Chapter 10: An unexpected encounter
"Well, I knew this would happen!" Giles sighs with his arms crossed.
We are walking through Route 14 with the dark, starry sky just above us. It took us way more time to get there than we thought, since we got caught in an unexpected traffic jam. We spent about half an hour there, waiting for the other cars to keep going on. The driver was already desperate, muttering words in Kalosian that didn't sound nice at all. It turns out that the cause of the jam was a stubborn driver who wanted to change the tires himself, on the middle of the road. Luckily, somebody else came and did it for him, finally allowing all of the cars to keep driving to their respective destinations.
"How far are we from that mysterious house?" Steven asks in a low tone, just in case we disturb the wild pokémon on the area.
"We still have to walk quite a bit and mind you, there's a swampy area ahead. You guys better have a pokémon able to surf!"
"I have my Milotic, Venus. Will that work for the three of us?" I ask.
"Yes, that should be enough." Giles answers while nodding his head.
Walking through the path has gotten difficult all of sudden, a bunch of tall trees growing at either side of the track are obscuring the way even more.
"We are going to need her…" Giles reaches for a pokéball in his pocket and releases his Ampharos from it. "Ampharos, please use flash to help us see better!"
Attending to her trainer's request, she emits a bright light by illuminating the ball on the end of her tail. Now the visibility is much better! Although the place still feels a bit intimidating… The only thing that can be heard is the wind rustling the leaves on the trees every now and then. There's no one here except for us, now I can see why Giles didn't want to be here at night!
We are starting to see a clearer area ahead of us, although it's not like darkness is a big problem since we have Ampharos with us! Still, the darkness of this place is kinda eerie, maybe the fact that there's an abandoned house rumored to be haunted near us has something to do. Luckily, we don't have to worry about a thing, our pokémon are with us and we will help each other in case something or someone attacks us!
"Do you hear that?" Giles stops all of sudden. "We are close to the swamp and it looks like the pokémon are active now!"
"It's not that late yet, maybe some of them don't feel tired. Plus, if we don't bother them, I doubt they will be a problem for us." Steven murmurs as we resume our walk.
Some grass is visible at the end of the aisle formed by the rows of trees; it also gets a bit lighter around that point. We are not too far away from that area! Giles's Ampharos keeps walking in front of us, guiding us through the poorly illuminated path, which is now way more visible thanks to her flash. I would say this is quite the experience, but I'm actually used to walk through this kind of places at night. So many memories from my journey as a trainer trying to get all the badges!
After walking a bit more, we are finally out of the intimidating aisle formed by these boggy trees. The landscape is now considerably different: swampy waters full of dead logs are all around the route now, the smell of the air has also changed and it's a bit nauseating, but I guess we will be able to stand it. We have a place to reach, after all!
Although, as soon as we approach the swamp, we discover the water is actually not too deep. At least is not in most of the area.
"So… What do you think, will we need Venus or not?" I say taking a look at the dark blue waters. The water is so muddy that nothing seems to be reflected on it!
"I think we should try walking through it and, if it gets too difficult, then you can send out Venus." Steven answers, also taking a careful look at the marsh in front of us.
"Exactly! But, in my eyes, I believe this pokémon here has already done her job. Thank you so much, Ampharos!" Giles says as he withdraws the Electric type into her pokéball. Now he ventures into the swamp and we start following him.
Indeed, walking through this area is a bit hard. And you must be careful not to trip with the dead logs scattered all around the swamp. There's also even more trees, but they don't obscure the way this time. At least that will help us avoid those logs! Although I'm also worried about the pokémon that could be inside the water right now, what if we are disturbing them?
And that's exactly what the sound of rippling water is making me think, it's like if something near us was moving. I'm sure it's an annoyed pokémon!
"I think we are disturbing the pokémon here. How far are we from the house?" I ask Giles as I try to approach him. These waters remind me a lot of Hoenn's Route 19; just change the muddy water with extremely tall grass!
