Sableye stood still after his first attack, which had Glaceon tensing up. It was only thanks to a burst of light caused by one of Charmeleon's flaming attacks that she saw a red-eyed shadow on the ground speeding towards her. Glaceon couldn't get out of the way in time before the shadow was off the floor in an actual shape, knocking her backwards.
She snarled at her laughing opponent and blasted him with a stream of polar wind that Sableye chose to counter with twin beams of shadowy energy from his eyes. Glaceon bent her legs upon seeing Sableye's action and opened her mouth as wide as she could. She channeled as much power as she could into the attack, imagining it was a roaring blizzard that stopped all her enemies cold. Icy Wind gradually pushed back her opponent's attack, to where Sableye was left wincing and shivering from the cold.
"Nice attack," it muttered. "Let's see how well you do without it." Sableye snapped its claws and a blue light flashed in front of Glaceon, washing over her. Sure enough, when Glaceon tried to use Icy Wind again, while she could bring coldness to her mouth, some type of power was blocking her ability to convert it into an attack.
"Don't think that's all I have!" she warned, building a Water Pulse instead and firing it; Sableye lengthened his claws in response. Glaceon half-froze the ball in as she built up the attack, but when the opportunity came for her to fully convert the attack into Flash Frost, she missed the timing, waiting for a command that wasn't there. Sableye carved through the attack instead. Instantly, it lashed out with its shadow once again; Glaceon was forced to use Quick Attack to evade.
When Glaceon thought about it, this was the first ever battle without her trainer at her side. She'd become so used to Luna coming up with their strategy, to trusting her trainer to take into account things like typing and timing that she felt like a wild Pokémon, throwing out attacks one after another.
It… felt wrong. The same as if she had woken up one day back as an Eevee, with no ability to control ice anymore. Like a whole part of her was missing.
Glaceon was jolted out of her thoughts by another twin beam attack, and she had to flatten herself to dodge when she couldn't counter it with Icy Wind. Her best attack was disabled and she didn't trust herself to nail the timing on Flash Frost. Glaceon got up, grimacing at all the dust from the floor that had stuck to her formerly clean fur. Luna's voice floated across her head as Sableye's shadow surged at her once more.
"If it wants to keep you at range, try and get in close!"
Glaceon burst forward instead of dodging away with Quick Attack as the shadow was upon her, noticing Sableye's nervousness as she rushed him. That was exactly what she wanted to see.
The enemy Pokémon's face cleared as she rapidly approached. "A Normal-type move against a Ghost?" it laughed.
That laughter quickly turned to sputtering as Glaceon skidded to a halt a foot in front of him and swiped the disgusting inches of accumulated dust into his face. Sableye's first instinct was to start wiping his face, and especially to clean his gleaming eyes. That was fine for Glaceon. She thought of every negative emotion that had crossed her mind over the past day and used them as fuel for her next attack, biting down savagely onto the enemy Pokémon's right arm.
Sableye winced, but apparently Dark-type attacks weren't as effective against ghosts as she had previously thought, because Sableye was taking this rather well. It tried to wrench its arm from her jaws, eventually resorting to slamming its free clawed hand on the crown of her head to try and free itself. "Let me go!" Sableye grunted; each impact jarred Glaceon and loosened her grip.
Forget using this Dark-type attack. Ice was what she was best at, ever since she had evolved. It was all too easy to bring the familiar frosty energy to her mouth, letting it flow over her teeth as a part of her attack. Glaceon could see fear and pain in Sableye's expression as ice started to cover his arm, eventually encasing most of Sableye's right side.
"Why you!" Sableye screeched, as it fired off up the twin beams of ghost energy again. Glaceon finally released her Bite, jumping back to avoid its attack. Sableye desperately scratched at the ice with its unfrozen claw, trying to break free of the glacial prison. Seeing this, Glaceon charged up a giant Water Pulse that quickly drew the ghost's attention. Sableye smirked cockily at her. "Even with one hand, I can destroy that attack!"
Glaceon's reply was to launch it at the partially frozen ghost, smirking back confidently. It wouldn't even know what hit it. This time, as Water Pulse sped towards her opponent, Glaceon envisioned her trainer's voice once more. Right as Sableye drew his claws back to slash through the attack once more, Glaceon heard the command as if Luna was behind her.
Now!
This time, when Glaceon concentrated on the half-frozen attack, exerting her will and power over ice to freeze the whole thing solid, Sableye didn't stand a chance. It was knocked straight back in a shower of ice crystals, straight through a small wooden door near the floor of the room. Glaceon waited a few seconds to see if her opponent would emerge, then stood at her full height and preened proudly at her victory.
Her gloating was quickly shattered by Oddish's furious shouting. "Hey! We need some help over here!" Glaceon whirled to see a tired looking Oddish and a terrified Spewpa, surrounded by blue flames. The two ghosts were floating above them ominously, the golden masked one building up a purple ball of energy.
Seeing multiple enemies, Glaceon went for Icy Wind, not even thinking about the attack being disabled before it came out in full force. Glaceon assumed that Sableye's move must not work after it had been knocked out. What was even more surprising to her was how she hadn't even noticed her teammates were in trouble. She had been so tunnel-visioned on her battle with Sableye that she had lost track of everything around her.
In any case, her distraction bought enough time for Spewpa to put up the green barrier that nullified an incoming attack. Glaceon used those precious seconds to quickly check up on how Charmeleon was doing. Like her, the Fire-type seemed to be totally unaware of how the surrounding battle was progressing. His battle seemed to be in his favor, taking a shadowy white-fisted punch, but retaliating with a savage Metal Claw on the taller, stockier ghost.
