DISCLAIMER: I don't own pokemon... which stinks, but it's the truth. If anyone would like to buy the pokemon company for me, that would be great, but until then, I have to put up this stupid disclaimer.

Spirits of the Past

Part 1: The Legend

"And so, with that final blow, Jenna calmed the legendary pokemon Palkia, and the crisis that would have destroyed our world was put to a halt. Cyrus fled, never to be seen again, and the world once more settled into its regular way of life.

"And that is the story I came here to tell. Did you guys like it?"

"Yeah!" The group of children shouted. The narrator of the story had been none other than the Champion Cynthia herself, expert on legends and legendary pokemon. She was currently on tour with the now-famous Jenna, trying to get word out about what had happened so recently in the Sinnoh region. She hoped that, by teaching about it, something like it would never happen again. And with both Cynthia and Jenna there, they were able to draw quite large crowds to listen to the tale.

Almost all of the children of Eterna City were there, as well as many of the adults. They had all gathered around the statue of Palkia, where Cynthia and Jenna had decided to tell the story. Now that the story was done, the enthusiastic children called out their request in strident voices.

"Can I have your autograph, Miss Cynthia?"

"I wanna see your awesome pokemon! What kind of pokemon do you have, Jenna?"

"Do you know any other stories, Miss Cynthia?"

Both Jenna and Cynthia ended up giving out numerous autographs, and both had to show off at least one pokemon. Cynthia sent out her Garchomp, while Jenna sent out her first pokemon: Sandy the Sandlash. Once all the children had been amazed to their heart's content, they ended up getting bored, with many wanting to go home. They had been listening to Cynthia and Jenna talk since lunchtime, and the sun was starting to near the horizon. Most of the kids, and a lot of the adults, were starting to get tired after the long day.

Eventually, Cynthia dispersed everyone. "Okay, let's all head home now. I'm sure we're all tired from sitting under the heat all day. Thanks for coming, everyone!" With this, everyone took the hint and began dispersing. Jenna and Cynthia stayed near the statue until it seemed everyone had gone. It was now dusk, and they were about to leave when Jenna noticed that one more person was standing a little ways away.

"Who's there?" She asked, causing Cynthia to turn and notice the straggler. The person stepped forward, and turned out to be someone that both Jenna and Cynthia knew: Gardenia, the gym leader of Eterna City.

As she stepped up, she said, "Gosh, did you really do all that stuff, Jenna? No wonder I couldn't beat you! I'd heard rumors about what had happened that day, but the truth was way wilder than the fiction. I'd heard that a girl had done it, but I would have never guessed it was the pipsqueak who beat me with only a Sandslash!" Despite her joking words, she acted nervous. She was fiddling with her hands as she talked, and she seemed to avoid making proper eye contact with either Jenna or Cynthia.

"Did you need something, Gardenia?" Cynthia asked, concernedly. She could tell that the gym leader was upset about something.

"Who said I needed anything?" Cynthia gave her a mock glare, meaning something along the lines of 'of course you need something.' Gardenia laughed in a nervous way, then said, "Okay, okay! I do need something. Cynthia, I was just wondering… do you know anything about the Old Chateau?"

"You mean that creepy building just west of here?" Jenna asked. "That place always gives me the creeps when I pass by. Is it haunted?"

Cynthia shrugged. "I'm not sure if it's haunted or not. But I do know the myth surrounding it. But it's getting dark here. Let's go back to our room at the pokemon center, and I'll tell you there.

Once they arrived back in the room, Gardenia and Jenna sat on the bed at one side of the room, facing Cynthia on the bed at the other side of the room.

"The tale of the Old Chateau is a sad one. A tale of murder, betrayal, greed, and perhaps a bit of insanity – not a tale for a stormy night, I assure you. Are you sure you're ready?" Whether or not they were ready, Cynthia was already in her element – myths and legends were her specialty, and no one was better at retelling them. Jenna nodded, excited at the prospect of a ghost story. Gardenia already looked frightened, but she did not protest.

"Very well. The story starts long ago – no one knows exactly how long. A small family of three lived in the mansion now known as the Old Chateau. They lived out in the forest, so that they could be undisturbed by the trivialities of regular society. The man of the house was a successful scientist, who made leaps and bounds in the fields of Pokemon biology and physiology. His wife and daughter lived in the house with him, as well as their butler.