"We still have quite a bit of a way to go, soon we will reach a patch of firm ground, but we will have to return to the water shortly after, we won't stop walking through the swamp literally until we reach the house." Giles is also having a bit of a hard time with all these fallen logs in the way. "Also, don't worry about the pokémon; they are mostly peaceful and inoffensive on this area!"
"You know this region very well, so I know we can trust you!" I say while dodging a huge log.
"Yes, I don't think a guide such as good as him would lie to us!" Steven exclaims.
"You flatter me, Mr. Stone!" Giles forces a high pitched voice, pretending to sound like a girl. I don't know how to react to that, but I can't help but laugh.
"Mr. Stone is my father and as long as I know, I'm not my father!" Steven jokes in response. "I better don't trip now that I carry this…" Steven mutters to himself, he is now the one carrying with him the basket containing the egg.
Suddenly, I hear the water ripple again. "Guys, did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Giles asks without stopping his steps.
"I heard the water ripple again just now!" I answer while walking slowly, looking around me.
"That was probably caused by us so, don't worry Emily!" Steven sounds very confident. Maybe he is right, after all!
But the rippling sound returns, this time louder than before. This time, instead of saying anything, I quickly look in the direction where the sound came from and there it is: a purplish pokémon with some pretty unusual green eyes looking at me, its horns move as it slowly approaches me. This pokémon seems to have a friendly attitude; I doubt it's going to attack us! "Wait a moment guys!" I exclaim as I approach the purple pokémon, who is still moving in my direction.
Now that I have it closer, I can take an even better look: its body seems to be made of goo! It kinda reminds me of Gulpin and Swalot, only that the body of these pokémon has a more solid look to it. I think it's time to grab the Pokédex so I can find out what the name of this species is!
"Sliggoo, the Soft Tissue Pokémon. Its four horns are a high-performance radar system. It uses them to sense sounds and smells, rather than using ears or a nose"
"Will you catch it or what?" Giles says loudly since he and Steven are a few steps ahead of me and Sliggoo.
"Huh…" I look back at the cute pokémon. For some reason, she seems to like me. Suddenly, she opens her mouth in what I guess it's a smile. There's some goo dripping from her lower jaw and that makes her expression a bit odd… but still really cute. "Would you like to join my team?" I crouch in front of the Sliggoo as she lets out several happy cries. That sounds like a yes! "Great! Just wait a second."
I stand up again and I reach for one of the empty Super Balls that I carry inside my ball. I show Sliggoo the spherical device and she doesn't seem to mind. I aim the Super Ball at her and I throw it, sucking the purple and green pokémon into it. The device rocks one, two and three times and a clicking sound can be heard, signifying that this adorable new pokémon has joined my team. Awesome, another Kalos pokémon for me! But this time, she won't be sent to Hoenn.
"That was an awesome catch!" Steven compliments as I walk towards them. "Did you think of a nickname this time?"
"Hmm…" I ponder as I catch up to them and we start walking again. "What about Lumi? I thought of it all of sudden! It sounds cute to me."
"Cute and more than fitting, you have caught her in a route near Lumiose City!" Giles observes with a smile. I haven't thought about that!
"That's true!" The coincidence makes me laugh, I can't help it!
We are very close to firm ground but, as Giles said, the patch of ground is very small and it's only a couple of steps before we have to go back to walk through the swamp. Luckily, it looks like the water ahead of us is not as crowded with logs as it has been until now. Indeed, steeping on the ground feels great after walking with difficulty through the marsh, but sadly this march through the swamp starts again very soon.
Surprisingly, I notice how my legs have grown used to walking through the boggy terrain, now it's not so hard to walk here. Steven and Giles seem to be experiencing the same, which means that luckily we will make it to the abandoned house a bit faster than we thought! Speaking of the house, it can be seen already.
"This is going to be pretty interesting to say the least…" Giles mutters taking a look at the building which silhouette gets bigger and bigger the more we walk towards it.
It looks like it used to be home to a wealthy family. In that sense it sorta reminds me of the Shabboneau Castle, although both places are very different. The mansion on this route is evidently abandoned, there's no one caring for the mansion… Or at least that's what I would think, unless the rumors are true and the ghosts are the ones maintaining the house.