Glaceon didn't have any more time to watch Charmeleon fight before two enemies were attacking again, with the floating carapace headed straight for her. Glaceon didn't know what this Pokémon was thinking, attacking so carelessly, but she would take an easy victory at this point. The Ice-type blasted the oncoming Pokémon with an Icy Wind, but this opponent didn't give any indication that it had even felt her strongest attack. She assumed that this Ghost was resistant to Ice, so Glaceon's next attack was Water Pulse, though that also seemed to do nothing.
The bug shell flew over her head and even a close range Ice Shard couldn't prevent it from hooking its beak into her right shoulder. Glaceon twisted her head and summoned ice to her mouth, using the move that had been so effective against Sableye, but for whatever reason, this Ghost couldn't feel any pain, even as she crunched down with her frosty fangs. She could, unfortunately, as something was inserted deep in her shoulder and a sudden dizziness confirmed her worst suspicions. This thing was using an attack that was draining her blood and her energy along with it. Glaceon thrashed and flailed, even rolling over on the floor in an effort to dislodge the enemy, but nothing she was doing seemed to phase it.
It was only another scared sound from Oddish or Spewpa that had her realizing, once again, that she had forgotten about the rest of the team! They had all been fighting these battles as individuals, when some of their greatest victories had come when they worked together! Gritting her teeth and fighting through the pain in her shoulder, she thought only of her desire to assist her friends, Glaceon glowed in a rainbow of colors. Her right foreleg protested vehemently, but she ignored it. Instead she clapped her paws and sent the energy at Oddish as the Grass-type was trying to match another ball of shadowy energy with a Magical Leaf attack.
Oddish looked startled that she had received a power boost, but her face set resolutely. She sent out a powerful Magical Leaf against the masked ghost that cut straight through the enemy's attack and connected despite all its attempts to dodge. Seeing it start to fall to the ground, Glaceon quickly sent out a Water Pulse to finish it. The attack struck right as the Pokémon struck the ground; the double impact left it limp on the floor.
Glaceon sighed in relief as the blue flames ringed around Oddish and Spewpa vanished. She turned to the Ghost still attached to her shoulder. "You should run," she snarled, baring her teeth angrily. "Or you'll be the next one to end up like that."
A simple threat, of all the things she had tried, was the one that managed to get the Ghost to extract its fangs from her shoulder and float back into the air. Glaceon bounded to her friends side, where Oddish murmured a soft thanks as the three of them stared at the enemy floating above them. What was it, The Ice-type thought, that had scared it off from continuing to drain her?
"Do you two know anything about that Pokémon?"
"It's a Bug-type like me," Spewpa offered after a pause.
"It somehow floats right through all of my attacks," Oddish grumbled. "Nothing I do seems to damage it."
"Nothing I do either," Glaceon murmured. "Is it using a move like you, Spewpa, that blocks attacks?"
"Um, I don't think so… My Protect is really obvious, and it tires me out when I use it. I can't block attack after attack in a row like that thing can."
The ghost bug had floated down to their level. Glaceon eyed its expressionless face, while she pushed past her fatigue and her injuries to prepare herself for yet another battle. It must be extra confident to continue to fight in a three-on-one. "Focus on keeping up the pressure. It's bound to slip up eventually."
The mystery Pokémon's first move was to sweep dust in their faces, the same tactic she had used against Sableye. She splashed a Water Pulse on the ground to wash the dust away, but as earlier, their enemy burst through the water wave unperturbed by that and a follow-up Magical Leaf from Oddish. Claws extended from its forearms and it swiped slowly and clumsily at Glaceon, so she easily danced out of the way of all its predictable attacks. The Ice-type knew her opponent was a ghost, but it was almost as if this was using an attack that it remembered from when it was alive. Such a strange Pokémon.
After a final dodged swipe, Oddish took the opening to launch a ball of acid right in the enemy's face. "Hah!" she shouted, though her expression turned into a frustrated pout at yet another ineffective attack. "Oh, come on! You had to have felt that one!"
Spewpa cowered nervously as the Pokémon's attention was turned to him, but a loud crash on the opposite side of the room quickly drew the enemy's gaze.
Charmeleon walked out of the darkness, finally having calmed down, judging by how his flame had receded and his extremely casual gait. The Fire-type grinned at them. "Heh, that thing was called Dusclops. It sure can take some hits. I might have lost had it been able to attack nearly as well."
Glaceon wasn't sure if it was the look on her face, the fact that there was still an enemy around, or their ragged appearance, but after taking in the scene, Charmeleon spoke up again, unhelpfully. "Don't tell me you guys couldn't even win your side of the battle before I finished with the strongest of them…"
"Just help us," Glaceon told him, an idea on how to get Charmeleon's interest sparking in her head. "This Pokémon is way tougher than the one you faced. It's taken all our best attacks without a scratch."
Her first teammate still looked dubious. "Well, it doesn't seem all that strong. But I guess…" Charmeleon opened his mouth, and the enemy Pokémon instantly fled, apparently deeming that it could take on three Pokémon, but not four.
Charmeleon spat out a disappointed, lazy Ember, more as a warning not to come back, rather than a proper attack at the fleeing Pokémon. Most of the coals fell woefully short of their target, but Glaceon watched as one measly coal connected onto the carapace's back. The ghost Pokémon, that had taken their best attacks without so much as flinching or demonstrating any pain at all, dropped like a log.
They all stared at it in confusion. "Maybe it's playing dead?" Spewpa suggested, though he didn't appear willing to get closer and check it out himself.
"The three of you were struggling against this?" Charmeleon muttered, running over and punting the enemy into the nearest wall. The bug husk didn't budge an inch from where it lay. "It's not moving," he said, reporting the obvious.
