Oh, Ben, I'm going to fucking kill you for this
She knew from the moment it was made that this bet had been a terrible idea.
Catching a ghost in the Lost Tower at Route 209. At night, taking only one pokemon.
Mysticism over ghost types had been clarified years ago by this point; their unique biologies weren't mistaken for supernatural ocurrences or acts of demons. However, they were well known for being unpredicable tricksters.
For a seasoned trainer, catching a ghost would be useful. For someone with Helen and Ben's experience, it would be a feat and certainly worth bragging rights.
And one hell of a challenge.
As she stood before the large gates that led into the colossal tower, bag of supplies strapped to her back, she realised this had been a terrible idea. "Well shit... we gotta do this."
"Dee..."
"Don't you give me that look, Buzz." Helen grunted as she looked down at her grumpy elekid, whose arms were crossed in indignation as he glared up at his trainer. "Blaming me won't help you. Now let's get this over with."
Both human and pokemon grabbed onto the iron gates and pushed them open, producing a loud noise that echoed through the insides of the tower. Helen bit her lip with a shudder as she stared inside the poorly lit hallway leading in, not too eager to do this. Buzz didn't step in either, trying to hide his uneasiness as he waited for his trainer to move.
"Buzz... charge up. Light the way." She whispered. The electric pokemon nodded and took a step forward, briefly spinning his arms to build up electricity before lighting his horns like a beacon, illuminating their surroundings far better than those dim lights could. The elekid slowly waddled inside of the building, Helen right behind him.
"Damn... this place is even creepier at night." She murmured, to which Buzz chittered in agreement. The atmosphere inside the Lost Tower was heavy and still, as if the tower was holding its breath. Their footsteps echoed on the granite floor as they walked, and Helen could swear they could be heard for miles on end. This was a problem. There was no sneaking in anymore, every ghost in the tower probably knew they were there by that point.
"Dee..." Buzz muttered as he stood close to his trainer, on guard for anything hostile. Helen could sense his tension, the static of his body crackling softly.
"Hey, you know the plan." She whispered as she leaned down slightly, looking warily around. "Paralyze it, and I'll do the res- OH SHIT"
She was cut off by her own shriek once a pair of zubat flew by, their blue shapes briefly visible beneath the light before disappearing. Helen stumbled back in her shock and tripped into a tombstone, falling down to the floor on her rear and whimpering. "Ah, damnit..."
"Dee!" Buzz squeaked, rushing over to help his friend, before suddenly freezing at the sound of a soft, feminine giggle.
Helen froze up as well, ignoring the pain as she looked at her surroundings with eyes wide as saucers. Even as the elekid increased his electricity to generate more light, neither of them could see anything beyond the shadows of the tombstones aside from a few other zubat hanging onto a ledge at the ceiling. But they couldn't have made the sound.
"H-hello?" She hesitantly called out, looking around with wide eyes while slowly moving her hand down to her belt, where she carried a few pokeballs. Only a pokemon could be doing this. No kid would be so stealthy. "Show yourself!"
Nothing happened for a short while, and the only thing both human and elekid could hear were their own rapid breathing and occasional chitters from the zubat.
Helen felt a shiver up her spine. The air around them grew colder. A hunch told her that whatever was in that room with them... was right behind them.
Buzz was the first to notice. The elekid screeched and jumped back, prompting his trainer to briskly turn around and shriek. She couldn't exactly tell what the pokemon was in the darkness of her shadow, she could only distinguish a pair of red and yellow eyes hovering right before her, way too close for comfort. The girl screamed again and desperately crawled backwards from the creature, eyes wide in fear. The elekid seemingly recovered from his surprise and fired a ring of electricity towards the ghost, but it simply vanished then and there, causing the bolt to char a nearby wall.
"Buzz are you alright?" Helen squeaked as stood up with a pokeball in hand, ready to make a throw as she spun in a circle to try to locate the offender. Buzz nodded with a growl, building up even more electric power for a bigger zap.
Right as the trainer looked down at her pokemon, those red eyes popped up behind him, but this time the light of Buzz' electricity lit its body. It was a really small creature resembling a disembodied head, but it didn't look as freaky as Helen had expected; it was rather cute, actually. The ghost swatted what looked like hair out of its face and opened a smirk, and before the girl could react, it let out a bellowing screech right into the elekid's ear.
That was when hell broke loose.
Helen hardly had time to dive behind a nearby tombstone before Buzz let loose the biggest discharge she had seen him use, screaming in terror as he fired all the electricity he could muster in every direction. Rings of lightning crossed the air all over the room, charring walls and cracking tombs, nearly hitting the trainer's head a few times. The zubat at the ceiling fled, startled, and sped away through the exit, disappearing into the darkness.
The room went dark after the outburst, and Helen took the opportunity to glance over the tombstone. Buzz was sitting there, panting in exhaustion while his gaze bore into the dark figure from before, now laying limp on the floor and sparking. The trainer slowly stood up and walked towards the duo, before crouching down and carefully touching the elekid's shoulder. "Are you okay? Hurt?"
Buzz nodded at the firet question and shook his head at the second, pointing down at the ghost. "Dee..."
Helen quickly looked down at the ghost and leaned closer to have a better look once Buzz lit up again, narrowing her eyes. Now she really recognized it. It was a misdreavus, twitching on the floor from the electricity it had taken. The trainer felt her heart sink a bit; she knew about the misdreavus kind. They weren't evil, just mischievous. This one wasn't trying to hurt them. "Buzz... I think we screwed up."
"Dee?" The elekid stared in bewilderment up at his trainer, pointing at the belt of pokeballs and then at the ghost. "Dee!"