From there, it's more than obvious that the façade hasn't been painted for decades and the rooftop has such a look that it makes me think that it could fall down at any moment. To be honest, I'm starting to feel uneasy to stay the night here… Although I don't think there will be any incident inside this old mansion. Who knows, maybe it looks way better indoors than it does on the outside!
The huge windows seem to be staring at us menacingly; they look all dusty and dirty. This must mean that we won't be able to see the outside, which sounds pretty unsettling to me, at least… I know I would feel more comfortable if I could see what's outside. Anyway, we only have to stay here for one night and then we will move on to Laverre City, where I'm sure everything will be nice and clean and there won't be any tales of haunted houses. At least, that's what I hope! Ah, it seems that I left the reputation of this mansion get me!
"Here we are, at last! Although I'm not so sure if saying 'at last' is correct…" Giles scratches the back of his head, eyeing the big and imposing door of the house.
"It's just an old house." Steven is trying to make Giles feel better, although I can notice an uneasy look in his eyes.
"Steven is right, there's nothing to worry about!" I try to sound as convincing as possible.
I will be honest, I'm not really sure about how should I feel. It only looks like a very old and unkempt mansion but at the same time, I can't help but think about the possibility of the rumors being true. What's more, I have a strange feeling, like if somebody was inside the house right now… Maybe I'm thinking too much, but the fact that the windows look even worse now that we are literally at the door of the mansion doesn't help. Okay, I will try to think about something else to avoid thinking about the reputation of this place. I can think of my newest pokémon, for example!
"Here we go!" Giles exclaims as he opens the door, which causes a terribly loud creaking sound.
The inside doesn't look any better. The first thing we see is a very old wooden staircase leading to a huge wood door with iron details. The paint is chipped and the wallpaper is soiled, recognizing the pattern on it is impossible. A very dim light coming from an old chandelier is the only light source of the room. There are also two doors, one at each side of the stairs. Trying to open either one of them doesn't sound like a very clever idea, but if we are going to stay the night in this house, we must look around to see where the bedrooms are… if there's any. What if all the important furniture is gone?
"Where should we look first?" Giles asks with a nervous expression.
"I say this door here," Steven says pointing to the right door "might be the one where the bedrooms are located."
"In my humble opinion, the rooms are probably behind that other door up here." Giles looks at the enormous door that pretty much dominates the place with its imposing appearance.
"I guess I should say that the bedrooms are behind the door on the left!" I try to contain a yawn, it's late and I'm starting to feel sleepy.
"I think we should look first on the place Steven suggested, then we go upstairs and after that, we go to the left door as Emily said… If we don't find any bedrooms before that, that is." Giles gestures us to walk behind him.
Again, this door makes an awful sound. Giles waits for Steven and me to walk into the hallway to close the door behind him, again causing that creepy squeaky sound. The corridor is wide enough to allow us to walk next to each other. The carpet covering the floors is so worn-out that it looks pink instead of the red color it must have had many years ago. Here the paint of the walls is also chipped and part of the wallpaper seems to have been torn out only recently. This doesn't look good at all…
"Let's see what we have in there…" Steven murmurs opening one of the doors, but the room is completely empty save for a couple of cardboard boxes covered in dust.
We walk a bit more until we reach another door. This time I'm the one opening and again, it's not what we were looking for… Although I'm pretty sure we will need to come to this room during the night. It's a small bathroom, although it's pretty dirty, like you would expect from a house like this one. I guess we will have to deal with it!
It's Giles's turn to open the next door; this one is right in front the one I just opened. As Giles opens it, the door reveals a pretty big kitchen. We venture into it out of curiosity, the walls and floors look pretty much like they do in what we have seen of this mansion so far, only that the floor is not as dusty as the parquet on the hall.
An enormous fridge stands in the back of the room with several wood counters around it. Right next to one of the counters, there's an old oven. It seems to be green, but it's hard to tell with the darkness of the room, although there's something that just caught my attention. "What's that…?" I mumble as I approach the table in the middle of the room. A half-eaten donut is just sitting there, as if somebody has been eating on this room just recently. I tell Giles and Steven to come here.