That Pokémon had to be the oddest opponent she had ever fought. Maybe if she saw it again, either in battle or in a picture, she could get Luna to explain to her what kind of Pokémon managed to stomach all of her most powerful attacks but fell to the weakest of Embers. For now, they still had tasks to complete. "Spewpa, help us get those things open," Glaceon ordered, pointing at the silly device humans used to heat their food, and the much more practical one that they used to keep it cold. "And be careful not to burn anything else, Charmeleon."
"I can be precise," Charmeleon replied pointedly, to which Glaceon rolled her eyes. Of course he didn't realize that she was always putting out stray fires with Water Pulse after their battles. The Fire-type breathed fire delicately into his machine as Glaceon frosted up the inside of her with Icy Wind. She almost wanted to ask Rotom how to use such a powerful Ice-type attack when she saw the ridiculous power of the move from the relative safety of outside the room, but when she poked her head inside, she saw Rotom charging up a Fire-type attack that looked to encompass the whole room, and she quickly decided against asking the electric ghost for help.
"One more!" it told them excitedly, as Glaceon pointedly ignored how Charmeleon was glaring at her now that the entire room was charred black. Rotom led them to the room that they had first started in, with the couch and television, hovering over a small fan over a table adjacent to the couch. It didn't look like much, but then again, she knew what Rotom was capable of. "Just hit it with a Flying-type move and we'll be all set. I can have my fun again, you all can see your human! It's a win-win!"
Glaceon didn't share Rotom's enthusiasm. Did any of them look like they could fly? "None of us know any Flying-type moves."
Rotom turned its electric arms upwards in a facsimile of a shrug. "Well, I guess you're all stuck here until one of you learns one then!" It disappeared before she could protest about how ludicrous a notion that was. She did have to breathe out air when she used Icy Wind though, so maybe that would be enough? Glaceon jumped onto the couch and used her preferred attack. Unfortunately, it had a bit of the opposite effect; the whole thing ended up covered with frost to where the blades could not move at all.
"Great idea," Charmeleon grunted, jumping up next to her and using his tail to melt the ice. "You're supposed to make it move, not freeze it solid."
Perhaps it was the stress of the day finally getting to her, but that comment was the straw that broke the Camerupt's back. "Why don't you come up with an idea then!" she exploded at her teammate. "It's easy to criticize when you haven't been useful all day!"
"Neither have you. Probably because you have ice in your brain," Charmeleon fired right back, tensing into a guarded stance as she mirrored him. Glaceon didn't make any move to attack when Charmeleon didn't, realizing that this wouldn't be a friendly spar to get stronger. It would be a fight born out of frustration. After several tense seconds where both of them were waiting to see if the other was willing to make a move, she slowly relaxed her posture as Charmeleon quickly copied her.
They both turned at Oddish's upbeat voice. "Whew! I thought for a second there I'd have to use Stun Spore on you both. Now come on, I have an amazing plan!"
"You have a plan?" Charmeleon asked incredulously, a sentiment that Glaceon internally echoed.
"Listen," Oddish said seriously, although the Grass-type was bouncing on her feet as she spoke. "Rotom said we need to learn a Flying-type move. Well, all one of us needs to do is evolve into a Flying Pokémon. Like when Surskit evolved earlier! Then we'll have a Flying-type move to help Rotom!"
"I'm not anywhere close to evolving into a Charizard," Charmeleon told her.
"Not you, dummyhead. Spewpa!"
Spewpa? Glaceon looked over at the Bug-type, who seemed just as surprised to hear his name mentioned.
Oddish ran over to their newest teammate. "You said you grow wings when you evolve, right? That means you must turn into a Flying-type! You already evolved once. You can do it again!"
Spewpa shrank into himself as all the attention was turned on him. "I don't know. I can't even remember how I evolved in the first place. All I remember is how scary that Pokémon was that day…"
"Sounds like you had a battle that day against a powerful opponent, and that caused you to evolve," Charmeleon suggested. "Do you remember anything about it? Maybe one of us could pretend to be it and battle you."
Glaceon needed one look at her new teammates' face to know that Charmeleon's idea was a bad one. "You don't have to if it's too frightening, Spewpa."
The Bug-type shook his head. "No, I wanna help. It was nighttime, and I was closing my eyes for the most part, but I'll try to remember." He squeezed his eyes shut and started shivering. "Um. It had long arms with claws. Sharp fangs. And, and a tail!" He opened his eyes. "Did that help at all?"
There must be hundreds of Pokémon with that description, Glaceon thought to herself despondently. It seemed the rest of the team felt the same way.
"That sounds like me," Charmeleon muttered. He raised his arms menacingly and stomped around like a much heavier Pokémon. "Well? Am I as terrifying?"
Spewpa didn't look any more scared than he usually did. "N-no. That Pokémon was a lot bigger than you. It was purple, too."
There was a pause while they all racked their brains for this mystery Pokémon before anyone said anything. "How could you tell what color it was if it was dark out?" Oddish asked.
"I couldn't see that day," Spewpa admitted. "The day I was taken from my home though, it was the same Pokémon. All I remember was everything suddenly being on fire, and then running away right into that Pokémon."
"Well, I can't turn purple, but if it's fire you're afraid of, that I'm an expert in."
Glaceon sprinted over and smacked Charmeleon on the underside of his chin, ending whatever scheme the idiot was planning in a puff of smoke. "You're not a fire expert yet. Don't go around spitting it at teammates."
Charmeleon massaged his jaw gingerly. "I wasn't going to shoot it at him. Just around."