"Everyone was happy – it was nearly a perfect life. But of course, all good things must come to an end. The mother died from an unknown cause, and the scientist went into a state of shock. They say he went crazy with his studies, being seen only at meals. Many speculate that he was trying to unlock the secrets of life – so that he could one day revive his dead wife, whom he could not live without. The girl felt neglected, but she still loved her father. The butler, however, felt that the family fortune was being put to waste with these ridiculous studies. He knew that he was second in line for the fortune, with only the daughter before him. He decided to kill them both.

"Since he cooked all their meals, he decided to poison them. Of course, since he ate with them at dinner, he would have to ingest the poison as well. That's why he bought an antidote to cure himself afterwards. But the little girl was no idiot. She saw the antidote and realized what the butler was doing. She tried to warn her father, but he and the butler had always been good friends rather than master and servant. He would not believe her. She hid the antidote in the trash can, intending to use it to cure her father. The butler served a special dessert that night – a poisoned gateau. When they ate dinner that night, the girl left on excuse that she had to go to the bathroom. She snuck into the kitchen and hid the antidote in the trash, then used substitute to send a replica of herself back to eat."

"Wait a minute, only pokemon can learn substitute, can't they?" Jenna asked incredulously. She looked over and saw that Gardenia was literally shivering, scared out of her wits by the story so far.

"Who knows?" Cynthia replied. "Some say this girl had amazing psychic powers, developed from her long hours of loneliness. And she used these powers to actually learn substitute by somehow using a TM. Either way, the substitute was the one that got poisoned. The scientist went back to his lab, taking the food with him. He was nearing a breakthrough, and never finished the dessert he had taken with him. It was left to sit on the floor, somewhere out of the way. The butler returned to the kitchen immediately after dinner, but found that the antidote was gone. He looked for it everywhere he could think that he would have put it, but the poison was fast-acting and he soon died.

"When the scientist found out, he went into denial. First his wife had died, then his best friend. Life was no longer worth living, unless he could bring them back. He would not listen to the daughter's explanation of events, and locked himself in his lab, eating no food and drinking very little water for almost a week. The daughter pounded and pounded on the door, but he refused to open it for a daughter who accused his best friend of murder. He continued working, so close to bringing a new pokemon to life. The body of the servant was left in the kitchen.

"Then, the man had a breakthrough – by electrifying a blob of plasma, he created the pokemon Rotom. It is an extremely rare pokemon – not even I have ever seen one. But then the father died. Some say it was a heart attack or a stroke. Others say that the Rotom killed him with its electricity. More say he was simply in a state of exhaustion. Whatever it was, when the girl finally managed to open the door, she found her father dead. And the poor, innocent girl lost the will to live.

"It was perhaps several weeks later when the bodies were finally discovered. The only real facts we know is that the butler's body was found in a messy kitchen, and that the dead girl was found clutching the shirt of her dead father in the lab. The police took most of the lab equipment for study, but it was never put back. Only some books and some records of his experiments remained in what had been the greatest lab in all of Sinnoh.

"And now, the building gives out an ominous feeling. They say that the inhabitants are forever bound to that house by the tragedies that befell them, and continue to haunt it to this day. Rumor has it that further evidence can be found in the building itself, but none dare to go in there. And so goes the tragic story of the Old Chateau."

"Now that I've finished, I can only help but wonder why someone like you would want to hear that story. Would you mind telling me?"

Jenna looked curiously over at Gardenia. While Jenna herself had enjoyed the story, Gardenia was tightly gripping the cloth of her shorts. She was visibly shaking, and her eyes were scrunched tightly shut. Now that she thought about it, it seemed odd that someone who was so visibly afraid of ghost stories would request one to be told – especially at night.

Without changing her position, Gardenia said in almost a whisper, "A little girl went missing a few nights ago… and I think she's in that mansion."

Hello everyone! This is my first fan-fic, originally started writing it to post on the pokemon forum: poketto no takara at poketto.proboards104 .com .(That's all supposed to be together in a web address, but every time I try to make it work, it won't let me put it together. Is there a rule against putting web addresses in your fanfics?) Anyway, hope you like it, please comment whether you do or don't. Also, I'm really looking for any comments/suggestions on my writing style, so if you'd like to point out that you hate some certain aspect of how I write, please tell me! Other than that, just want to give props to I'm Afraid of Jellyfish for telling me about this site. And Vampire Freak Forever for just being awesome. It probably won't end up being too terribly long, but who knows... I don't even know for sure how it will end yet. GO RANDOMNESS!