"What's the matter?" Steven approaches me as he barely manages to contain a yawn, he is tired too.
"This house is supposed to be abandoned, then… Who did this?" I hold the half donut in front of me. "It's clear this isn't old, somebody has been eating here recently!"
"It's true," Giles concedes "now I will start to think that there are actual ghosts in this house… Although maybe it's just that somebody uses this old house as a secret hideout."
"Maybe that's the case!" Steven exclaims. "At least, I hope that IS the case."
"Probably a little kid came here to play and left the donut on the kitchen as soon as they realized it was getting late." I theorize as I put the half-eaten sweet exactly where I grabbed it from.
Now we exit the kitchen with intention to inspect the last door left in this corridor, I'm pretty sure the other two have even more rooms to explore! For now, we have to check out the last one here although, seeing as how none of the rooms are one, I don't expect the next room to be a bedroom. But still, it could be that down there they had a guest room and the other ones are either on the first floor or the other halfway, the one at the other side of the stairs.
I think I just heard something move up there, but I ignore the thought since I'm pretty sure it's just on my mind. Aside of that, I don't want to sound like somebody who can be scared easily!
"Okay, show us what you have!" Giles exclaims all while opening the door, which is slightly bigger than the other ones.
As I thought, what we come across is not a bedroom, but a rather big reading room. The walls are covered in libraries and there are a couple of armchairs in the middle of the room. There's a small table between them, with a pretty old looking lamp on top of it. There's nothing else to see here, so Giles closes the door.
"I guess it's time to go upstairs…" Steven mumbles as we walk towards the door at the end of the aisle.
"No worries, I'm pretty sure the bedrooms will be there and then we will finally be able to rest!" Giles beams with enthusiasm.
Walking through these corridors is probably one of the most exciting things I ever did, strange as it may seem. Not everyone can say that they have spent the night in an abandoned mansion! Although many people use abandoned houses as their secret bases, so I don't think I should brag too much… With some luck, the beds and rooms won't be too untidy and we will be able to sleep without fearing an allergy attack or something remotely similar.
"Get ready for the squeak!" Giles jokes as he opens the door. Just as he said, that annoying sound attacks our ears again.
Now we must walk up these old stairs, which doesn't make me feel too confident… The wood is chipped and it looks like it could break the moment someone starts walking up the staircase. I guess that's what years and years of lack of maintenance can do to a set of stairs… Although we can't spend the whole night standing down there just because the stairs don't look safe, I'm sure the appearances are deceiving on this one!
The first to start climbing the staircase is Steven, nothing happens. I expected a creaking sound of some sort but, as I thought (or as I wanted to think), these stairs are actually safe to walk through! Both Giles and I join Steven, now it's the three of us walking up the stairs. The enormous door looks scarier now that we are closer to it and I think that some of the details can be made out: they seem to represent pokémon of some sort. One of them has a very curious shape; it looks just like a "Y". The other has a very graceful figure, it's a deer-like creature with some really thin horns from which something seems to protrude. They look really interesting, I wonder if these pokémon can still be seen nowadays!
And speaking of the details of the door, now we are finally in front of it! Steven sighs just before opening the door, but I think not even all of the sighs in the world could have prepared us for what we are seeing right now.
A small creature with big green eyes is giving us an extremely shocked look. Its pupils get smaller and suddenly…
"IT'S HOOPA!" Giles exclaims as if he just had made the discovery of the century.
"HOOPA?" Steven and I exclaim at the same time.
"I'M SCARED!" Hoopa screams with a shaky voice.
"So you are the one who took away my rocks, huh? Not only my rocks, but also the Prism Tower and those missiles! Do you know in which mess the Hoenn region is because of you?" Steven approaches Hoopa talking in a loud tone, which only makes the creature be even more scared.
"I… I…" Hoopa is trying to justify itself, but without success.