"There are more ways to evolve than getting stronger through battle," Glaceon stated. She was living proof of that, after all. "Luna's favorite evolution story she always used to tell me is about a Dragon-type called Bagon. She said Bagon used to throw itself off cliffs because it so desperately wanted to be able to fly. It's said that the dream was so strong that it grew wings when it evolved to achieve that."
She walked over to an enraptured Spewpa. "Your dream is to fly too, isn't it? If you focus with all your might, that might help you evolve."
"I'll try it," Spewpa said with determination. He closed his eyes and started to concentrate fiercely.
Charmeleon scoffed skeptically, but he had to fall silent as their new teammate began to light up.
"It's working!" Glaceon breathed, as Oddish hopped in place delightedly.
"Come on!" the Grass-type urged them. "We need to give him our energy!" She started chanting the Bug-types name rhythmically "Spew-pa. Spew-pa!"
Glaceon added her voice to Oddish, and even Charmeleon threw in a few syllables of support as Spewpa's whole body turned white. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. Any moment now, he should start changing his form…
There was a brilliantly bright flash of light, and Glaceon was quickly blinking spots out of her eyes, rubbing at them with her paws. When she finally could see again, Spewpa was still there, looking at them like he hadn't temporarily blinded them all.
"Well? Did I evolve?"
"You used a new move, but other than that you're the same," Glaceon told him, as the Bug-type gave a dejected sigh.
"I should have known I wouldn't do that right."
"Hmmph. Since those ideas were total duds, I guess I need to come up with one after all."
Glaceon couldn't wait to hear this. "We're waiting."
The Fire-type shrugged. "Let's ask for help. Haunter said we can talk to our trainer three times, right? She'll know the answer, and we'll be done."
Glaceon didn't doubt that, it was more the fact that she didn't trust the Ghost-types to make it that easy. She wanted to try and do this without putting Luna at risk of being a test subject for more Ghost Pokémon.
"We haven't been here that lon-," she tried to reason, though Charmeleon was having none of it.
"Haunter!" he shouted. "We know you're listening. Give us that third talk with Luna you promised!"
"Listen to me!" Glaceon hissed. "We shouldn't do anything rash!"
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Something she had said appeared to have gotten through, because Charmeleon turned to her with a fascinated expression.
"Why would I do that?" the Fire-type asked in a wondering tone.
Did she really need to explain why thinking things through beforehand was a good idea? "Jumping in without thinking about the consequences is how we get into trouble."
"Not that," Charmeleon waved his hand dismissively. "Tell me why I should listen to you."
"What do you mean? I'm the oldest, and the most experienced…" Glaceon trailed off confusedly.
"You are those things. You're my friend and teammate too." Glaceon could sense a caveat coming.
"But you aren't my trainer," Charmeleon continued with finality. "You're a Pokémon, like me. So quit telling me what to do. I don't have to listen to or do anything that comes out of your mouth."
Glaceon's mouth opened slightly, but she was too stunned to even formulate a reply, or speak up when Haunter floated in. Because Charmeleon had spoken the truth, hadn't he? They were all Pokémon with different personalities and backgrounds. The string that had brought them together and kept them connected was missing.
"You called?"
"Set up that last meeting with our trainer, Haunter," Charmeleon ordered, taking charge.
"It's been set up the whole time," Haunter informed them. "We expected you lot to struggle far more with this." The ghost looked at their team with interest. "You all have done well."
Haunter, giving them a compliment? That was entirely unexpected, though Glaceon did not like that sinister twinkle in its eye one bit. She couldn't give it more thought as Rotom came whizzing into the TV, solving the mystery of how that thing was acting sentient. A few seconds later, their trainer was once again visible on the screen, still in her blue cage.
Already knowing that their time was short, Charmeleon placed the fan in front of the television, gesturing to it.
"You guys are having trouble with the fan? Hmm…" Glaceon watched as her trainer's mind went to work, Luna's eyes roving over each of them until they finally landed on Spewpa.
"Have you tried Icy Wind through Spewpa's Protect? Maybe all the freezing power will be taken out of the attack, and you'll be left with wind."
Amazingly, Haunter didn't cut off the television, instead watching along with the rest of them. Charmeleon held the fan up so she could aim her attack through the top of Spewpa's Protect, avoiding the Bug-type himself. She was impressed and disappointed at the same time when the Protect totally stopped her Icy Wind, though Luna urges them onward.
"Protect gets weaker the more it's used consecutively. Keep at it!"
As Luna had said, the second time a slight breeze got through, which turned the blades of the fan a few times before it came to a halt. The third time ended up being the charm with Protect barely strong enough to hold back most of the cold, letting a powerful blast of wind bypass the barrier. The fan started turning and creating a breeze on its own, and it didn't seem like stopping any time soon.
Luna's praise was cut short as the television went black. Rotom zipped out of the machine with glee, zooming into the now operating fan. Even though Charmeleon quickly released the device, it stayed hovering in the air. Rotom rose until it was up at the ceiling, spinning in a circle while it released a blade of wind in each direction. Once the walls of the room had been sufficiently damaged, Rotom came down, beyond pleased with its work.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how happy this makes me! Well, a deal's a deal. This way!"
Still in the fan, Rotom led them down a series of hallways until they were finally at a nondescript, unassuming door. One that held Glaceon's whole world.
The fast-moving Pokémon stopped and started to talk as they eventually caught up with it, Glaceon well in the lead because she was using Quick Attack the whole time. "I want you to know that I really appreciate all that you've done for me. I promise to make my pranks even bigger and better next time you visit. Ooh, there's a city out west where some people get nightmares! Do you think I outdo whatever's doing that?"
