Meetings with Ghosts
By: Aubrie1234
Dear Readers, Another story! This one is based on RosieShiba's story, Harmony of White Roses. It's where some of the pokemon characters meet the first six ghosts (five people and the dog) from her story in the same mansion. I give her the credit for her story and for giving me the idea. Thank you, and I will start the story now.
"Where are we?" Drew asked, taking in his surroundings. He was traveling with Ash's new group at the time, which was composed of him, Ash's friends ranging from Kanto to Unova, and Ash's three rivals. They were walking along a gravel road surrounded by a big plain, heading who knows where.
"The guide book doesn't say anything about where we are, so... we're completely lost." Brock answered, sweatdropping. Everyone else either sweatdropped as well or anime-fell.
"How do we keep getting lost, anyway?" Gary asked.
"I have no clue. In a big group like this we shouldn't have been able to get lost so easily." Trip answered, shaking his head.
"Try telling that to Ash. Sometimes I think it's because of him that we get lost." Dawn said.
"How so?" Gary asked her.
"Well, either he's a magnet that attracts him to getting lost, or he just gets lost naturally, bringing us with him." she answered.
"You know I can hear you, right? Besides, whenever we get lost we usually bump into someone who helps up get out of here or we see something amazing." Ash told them.
"For once he's right." May sighed, "One of those usually happen. Most of the time, anyway."
"How I decided to come with this group I don't know." Paul said, mostly to himself, "Half the time we're lost and the other half we're either in a town or city."
"For once I agree with Paul, and that's a first for anyone." Misty said.
"Wait, what's that?" Max asked, pointing at something in the distance. They all looked up to see a big, blurry shape in the distance. It looked sort of like a house or something, but they weren't sure.
"Do you think that might be a house or somewhere we could stay the night?" Iris asked hopefully.
"Maybe, Iris." Cilan said. Suddenly, Pikachu's ears perked up. It lept off of Ash's shoulder, running towards the building.
"I feel something coming from that place!" Pikachu shouted.
"Pikachu! Wait for me!" Ask yelled as he ran after his pokemon. Soon, everyone else went after them except for Gary, Drew, Paul, and Trip.
"Should we go after them?" Paul asked.
"Probably. We have no reason to stay where we are." Gary said, starting to run after the others. The other three followed close behind. Soon, they all came to the foot a of a huge mansion. But, there was no sign of Pikachu.
"Where could that little pokemon have gone this time?" May asked, looking around. Axew then popped out of Iris' hair.
"Maybe he went inside! But, something doesn't feel right about this place..." Axew trailed off, warily eying the mansion.
"I agree with Axew. This place creeps me out." Iris agreed.
"Well, like Axew also said, Pikachu might be inside. I'm going to go search for him." Ash said determinedly, walking towards the front steps. As he stepped on the first one, it did a loud 'creak', scaring a few of them. May shot behind Drew, slightly peeking out.
"M-maybe he didn't Ash. W-we should just l-look everywhere outside b-before going in." May stuttered, shaking.
"I-I agree with M-May. I don't think w-we should stay h-here." Dawn also stuttered, peeking out from behind Paul and shaking slightly.
"Troublesome, why are you hiding behind me?" Paul asked the bluenette.
"Because you were the closest to me at the time, Plum-head." she snapped back.
"Well, I agree with the girls. This place makes me feel uncomfortable. Plus, I feel like I've got deja vu about this place." Drew said. He looked at the mansion warily, then thought he saw something on the roof. He glanced towards it, but didn't see anything.
"M-me too." May agreed.
"M-me three." Dawn also agreed.
"I agree with them for once. I feel like I've seen this place before." Paul said. He looked at the house and searched the windows, looking for something that might not belong.
"M-me fifth. T-this place gives o-off a bad vibe." Misty stuttered from behind Brock.
"Well, I still want to find Pikachu. You can still stay out here if you want, but I'm going inside." Ash told them, going up the rest of the stairs, which creaked slightly. He slowly opened the front doors and went inside. Suddenly, the doors slammed behind him, making most of them jump.
"Eep! T-they closed o-on their own!" May said, shaking crazily. She wasn't the only one who was shaking now.
"M-maybe we should g-go after him." Drew suggested, stuttering slightly as well.
"A-agreed." Gary answered. He took a few steps forward, warily. Suddenly, just like before, the doors creaked open slightly. He froze in place with fear and surprise. Then, they slammed shut with even more force than before. He ran and hid behind Brock.
"E-either we g-go in there and c-check on A-Ash, or we s-stay out here. I-I pick stay o-out here." Gary stuttered.
"For once I think I'm the voice of reason. If we stay out here, something bad might happen to Ash, guys. If we go inside, we might find out what's causing this." Paul told them, being the only one not stuttering or shaking.
"T-then you go i-inside, Paul." Dawn suggested, also shaking crazily. Paul sighed.
"Fine. But when I show all of you that there is nothing to be afraid of, will you come inside?" he asked. Everyone nodded. He turned back and went up the steps. Just as he put his hand around the door handle, a blood-curdling scream pierced the air, scaring practically everyone. Paul let go of the handle and stepped back, looking up at the sound. Everyone else ran to the front gate, hiding behind it.
