Echos
It's stuck, mom, I ca- crackle, fade. Drifloon was used to this mental interference. ssssww-ww-w-w-hich one is it? The red one or the blu- for a moment, drifloon was filled with anxiety, as potent and tangible as the air that kept it afloat. It passed, however. That was part of it too; detached emotions, shifting in and shifting out. Drifloon quivered, and glided on, carried in a different direction by the wind. It had no destination. They were empty shells. Like empty shells, when you put your ear to them, you could hear a whisper…
Children hooting and laughing, wild abandon, unending, unimaginable joy- But it did end, like everything else, and Drifloon was again a void. No personality could grow in this shell-shocked wasteland. Drifloon was a grave, a tombstone, a reminder.
Nobody came to this house. They said it was haunted by the people who died in the fire. Some claimed it was arson, that the spirits of the family wander the earth in hopes of getting revenge on the ones who killed them. But the Drifloon knew, it was electrical fire. Either way, nobody doubted the superstitions about the place. Anybody can go and see for themselves. See the shadows of the pine trees close around it like a fist, when the sun sets. Hear the whispering in the eaves, the unnatural mutterings all around that could almost be, but wasn't quite, the wind.
Drifloon wandered, empty and lost. Plagued by memories that weren't it's own, it longed for things it didn't understand; for warmth. For it's mother. For spring.
OooOO? Hollow cries carried on the breeze. OOOoooo, Drifloon answered the call of it's brethren. Another joined in the ghostly chorus, and several more. The eerie lullaby resonated for miles around, chilling the spines of all who heard it. Pokemon scurried into their dens, children slunk into their parent's beds. Ring around the rosy, pocke-ssZZZ ssssssss ies Ashes, ashes, we all fall…
The static transmission from the underworld cut off. The hooting of the spirit beasts eased out, once by one, and Drifloon floated on in silence.