Glaceon blew right past Rotom without answering, mentally thinking that she would never, ever visit this horror house again. The Ice-type rammed the door open, pain giving way to joy as soon as she caught sight of her trainer, uncaged and unharmed. Luna had backed up slightly, startled from the door slamming open, but her face broke into a luminous grin upon seeing her first Pokémon. "Glaceon!"
She took two long strides, two chest-lifting, heart-singing strides before she leapt, jumping into the air like how a Braviary took flight. Glaceon was riding the winds of elation, the feeling that everything was alright now that they had reunited.
Luna was a bit slow to catch her, so they both ended up tumbling to the ground, laughing the entire way.
"Hahahaha! Hey! Your breath is cold! Stop! Haha! Your nose is cold too!"
Glaceon pressed her nose even further into her trainer's ticklish neck before she finally pulled away, though she still stood on top of Luna. "No way we're ever going to be separated again," she declared. "I want to be by your side. Always."
While her exact words weren't understood, the meaning behind them was, because when Glaceon went to rest her head on Luna's collarbone, her trainer reciprocated by putting one arm around Glaceon and squeezing like Luna never wanted to let go either. The other arm swept up two Pokémon whose feet were pattering on the floor.
"That's right!" came Oddish's slightly muffled voice. "We had so much trouble without you! From now on we're sticking together!"
"I'd like that too," added Spewpa. "Even though I wasn't very useful, thank you all for protecting me." Both of them snuggled into the group embrace, leaving a solitary, Fire-type shaped hole in the middle.
"Come on. We haven't been apart that long for you all to be acting like this, have we?"
Glaceon was about to say something to him, but Luna moved first, managing to sit up the best she could with her arms full of Pokémon. Her trainer looked at the final member of their team, who was standing a safe distance away like he didn't want to be associated with this, with a knowing smile. "Charmeleon, being a part of this team means joining in group hugs. Now, get over here."
"We better not start doing this in public, because this is really embarrassing," Charmeleon complained as he trudged over. Despite his reluctance, he fit in perfectly, and didn't seem in any rush to pull away.
Glaceon felt Luna's embrace get a little bit tighter. "I really missed you guys. And I'm so glad you're back."
We're glad to be back.
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"Aww. How sweet. You all are going to bring a tear to my eye."
Glaceon's eyes snapped open as her ears caught the absolute last voice she wanted to hear. "What do you want?" she spat at Haunter, grinning above them.
"Since you are such an amazing combination, we have one more teensy favor that we need from you. You see, we've had a bit of an intruder recently, that we ghosts can't deal with. But after seeing how strong you all are, I'm sure you'll be fine. I swear on my mother's grave that this will be the last thing we have you do before we send you on your way. Well, good luck!"
Before any of them could protest, Haunter pushed a stone in the wall inwards and the floor suddenly swung open under them.
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I hold onto my Pokémon as tightly as I can when the trapdoor opens and we all fall into darkness.
"Spewpa! Use Protect to brace our landing!" I shout.
His eyes are totally squeezed shut but a green bubble materializes around all of us. It doesn't completely hold when we finally do connect with the floor, but it does enough, to where the landing is more like falling off your bed in the middle of the night than falling off the roof of a house.
Guess being able to pass through walls as a ghost means you stop taking into account things like hard landings and crashing into things.
I eye all my Pokémon as we get to our feet, and my hands move to my bag. I start to heal up most of the minor injuries that they received fixing up these Rotom appliances. As annoying as this has been, I'm kinda glad we won't be fooled into coming back here to get attacked by a washing machine and a lawnmower. "Everyone alright? No one needs another potion or Oran Berry?
Three confident cheers answer me, and one much less enthusiastic one. Spewpa is looking at me with his giant eyes like he would rather sit the rest of this one out in his Pokéball. I pull out the Safari Ball and oblige him. "Great work today Spewpa. Take a nice rest," I praise him as he vanishes in a flash of red.
Now that we're close to one-hundred percent, it's time to take stock of this situation. This room… is strangely normal. I don't see any evidence of ghostly illusions. It's really sparse, with one door behind us, and window to the right near the ceiling, and other than that, nothing is in here besides a couple of chairs, and one table with a laptop, complete with a jet-black thumb drive ominously blinking red every couple of seconds.
"Did any of those ghosts give you any specifics on what they need this time?" I get three scowls and sideways head shakes. Hmm. "You got all five of Rotom's appliances, right?"
Three nods this time. "Well, I don't see anything for us to do here…" I stride over to the door, opening it and flinching back when I see that instead of a hallway or another room, it's only a brick wall.
"What the heck?" I close it and reopen it to be sure, and then press my hand against the brick, to ensure that it was solid and not an illusion. Sure enough, all that this door leads to is an immovable wall. Are we even in the Old Chateau anymore? I stride over to the window to hopefully get a peek of what's outside. My Pokémon follow me, though one is noticeably lagging behind.
"Are you sure you're okay Charmeleon? You're moving really slowly. You weren't hit by anything that could cause poison or paralysis?"
He shakes his head vehemently and gives me a thumbs up, but he's still moving like he's covered in mud. Based on pure speed, without anything like Quick Attack increasing it, Charmeleon is the fastest of my three Pokémon, but somehow Oddish is moving far faster than both he and Glaceon, despite easily being the slowest. I crouch down when he finally makes it to us. "Grab Oddish, Charmeleon, and stand on my shoulders, so she can see out of this window.
He makes a move to grab her by the leaves, but Oddish loudly tells him off, probably threatening him with a Stun Spore as well, so Charmeleon grabs her by the bulb instead. I grunt as his claws dig into my shoulders, and while I may not be strong enough to lift him with my arms, my legs are at least strong enough to do this. "Well Oddish? Can you see anything out of there?"