"Leave him alone! Don't you see he is scared?" I scold Steven grabbing his wrist to keep him from getting closer to Hoopa. I know he has no bad intentions, but I don't want the poor pokémon to keep getting this overwhelmed.
What I'm going to do is get my Pokédex for the second time on the night to see if it has any data regarding it, although if it does, I doubt it's anything new and unknown to us.
"It is said to be able to seize anything it desires with its six rings and six huge arms. With its powers sealed, it is transformed into a much smaller form."
Nothing new, like I suspected. As it's obvious, Hoopa has his power sealed right now. I'm sure that this encounter would have played differently if this pokémon was on its true form…
"D-did that red thing talk just now?" Hoopa says timidly and surprisingly, it's getting a bit closer to me.
"Yes, it did! It's called a Pokédex and it has stuff about all the pokémon on the world." I explain with a kind expression, showing the device to the creature so it can take a better look at it.
Hoopa doesn't seem to trust coming near the Pokédex, it just stares at the machine from a safe distance, as if it was afraid that something would happen if it got too close. Now it looks back at me, probably wondering if I have something to do with the functioning of the Pokédex. I just smile in response, trying to let Hoopa know that I can be trusted. I think Steven and Giles should do something about that to…
"You use those hoops you carry on your horns to steal things from others, then?" Steven is calmer, but he still sounds somewhat hostile. I glare in his direction to make him know that he should tone it down.
"Yes… Why do you want to know?" Hoopa shrinks back as it talks, it clearly feels intimidated.
"Because we need you to use those rings to put what you stole from Hoenn where it belongs." Giles says calmly as he slowly approaches the pokémon, but that still makes Hoopa flinch.
"That is, if you are the one who took away these things… You know, because it's you, right?" Steven sounds a lot friendlier now.
Hoopa only nods in response. I try to approach it but I know that if I do, Hoopa will get scared and that's not in our interests, we need to get these things back. The pokémon looks at me with a slightly distrustful expression, not daring to approach me more.
"Hoopa, you don't need to give us those things right now if you don't want to." I say softly, getting myself a disapproving look from Steven and a surprised exclamation from Giles. "You can do that any other day, when you feel like doing so! What do you say?"
Hoopa opens his eyes wide in shock. "Is… Is this a trap?"
"No! We won't force you to give us these things right this moment; you can take your time. Stressing you needlessly is the last thing we want to do. Giles? Steven?" I turn around expecting them to agree with me, I think the wellbeing of this pokémon is more important!
"Are you… are you serious?" Steven manages to stutter.
"Wow, I sure didn't see that coming!" Giles exclaims with a chuckle.
"There's nothing bad about it! This pokémon deserves to be left alone; didn't you see how scared it was? Am I right Hoo… Hoopa?" When I look back at where the mysterious pokémon was just a few seconds ago, I discover it's gone.
"That tricky little thief…" Steven mutters shuffling his feet.
"It left as suddenly as it appeared, as I can see!" Giles shrugs a bit, as if he didn't give much importance to it.
"I guess now we should go back to looking for those bedrooms." I suggest staring into the abyss, still processing everything.
"Yeah, we should." Steven agrees as we begin walking towards one of the doors.
So, we came across an extremely rare pokémon all of sudden and we scared said pokémon out of its mind and now, it turns out the creature has vanished just like that! Although we must keep in mind that we are talking about Hoopa, a pokémon with more tricks up its sleeve than anyone could imagine. Still, the experience has been… pretty interesting.
And the fact that we finally came across a bedroom is pretty interesting too. "We finally found a place to sleep on!" Steven exclaims triumphantly as he opens the door more.
"Yeah, we definitely needed that!" Giles exclaims taking a look at the rather huge room, this must have been the master suite in the past if the luxurious but worn out furniture is anything to go by.
As for me, I think sleeping will be somewhat hard after that extraordinary encounter. Now I'm making myself all sorts of questions: why was Hoopa so scared? Did it have any bad experiences with humans in the past? Or was it simply upset that we found its hideout? No matter what the answers to these questions are, I'm already looking forward to see Hoopa again. I want to learn more and more of that mysterious pokémon!