A/N: Here is chapter 3! I would like to thank mysticdragon01 and Pure Gamer for the excellent reviews. They continue to inspire me and lend strength to my motivation!
Searing winds were cut through his tough hide. He was only slightly aware of what was happening.
Perhaps…I am being judged for a failure.
He had no idea why the strange thought had surfaced. He could recall no test or task that he could possibly have been assigned to complete, although something told him that he was missing a critical piece of information…
Whatever he thought next was lost as a searing pain went through his head, and brightness blinded him. He lost all sense of motion, and the wind abated suddenly.
It was the white again. He felt the strange sensation of floating, exactly as he had felt while gasping for air. Somehow, he was in a different place, judging from the realization that breathing was no longer a challenge. He saw the hazy shape again in the distance, but the whiteness did not allow him to make out its true form. He could only watch as it floated a few feet in front of him, turning what looked like a head, mournfully. He groaned in pain.
The strange shape didn't move at all, as if it had expected him to be this way…as if it had expected him all along…
Before he could create another thought, he felt a horrible sensation, like he had been punched hard in the belly, and the lashing wind was back. There was a steady rhythm, one of deliberate up and down motion, that he hadn't noticed before.
I must be…going somewhere…but where?
He then lost consciousness for a third, perhaps final, time.
. . .
The Espeon would not give up. She couldn't tell if the Quilava was simply heavy to begin with, or if it was her own fatigue that amplified the weight of the burden. She was almost to the lake's edge…just a few yards more…
She stopped involuntarily, as if someone had frozen her solid. She felt her blood turn to ice, as a chill ran directly from the tips of her ears to the ends of her toes.
There was something very, very wrong here.
And it did not seem real.
Out of the gale, six shapes materialized, their physical selves unclear and formed from pure blackness. Slowly, a collective ripple passed through the group, surrounding the Espeon in a foreboding circle. Then…the shadows took on a definite shape, with eyes that lit up the storm-drenched air, an unrefined, out of place green.
The Espeon could now tell what they were.
She and the Quilava were surrounded by a group of Haunter.
But through her innate telepathy, the Espeon could tell that these were anything but normal Haunter. They seemed driven by something that was not their own free will. Normal Haunter had white eyes that glowed a sinister red, but these were strange. The light emanating from their eyes looked unfocused and too deep for it to be natural…
It surprised the Espeon even more when they began to speak.
"Ggggiiiivvvvveeee…uuuusssssss…"
Their tones were in perfect unison, sending chills up her spine. She found that with all her strength, she could not move a muscle.
She could only turn an brightly shining eye to glance at the Quilava with growing concern. He, for the Espeon had deduced that he must be male, was lost in his own private hell, oblivious to the waves of fear, clashing with the earlier calm ocean waves, seeping from the circle of Haunter.
The ghosts decided that they could wait no longer for the Espeon to understand them. Together, they all raised their bodiless hands, palms facing inward. Within the pocket that the hands created, tiny, growing spheres of darkness began to form.
Fear dropped like a stone in the Espeon's throat as she realized what the Haunter were doing.
They were preparing to launch a massive Shadow Ball attack.
The Espeon knew that there was no way she could repel that kind of attack. She forced her mind to shrug off its fear encased barrier.
Confusion! she thought desperately.
She focused with all her being, more than she had ever focused in her entire existence.
The Haunter paid no attention to the mental maneuvering, if they had noticed at all. The Shadow Balls were growing in size…
But the attack wasn't directed at the Haunter. Something ahead, shrouded in the densest fog, shone with indigo light. Suddenly, the piercing, commanding peal of a bell was heard, cutting through the storm like a blade through flesh. It could be heard across the entire lake, possibly even the entire mountain.
The Haunter were too single-minded to take any notice. The Shadow Balls were almost complete…
With a thunderous roar the lake split open, and a gigantic, savage creature towered into the air. It was snakelike, with a blue scales and a wide mouth. Its eyes flashed an angry orange, and another sphere, similar, but not quite, to the Haunters' gathered at its mouth. It was a blinding yellow, burning with intensity. Within barely a second, it was unleashed.
A beam with the strength of thousands of stars hurtled at the cluster of Haunter. They let out a ghostly, bone-chilling wail as it touched their shadowflesh, dematerializing within an instant.
The Espeon, not entirely recovered, felt her concentration break. The red gem on her forehead dimmed, and she collapsed on the shoreline of the lake.
She was barely able to choke out "Gyarados!" before letting the water take her.
. . .
It was definitely not bright, he knew, but he could still sense a vague, lingering feeling of the white feeling, as if the second he were to lose control would be the same moment that he would fall into its clutches. But there was something unknown that kept him tied to the real world, if it was real at all. His mind was connected with another, one that would not let go.
. . .
The Espeon was fighting with her own weary body by the time she was closer to where she was headed to. She could barely see, but she knew she had to go on. A small, childish voice inside her head sneered at her, asking why she was willing to go to a place she had never could never bring herself to go to before, and that it would be so much easier to leave the Quilava in the hands of fate and bound away into the storm. But she stifled the voice, thrusting it out of her head. With gritted teeth, she moved forward.
Within a few feet, she saw her destination. Her paw reached the door, and she raised her head and laughed, out of relief and disbelief. The last thing she heard was the chatter of several concerned voices before blacking out completely.
A/N: Before anyone asks, I am well aware that Normal-type moves are not supposed to effect Ghost-types. However, in the Mystery Dungeon games, you CAN hit Ghost-types with normal moves (just as a bit of trivia).