"Odd, Oddish!"
"Okay, come on down and tell me what you saw."
Charmeleon opts to jump right off my shoulders, placing Oddish back on the ground. The two have an animated discussion before Charmeleon asks Glaceon to do something. She looks quizzical, but throws a tiny Water Pulse on the floor, creating a small puddle. I stare at it in disbelief.
"You're saying… you saw water, Oddish?
She jumps up and down, and Charmeleon holds his arms out as far as they can go. "You saw a lake or something?"
My Grass-type shakes her head, and Charmeleon goes to Glaceon for more discussion on how to explain to me what they managed to see out the window. Eventually, Charmeleon hunches down, and Glaceon comes over to nudge my pocket, where all my Pokéballs are stored.
I'm really starting to get the hang of this whole charades thing. I talk out loud while I try to work out what they're saying. "Small Charmeleon… So when he was a Charmander? When I first got his Pokéball?" That gets eager nods. "Water when I first met Charmander?" Glaceon uses a giant Water Pulse before launching it at the opposite wall. "You mean the ocean that we went to the day after Charmeleon joined us?"
A lake I can understand, in this forest, but this is nowhere near the ocean. I try to explain that to Oddish, but she stubbornly insists that she saw the ocean, which had me scratching my head. I don't know what to make of this room. Everything about this is upside down and backwards…
It hits me like a pile of bricks, and I start looking around like a maniac, trying to find the Pokémon responsible. My own Pokémon tense up, realizing that I have figured something out. When I can't see anyone, I turn to them. "There's a Pokémon in here, using the move Trick Room. Everything is reversed in Trick Room, so slower Pokémon become super fast and vice-versa." As I finish that sentence, my eyes fall on the only part of the room that seems to be normal, this computer sitting on the table. Is there a computer Pokémon? I don't think so, but anything is possible. I use the Pokédex, but it comes up blank, and not like that Kleavor earlier. This time it doesn't even recognize this as a living thing. Rotom-computer form? That doesn't sound right either.
Computers always get mad when you pull out the USB without properly disconnecting it. I look back at my Pokémon and give them a serious look. "Whatever's doing this is related to this computer. Get ready to battle as soon as I start messing with it. I hover my hand over the flashdrive as they all get in battle stances. "On three. One, two, three!" I yank the thing out, and the computer makes its usual beeping noise, as I sprint back behind my three Pokémon. It doesn't do anything for a second, but then out of nowhere, a bunch of green numbers appear, eventually coalescing into a shape, which then starts to take on color. It ends up looking a bit like a duck, except with all of its body parts hard and angular, and about half pink and half blue.
The computer should have been a dead giveaway, but Porygon had never even crossed my mind. It does learn Trick Room though, and being a Normal-type, it explains why these ghosts sent us to deal with it. Apparently, the creators of this thing decided to give it a range of emotions, because this one looks like it's about to go berserk.
I at least try to negotiate with the digital duck. "Hey, Porygon, sorry for dropping in uninvited like this. If you'll end this Trick Room, we'll leave here right away…"
Porygon's response is to charge up a blue, yellow, and red ball of energy in a triangular formation, which all converge in front of its nose. The result is a triple attack of ice, fire, and lightning.
"Block that!" I order, and my Pokémon send out their own triple combo of Fire, Water and Grass, exploding magnificently between us.
I see Porygon doing something; for a second I think it's going to vanish, but then I see dark blue energy trickle all over its body before it fades away. I don't know exactly what happened, but it doesn't look like it's charging up for an attack or anything.
"Attack again everyone!" They all start channeling, but under Porygon's Trick Room, it is the fastest Pokémon here, and it quickly charges up a powerful electric attack and sends it outwards at all three of my Pokémon at once, so that their attacks are merely defensive counters.
I'm pretty sure that priority attacks supersede the dimensions of Trick Room, so I guess that's my next play? "Glaceon, Quick Attack! Follow up with Fire Fang, Charmeleon!" Quick Attack does in fact break the rules of Trick Room, and Glaceon speeds towards our opponent, while Charmeleon lags behind, staggering along with a flame-filled mouth. Porygon does the energy thing again, where its whole body flashes a different color, except this time it's a stony gray.
Now I'm getting suspicious. Especially when Glaceon crashes into Porygon, because her reaction is like she had run into a brick wall. Then I watch Charmeleon chomp down on Porygon and look like he's bitten down on a rock.
I don't really know anything about Porygon, considering I'd never used it, and because I'd never seen the one banned episode that Porygon did appear in the anime. I think it's changing its typing though. And somehow, this thing is smart enough to switch to a typing that resists our attacks. I'm pretty sure it's a Rock-type right now.
Now I've figured out it's gimmick, and I see the psychic walls of Trick Room fading away in the background. Excellent. He won't be able to charge electricity as fast now.
Let's test this theory. "Magical Leaf, Metal Claw and Water Pulse!"
Porygon watches all the incoming attacks with its unblinking eyes, converting to what looks like a Fire-Type from how it flashes an orange-red. Then it fires a rainbow colored Psybeam straight at our Water Pulse, destroying that attack while letting Metal Claw and Magical Leaf impact it. It floats backwards and Porygon's eyes flash blue. Uh oh.
"Charmeleon, interrupt that!" He races toward Porygon, but once the walls of Trick Room go up again, it's like he's moving in sand. Porygon charges up a Tri-Attack again and sends Charmeleon flying back towards us, with a large covering of ice on his torso.
"You all right, Charmeleon?" He extends his claws and smashes through the ice before grunting in affirmation. I eyeball our opponent. Whoever designed this thing, they gave it way too much processing power. It's able to calculate and change typings mid-battle, and decide which attacks are the most important to dodge or counter, and which ones it can let through.