"Huh? Oh, yes!" Helen snatched a pokeball from her belt and held it close to the misdreavus, ready to tap it. But something made her stop.
The misdreavus had awoken and its eyes were open. Helen hesitated. The little ghost was paralyzed, it seemed, since it was still spasming and didn't move. It couldn't resist. But its eyes... had fear. That's what they were. Fearful.
Really, pretty much every trainer did this. They would fight the pokemon, weaken or defeat it and then catch it. It was no rocket science.
But looking down at that injured misdreavus grunting on the floor with those wide eyes staring at her, Helen just couldn't bring herself to force it into her team just to win a bet.
"Sorry, little guy..." She whispered, shifting away. She took her bag off her back and shuffled with its insides for a moment before grabbing the medicine she was looking for. The trainer held the paralyze heal close to the misdreavus, who recoiled slightly.
"El?" Buzz protested, staring at his trainer with a puzzled look once he spotted the medicine. Wasn't she supposed to just catch it?
"Can't, Buzz... just look at it." Helen grunted, prompting the elekid to look down at the ghost. Those scared eyes instantly mellowed his heart, and the electric type merely sighed and signalled for Helen to go on. "Good. Hold still, Misdreavus..."
The ghost couldn't really fight back, but it looked calmer by Helen's words. The spray that hit it made it wince a little, but it could feel its body getting less tense in every spot the medicine hit it. Soon enough, the misdreavus could float back into the air and let out a happy giggle, before looking curiously at the human it had pranked.
"Ehh, couldn't get myself to catch you that way. Not my style." She said with a sheepish smile, trying her best to look friendly while the misdreavus eyed her down. Buzz chittered something, and the ghost seemed to brighten up, opening a small grin of its own and floating around the duo while giggling softly. Helen's smile grew at that, chuckling herself. That laugh was contagious.
"Dreee..." Misdreavus purred, leaning closer and gently bumping her head against Buzz's shoulder, causing the elekid to grin and engage in a conversation with the ghost. Helen could only watch in confusion, not understanding a word.
Misdreavus glanced at the trainer after a while and giggled gleefully, floating closer to touch its forehead against Helen's. The girl was surprised by the open affection, hesitantly leaning into it and smiling at the ghost, delighted by how... smooth its 'skin' was and how natural its hair felt. This was definitely not some demon. "You like me, hm, little guy?"
The ghost stopped smiling and huffed, scowling at Helen and leaning away. Buzz's eyes widened at that, vehemently shaking his head.
"O-oh..." Helen squeaked, realising the problem. "Uhh... girl?"
Misdreavus chuckled again and nodded, nuzzling Helen softly while grinning happily. The trainer reached up to slowly caress her tiny ghostly body, smiling.
After a while, she spoke again. "You like me, don't you, girl? You were just giving me a little fright."
The ghost giggled mischievously at that, nodding. Helen sighed softly, preparing herself to say what she had to.
"Say, Misdreavus..." she began, eyeing the ghost carefully and glancing at Buzz for support. "Would you like to... join our team? Be our friend?"
Misdreavus' eyes widened as she listened to Helen's words with full attention, mouth hanging agape once she realised what was going on. This trainer had the chance to capture her by force, but didn't. And now she was offering a free opportunity to join her team, no force, no pressure. Frankly, the ghost had been hinting at it for a while. She had liked this girl. the moment she was spared. But hearing it felt a whole lot better. Misdreavus nodded hastily, doing a little twirl and laughing joyfully.
"R-Really?" Helen gasped, eyes widening with excitement as she jumepd to her feet and laughed, reaching into her belt and snatching a pokeball out. "Hold still then!"
She gently tapped the pokeball on the willing ghost's head and watched as the device sucked her inside. The ball shook once, twice, thrice... and clicked, the front button flashing red to confirm the capture.
"We did it, Buzz!" She cried excitedly, dropping to her knees to hug her elekid tightly, laughing as her pokemon playfully zapped her. "Hey!"
"El Dee!" Buzz smirked as he winked up at his trainer, before pointing at the pokeball in her hand. Helen nodded and quickly released Misdreavus, who shot into the air with a twirl and a giggle.
"Happy to be here?" Helen grinned as she gently patted the ghost's head, leaning closer to meet her new pokemon's eyes. "Me too. Welcome to the team, Misdreavus."
"El!" Buzz greeted as well, reaching up to lightly pat the ghost before tilting his head. "El Dee?"
"Dree!" Misdreavus nodded, before staring expectantly at Helen with wide eyes. Back to charades.
"Uhh... a hug? Do you wanna leave? Stay? To be withdrawn?" She tried several times, all of which received negative shakes of head. Eventually, it clicked. "A nickname?"
Misdreavus smirked, nodding as she nudged Helen again and stared intently at the girl.
"Well..." Helen smirked back at the ghost, humming while eyeing the small pokemon down in search for a good name. Several ran through her mind: Shade, Ruby, Maggie, Banshee... until a good one came to mind. "How about... Piper?"
Misdreavus tilted her head at the sound of the name, seemingly evaluating it. She made a few chitters, as if testing it, before laughing gleefully and nuzzling Helen's cheek in approval. "Vuss!"
"Then Piper it is!" Helen laughed, grinning at both of her pokemon before looking over her shoulder, towards the entrance, and chuckling. "Hey Piper... what do you say we go give a guy a well deserved scare?"
Misdreavus, now Piper, opened a wide smirk at the offer, giggling as she happily nodded and exchanged a smirk with Buzz, who sparked in excitement and added Helen to their smirk.
"Well then... off we go." The trainer chuckled, spinning on her heels to start walking outside with the two troublemakers.
This was going to be fun.