid the numerous moves we threw at it, but it was too much. It couldn't focus on dodging and attacking at the same time. Cecilia released her Fletchling and ordered it to harass the ghost type with Peck and Ember.

"We've got it on the ropes! Can we run?!" I yelled out.

"Hell yes, we can!" Pauline answered.

Eevee used Quick Attack to jump on the table, and then at Mismagius before Biting at it, pulling out some of the cloth it used as its body. Gothita tried restraining the ghost type with Confusion, but psychic type attacks weren't great against ghosts, so its abilities were limited there. Mismagius screeched and sunk into the ground, its form becoming nothing but a shadow on it ground. In a flash, it was behind Gothita, and it hit it across the floor. The psychic type struggled to get up, but after a few seconds, it fainted.

"On the count of three, we all rush out!" Denzel said. "One, two—"

The door slammed again, and it was impenetrable. Mismagius was forcing us to stay here and fight.

"Arceus, damn it!" Denzel screamed, slamming the door with his fist.

Mismagius sniggered and it used Hex on Fletchling, who crashed onto the table. It grinned as it sunk into the shadows again and swatted the bird at the wall.

"Fletchling!" Cecilia cried. "Deino, go Bite!"

The dragon let out a gleeful roar as it rushed across the room, paying no mind to the table or the chairs. Mismagius shrieked as another Thundershock and Dragon Rage hit, and its form collapsed again. It took a few seconds for it to come back together, and it was still focused on Fletchling, but Deino was there. I could almost see the darkness fester in his mouth as he bit into Mismagius and shook his head, trying to dissolve it once more. Fletchling tried to fly away, but it was too weak. Cecilia grabbed her Pokeball to—

I covered my eyes as the bird started to shine. She was evolving. Mismagius screeched even louder, no doubt angry at the light, but it was busy getting completely destroyed by Cece's enraged Deino.

Fletchinder rose and struggled as she flew toward Cecilia. Her talons clawed into her trainer's shoulder, causing her to wince. Cece gently recalled her flying type and released her Slowpoke.

"Keep Water Pulsing when you have an opening," She ordered.

I snapped out of my daze and released Frillish as well. The water type was enraged as he flew toward Mismagius before hitting it with Hex. Deino let go right before another Flash Canon utterly dissolved the ghost once again. We waited… and waited, but it didn't reappear this time. The doors gently creaked behind us as they opened. We didn't need to speak another word.

We ran.

——

If someone had told me a day ago that I would have been glad to be back in Eterna forest, I would have called them insane. We were finally free, and according to the dates on our Poketches, no time had passed at all. In fact, it looked like not even one second had passed in the real world during our stay in Mismagius' world, as if the experience had been instant. We made sure to warn future trainers passing there about how dangerous this place was by carving a message into one of the nearby trees, and then onto the mansion's door for good measure. Who knew what kind of ghosts would move in now that Mismagius was gone for a few weeks?

Oh well, we had done all we could, and we would tell the Rangers about this mansion. I could only hope it would serve someone in the future.

I grinned as I saw the Eterna forest's exit in the distance. We had made it through more trials than most trainers would face in their careers. And we had done so relatively unscathed. Everyone was alive. I stepped into the sunlight and exhaled shakily as tears welled up in my eyes. The Pokemon Center was right there. In the distance, I could see Mount Coronet, covered in snow and striking through the clouds. Emilia let out a small laugh mixed with a cry, and we all started giggling. We were free.

And damn, did it feel good.