Porygon goes for another Discharge, which my Pokémon block with their own attacks as I try to think on how to fool this thing. I don't have any attacking combination that's guaranteed to have no typings that resist, but Porygon had to have changed to Dragon-type, based on our first attack. That's perfect for me. Hopefully, we can land a knockout punch before Porygon can renew Trick Room again.
"Hold on until Trick Room expires, okay? We'll go on the offensive then." Porygon continuously uses its trio of powerful attacks, and my Pokémon manage to hold them at bay until I see the walls of Trick Room disappear.
"Glaceon get ready," I mutter, before raising my voice so our opponent can clearly hear me. "Triple attack! Dragon Rage, Water Pulse, Magical Leaf!"
Porygon can't charge up that amount of massive electricity as quickly outside of Trick Room, not opting to counter with Discharge. It still changes its typing, with a wave of green cascading over it before fading away, probably an indication that it turned into a Grass-type, before again it picks out an attack to counter. This time however, it picks wrong.
I wait for it to commit with a Tri-Attack against Dragon Rage before I give the command almost giddily. "Do it, Glaceon! Flash Frost!" We finally are able to hit it with a Super-Effective attack, plus Oddish's Magical Leaf for good measure, but somehow the man-made Pokémon is still upright! It's knocked back from the impact of the attacks, but I curse as it uses Trick Room again. This is achingly slow progress.
Porygon glows yellow, and we all tense up, expecting another electric attack, but instead I see all the various marks and injuries sustained throughout the battle fade away. I want to smack my hand against my face. This thing knows Recover too? Where are my friends and their Pokémon when you need them? Because I need someone to Taunt this thing so it can stop annoying me with these Trick Room, type-changing, recovering tactics.
Alright, we can't stop Porygon setting up Trick Room, so I guess we gotta take advantage of it. Porygon leads with Tri-Attack, and I command my team to counter it. "Wait until it uses Discharge again, and don't block it this time." Charmeleon glances back at me, no doubt remembering his stint of Paralysis. "Trust me, we want that this time. In this place," I gesture around to the room, "where everything is backwards, being slowed down is actually better for us."
Porygon does eventually stop alternating Psybeam and Tri-Attack and goes for a multi-target Discharge. My Pokémon endure the attack, and are left with static across their bodies as their reward. And I couldn't be happier. "You should be able to move properly now, and dodge these attacks."
They seem surprised, but it's just as I say. It's like they've been unshackled, and they start to avoid Porygon's repeated attacks instead being forced to stay stationary and counter. "We're attacking first now! So keep up the pressure!"
Charmeleon and Oddish send out their main attacks, but right as Glaceon is about to join them, her body locks up and the Water Pulse she had been building splashes in front of her. That's the risk of this, but outside of having Glaceon attacking Charmeleon and Oddish with Icy Wind, which I really didn't want to do, I couldn't think of another way to drop our speed.
I watch as Porygon changes typings again, strangely enough, back to a Normal-type, though it appears to be using a different strategy. Instead of attacking and missing, it's using Recover over and over again, letting move after move connect, though Recover means it's still healthy. What is this thing up to? It's wasting time…
The walls of Trick Room fade away for the third time this battle, and now I understand why people are worried about robots and computers replacing people in their workplace. My brain is no match for this thing's processor. My Pokémon are suddenly struggling to move, slowed by the paralysis, and though I'm expecting this one, Porygon confirms my fears and outsmarts me once again by not using Trick Room at all.
Now I have three paralyzed Pokémon, and no field conditions to override them. Amazing. It's times like this where I wish I didn't skimp on things like Paralyze Heals at the market. "Do your best to counter its attacks!" My Pokémon manage to counter the first Discharge, but I know it's inevitable that someone is going to get fully paralyzed at some point. I'm debating whether Porygon even has a mouth, and if it needs to breathe, since that would make it immune to Stun Spore when the door I had tried previously opens with a bang.
Lucas and Ursula barge in, looking as tired as I feel. Thank goodness. My saviors have arrived. Now to just stack the deck in Lucas's favor. No way Porygon can predict this. "Use Dragon Rage, Ice Shard, and Acid!"
"Is Monferno ok to battle?" I ask Lucas without any preamble once he comes to stand next to me.
"Yes, of course-"
I watch Porygon's typing change with metallic gray energy. Lucas's eyes bulge next to me, as our attacks do negligible damage, Oddish's in particular splashing uselessly against the digital Pokémon. "Is it using Conversion to change its types to counter your attacks?
"Glad you see what we've been dealing with," I mutter, pulling out my Pokéballs. Now it's time to use Baton Pass. "It's a Steel-type now, so Monferno should cook it. Everyone return!"
I slap Lucas on the back to prod him into battling. "Get in there!"
He sends out Monferno and instantly they use Taunt. Such a useful move. I need to find a Pokémon that can use that, because here it blocks Porygon's use of Conversion, Recover, and Trick Room, and it would have let me win this battle ages ago. However, it's quite cathartic to see how the now Steel-type Porygon is getting beatdown by Monferno's super-effective moves.
It's so non-exciting that Ursula comes to stand next to me and we make conversation like we're sitting nonchalantly on a park bench, rather than stuck in a haunted house.
"Interesting day?"
"Oh yes. The lady of the house had me arrange everything for a magnificent banquet, besides the food, that is. It was quite the amount of work, but I think she will be most satisfied with the outcome. Lucas told me that the lord had him organize all the bookshelves in his study, which were apparently knocked over by Pokémon. We both went through secret passages and met in the room behind here, though the door out of that room only appeared in random places intermittently, and we could not open it until now."