"W-w-what w-w-w-was t-t-that?!" Misty asked, looking ready to flee at any moment.
"I don't know, but I still need to prove to all of you that there's nothing wrong with this place and staying the night here." Paul answered, gripping the door handle again. Just as he opened the door, a small, yellow blur shot out of the house and jumped into Misty's arms, yelling: "MISTY!"
"P-Pikachu! What are you doing out here?" Misty asked the pokemon, surprised. He waved his small arms frantically, yelling something too fast for them to understand. They only caught parts of it, such as: "Mansion", "Creepy", "Misty", and "GHOST!"
"Hold on!" Max interrupted, "Did you just say ghost, Pikachu?"
"Of course I did! There was a GHOST in there, I tell you! A GHOST! G-H-O-S-T!" Pikachu ranted, waving his arms and being too panicked to notice Ash wasn't there.
"Calm down, Pikachu." Gary told him, "Now, please tell us what happened from the beginning."
"A-alright. Well, after I went inside, I went up the steps to the second floor. After I did, I explored the floor and saw something scary, but also confusing. I saw another Misty! And when she saw me, we were silent for a minute, then she screamed and I ran back out here. And I think she was a GHOST!" Pikachu explained.
"Wait, did you say you saw another Misty?" Paul asked, still at the doors.
"Yes, now how many times do I have to tell you kids?! I. Saw. Another. Misty. And. I. Think. She. Was. A. GHOST!" Pikachu told him, "Now, all we need to do is leave this place and we'll be fine!"
"Uh, Pikachu? There's only one problem with that plan." Trip interrupted.
"And that is?!"
"Ash might be inside the mansion since he isn't here." At that point, Pikachu fainted in Misty's arms.
"What happened to Pikachu?" May asked.
"I think he just fainted." Drew answered.
"Well, we might as well go inside and search for Ash. There's no such thing as ghosts, so we have no reason to be afraid." Cilan put in, going up to the front porch. They all looked at each other and sighed, walking to the mansion as well.
"We're going to regret going inside later, I can feel it." Brock muttered as they went inside.
"Wow. This place is just as big on the inside as it is on the outside!" Iris said, amazed.
"Yeah, but we need to find Ash. We might as well search this floor first." Gary suggested. They nodded and started to walk around, searching for their friend or something that might have told them that he had been there. As Drew was looking around, he noticed something under the table he was walking by. He got on his knees and grabbed it, bringing it into the light. He stayed there, shocked at the thing.
"G-guys! You won't believe what I just found!" he called.
"Does it belong to Ash?" Misty asked as they all came over. He got up and shook his head.
"I don't know, but look at this picture!" he told them, pointing to it.
"What's so special about-" May was stopped as she saw the picture. Then she said: "T-that can't be-!"
"That's what I thought when I saw it, but know one else I know looks like you, May. Either this is a picture of someone else that looks a lot like you, or this is a very good phony." Drew cut in.
"But, it looks really old..." Iris said.
"Yeah. It looks like it was taken over sixty or seventy years ago." Dawn said.
"Maybe it belongs to whoever lives here." Trip suggested.
"Or lived here." Gary put in, "Anyway, we might not want to stick around for long. We need to find Ash as fast as we can."
"Right." Drew said, putting the picture on the tabletop. As he did, he noticed something else on the table, but that was hiding from sight. He reached over and picked it up just as the others went back to investigate the rest of the room. He slowly examined it. It looked like a flute of some sort, but he wasn't sure. What he was sure of, however, was that it had a special feeling to it. He felt like he was drawn to it, or that it was pulling him to it. Either way, it felt special to him for some reason. Drew shook his head, though, and put it back on the table. Just as he was about to walk away, he saw something rust-colored out of the corner of his eye, racing towards him. It went past him, making him jump. When he looked at it again, he saw it was a strange animal, holding a strange type of shoe in its mouth.
"What the-?" he said. But he was interrupted by the animal running off, down the hallway facing him.
"Where did Pikachu go this time?" Ash asked as he walked along the halls, "Usually it's the other way around, but not this time. Where could he have gone?" He walked down the hallway, occasionally peeking into a few rooms. He hadn't seen any sign of Pikachu or anything else. Just as he rounded a corner, he almost ran into a boy. The boy looked a lot like Drew, except he was wearing different clothes. And he also looked like he was looking for something, too.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't know someone else was here. I just came here to look for a friend of mine who wandered inside." Ash explained.
"No, it's alright. I was also looking for someone, too. My name is Drew." the boy told him. Ash's eyes widened in surprise.
"Wait. Your name is Drew?"
"Yes, so?"
"Well, another friend of mine looks like you and has the same name."
"Really? Anyway, we are getting off topic. What is your name?"
"Ash. Oh, and since we're both searching for someone, why don't we look together?"
"I don't mind. I just need to find that mutt who stole my shoe."
"Your shoe?"
"Yes, if you hadn't noticed." Ash glanced down and saw what Drew was talking about. His left shoe was missing, leaving him slightly barefoot, "Besides, the culprit I am looking for is a reddish-brown dog named Rusty. He belongs to my friend, but tends to steal shoes sometimes. Specifically, mine or one that has no owner."