That almost sounds worse than my experience here. I shake my head in amusement. "So you both still don't know, huh."
"Know what, exactly?"
"No one lives in this place. Those people we met were all Ghost Pokémon disguised as humans. That's why they couldn't speak."
Ursula looks skeptical, as we watch Monferno Flame Wheel through a Psybeam to force Porygon back again. The digital duck looks like it's nearly finished. "Then what did these ghosts want from you?"
"Oh, they needed some things fixed around the house. A washing machine, a fridge. That sort of stuff."
"What purpose do any of these tasks serve for Ghost Pokémon?"
"I think they just like messing with people." Monferno sends Porygon to the ground with a Mach Punch, and this time his opponent doesn't get up. Lucas looks back at us for directions.
"It should be finished. What should we do now?"
What should we do now? Hasn't he been waiting for an opportunity like this forever? No way for anything to interfere? "Catch it, obviously."
"Catch it?" It's almost silly how confident he was battling to how nervous he is now.
"Yeah," I explain. "I may have discovered Porygon, but you were the one to battle it successfully. Go on and throw a Pokéball."
"Having a Pokémon attuned to computers and technology certainly would be an asset to an aspiring Pokémon researcher," Ursula throws in.
It takes some eager encouragement from Monferno to finally convince him that this is the time. "Throw a Pokéball. I can do that." He fishes in his back until he retrieves a black-and-yellow ball that makes me whistle.
"How long have you been saving that Ultra Ball for, huh?"
"Can it," Lucas mutters as he loosens his throwing arm. "I'm concentrating."
According to Lucas himself, step one of catching a Pokémon is complete, as Porygon has been severely weakened. Step two is to make an accurate throw, making sure not to hit a branch, or get it knocked back in your face, or fling it straight into a Weepinbell's acidic maw. Lucas lobs it perfectly, hitting Porygon right on its beak, and the Pokémon disappears into the Ultra Ball.
Now for step three. Cross your fingers and hope. Ultra Ball or not, the thing still wobbles agonizingly while flashing red for a long time. Finally, it goes still with a click, signifying a successful capture.
Lucas walks over in a haze, and Monferno does a couple of backflips in celebration for his trainer's first capture. This is an occasion after all, and it needs a little something extra. I whistle out my best rendition of the capture music from the games, which makes both my friends look at me strangely.
"What was that?" Ursula asks slowly.
"Something to mark such an important moment. Did you like it?"
Lucas tosses his Ultra Ball up and down as he considers. "It was definitely odd and unexpected. But it sounded weirdly good and natural too." He doesn't finish the train of thought, though Ursula is happy to tell me only a weirdo like me could come up with that.
I just shrug and don't deny anything. Instead I toss the flash drive I found in the laptop at Lucas, who catches it with his free hand. "That's related to how angry Porygon was, I'm sure of it. Show it to Nurse Joy once we get to the Pokémon Center."
Speaking of which…"Hey ghosts! Porygon has been captured! It can't bother you anymore, so we'd like to go home!"
There's a few seconds of pause before they literally start coming out of the woodwork: Gastly, Haunter, Misdreavus, the Banette that used Imprison on me, Polteageist the haunted teapot, a Froslass that has Ursula gasping and a ghost of a tree that causes Lucas to do the same. The last Pokémon comes through the door instead, a floating orange lawnmower with a grinning face.
Those of them who have arms wave at us, while the smiles of the rest get even wider. Monferno tenses at so many Pokémon appearing out of nowhere, but Lucas assures him that we're okay. Their eyes glow blue as one and we are surrounded by a bubble of identically colored energy.
Lucas recalls Monferno, worried about the potential Psychic-type move, but he didn't need to worry, considering the energy spun around us like a cocoon. It soon has our heads spinning in concert, and our eyes glaze over in a haze of blur. It feels like I'm floating, like I don't have any sense of time or space or gravity. All I know and feel is a vortex of blue.
I can't tell you anything about what happens until my feet finally hit the ground. I wobble around for a few seconds as the energy fades, while my stomach turns every which way. I might have been able to hold it, but when I hear Lucas retching behind me, that's the cue for me to follow suit.
I'm wiping my mouth with my sleeve as I watch Ursula, who hasn't thrown up yet, swallow with a disgusting gulp, wash her mouth with water, swallow that too, and finally pop in two peppermints, all while daring me to say anything.
Forget appearances, that's way more gross than throwing up. Lucas passes me a bottle of water, and I gratefully spit out the foul taste in my mouth before I speak.
"People travel via teleportation all the time?"
"I think a Psychic Pokémon would be much better at it," Lucas admits. "They got the job done at least." He points, and when I look that way, the welcome red roof of a Pokémon Center is in view, as is the Eterna Bridge, which spans the similarly named lake just west of the city.
"How much further is it?" Ursula asks.
I check the day on my Pokétch before I reply, and see that it's Friday night. "Even if we go slow, we can make it there by Monday morning. We're basically all the way there, and the bridge only takes a couple of hours to cross."
"We should take our time. We need to sleep, our Pokémon also need some rest, and we need to inform the authorities of that poaching plot in the forest if they don't already know." His statement is punctuated with a huge yawn. "Eterna on Monday sounds good to me."
Of all the trials we've endured, this should be a piece of cake; for some reason, I'm filled with a different, nervous type of energy at the prospect of heading to Eterna and seeing everyone that I know. What are they going to think of me?
I pull out Glaceon's Pokéball and talk softly to her, even though she's going to have a much simpler time than I. "You hear all that, Glaceon? We made it! We're headed home!"
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Inside her Pokéball, Glaceon smiled amusedly.
I'm already home.