"Oh." Ash answered, embarrassed, "Well, I've searched the entire second floor, so he can't be here."
"I haven't seen him on the third floor, so that leaves the cellar and the first floor left."
"Wait, this place has a cellar?"
"Of course it does! Any house like this one has at least one or two."
"I thought this was a mansion. Anyway, you seem to know more about this place than I do. I think you should lead the way."
"Thank you, and I don't mind doing it." Drew told him, walking past him. Ash followed close behind, watching him as he did a series of turns and twists that ultimately lead to a staircase. It curved downward, towards the first floor. Drew took cautious steps down it as Ash followed, taking assured ones. Soon, they reached the bottom, which was the kitchen.
"This way. It leads to the entrance hall of the house." Drew explained going down another hallway.
"You sure know a lot more about this place than I thought. Do you live here or something?" Ash asked. He thought he might have seen Drew slow his pace a bit, but he wasn't sure.
"No, I don't really live here. My friend that I mentioned earlier owns the house, but he really doesn't live here either."
"What do you mean by that? Either it's you live here, you stay the night, or you don't live here at all."
"I guess you could say it's the second one. Besides me, Rusty, and my friend, three others spend the night here."
"Who are the three others?"
"They are the only girls here, and their names are Dawn, Misty, and May." Ash stopped and stood there, shocked, after hearing those names. Drew noticed this and looked back.
"What's wrong, Ash?"
"Well, the three you mentioned have the same name as three of my other friends, who are also girls."
"Wow. That sounds like a bit strange, don't you think? Four of your friends have the same names as me and three of my friends. It doesn't seem normal."
"Yeah, what a coincidence. Oh, and does Misty have red hair, Dawn have blue, and May have brown?"
"Yes, but how did you know?"
"Well, they must look like my three friends, then. Just like how you look like my friend, Drew."
"I see." Drew nodded, turning back to the hallway, "Anyway, we need to keep moving and searching." As they continued walking, Drew asked: "Who is the friend you're looking for, though? You didn't tell me."
"His name's Pikachu. He's my best friend. And why did you call Rusty a dog? From where I come, we don't have dogs."
"I've never heard of a name like that. But some I have heard of were Leaf, Blue, Green, and others. And for your second question, dogs are really common here. I'll tell you more about it later."
"Okay. But, those are really weird names. I wonder who would name their child those."
"Yes, those aren't normal names, but neither is your friend's."
"Well, he's... special. Do you know about any strange creatures know as Pokemon?"
"What?"
"I guess not. Anyway, They're supposed to be legends and myths, but my friend has been convinced into believing they're real because he was named after one."
"Really? I've never heard of such creatures, and neither have my friends."
"Most don't. And why do you talk like you're living in the old ages?"
"I don't know. I guess always talk this way, so I guess I never thought about it. But I don't talk like that as much as my friend does. The one who owns Rusty, I mean."
"What's his name, though? You didn't tell me."
"I can't tell you, otherwise I think he might get mad at me. He wants to keep his name a secret from people who aren't his friends. He does it so that we will be protected from... someone. We don't know what his name is, but my friend has seen him once or twice before, and he is evil, that's for sure. He looks a lot like my friend, though, but we can still tell them apart. If we weren't able to, we might be in big trouble."
"I hope we don't run into him. I also hope my friends don't either." Ash told him. Drew nodded as they continued walking down the hallway.
"What was that just now?" Axew asked, popping out of Iris' hair at the sound of the animal.
"I don't know, but I think it might have been a pokemon. It sure was fast, though." Max said, looking down the hallway that the dog went to.
"Well, from what I saw of it, it looked like some sort of Espeon. Except its tail was think and not split, it was rust-colored, its ears were shorter and floppy, and it was carrying a strange shoe in its mouth." Drew told them, glancing back at the hallway a few times. The animal had almost barreled him over, and he didn't want to try for a second time.
"That doesn't sound like any pokemon I know of, and I know of almost every kind." Gary said.
"Maybe it's a new type that only lives here, in this mansion. It might even be a legendary!" May exclaimed, beaming at the thought.
"I don't think it is, otherwise it would have avoided us altogether or attacked." Paul put in.
"He's right. If it was a legendary, it would have done either of those things. It might actually be an animal that isn't a pokemon." Brock said.
"Since we're in this weird place, it makes sense. But, whatever it was, is probably long gone now." Trip agreed.
"Yeah, but we still need to find Ash!" Misty told them.
"Well, we might have to split into groups or continue searching together. This place is just too big for us to search on our own." Cilan added. Then, Pikachu started to wake up.
"...W-where am I...?" he asked, slowly blinking and opening his eyes.
"We're inside the mansion, Pikachu." May told him. He blinked, then lay back in Misty's arms and moaned: "Oh, why did we even stumble across this place in the first place?"
"No clue, buddy. No clue." Axew agreed, ducking back into Iris' hair.
Thank you for giving me the idea, RosieShiba. Your story is great, even though I haven't gotten up to Chapter 23 yet. Anyway, please tell me what you think in a review and I'll work on the next chapter!