I heard a shattering noise above me. I dove sideways, landing and feeling shards and other debris dig into me. I quickly forgot about the ones getting away. I felt cuts and slices open up all over my body as glass smashed around me.
And among it, a thunderous crash.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement, the flickering shape of a Misdreavus disappearing over the hill.
But my attention was drawn to the crushed locker next to me, with the wreckage of a bike under it. There was blood trickling out around it.
"NOOOOOO!" The scream tore itself from my throat. "Help! Somebody help!"
A door opened in the tower nearby, and someone started out of it towards us. I couldn't wait for them. My hands moved without any thought, gripping the twisted door to the locker. Even if I had to tear the thing apart with my bare hands, I-
The lock, sliced clean through, came open easily as I felt something inside me snap back into place. The blood was gone. The bike, the hill, the tower, they were all gone. Even the debris was from an old building, not a broken window.
Vola hopped onto my face and started licking me. Her tongue dragged strangely on my skin as I got to my feet from where I was kneeling.
Misdreavus drifted back in front of me, and I felt the rage well back up. I opened my mouth to say something, then saw the dark lines making their way down the little trickster's cheeks. I wasn't sure if ghosts could cry, but this one appeared to be.
"Drea, miss!" It cried as it came in and laid its head on my shoulder, its body wracked with sobs.
"You- what?" I felt Vola's tails curling protectively around my shoulders to hold herself in place as she clung to me.
I heard Mac and Janelle's footsteps come to a stop behind me.
"What happened here?" Mac echoed.
"Is- is that Misdreavus crying?" Janelle asked.
"Yes? I think?" I said as it nuzzled my cheek before letting out a wail.
Once it stopped crying, Misdreavus floated guiltily in front of me.
"Did you do that... whatever that was? With the weird vision?"
It nodded, beginning to tear up again.
"Vision?" Janelle asked.
"Er, yeah. Right before I left Lavender, some kids used a Misdreavus to break a window in the tower and it fell on me and Vola. Somehow this little one made me relive it, only somehow it was worse. It was like living a nightmare," I met Misdreavus' eyes, "You didn't mean to be mean, did you? You were trying to be scary, and it went too far."
Misdreavus nodded fiercely.
"And when you came outside, I bet you just wanted to play, huh, you little cutie," Janelle cooed.
Misdreavus twirled for her, but then whipped around to face the wall.
"Dreeeeeaaav!" it screeched, and zipped through.
"Wha-"
Mac cut me off with a finger to his lips.
"I hear something," he whispered, and released Hitmonchan.
"Are you okay if we need to defend ourselves?" I asked Vola quietly, and she nodded. She was moving slowly, but it seemed she needed to regain some pride.
Janelle held up her phone to the wall and said, "Show me what's on the other side."
The screen shimmered from one side to the other, revealing linework of a room and some Pokemon, though it was too small to make out details.
"How-" I whispered.
She beamed. "It's a PoryphoNext. Watch this!" She tapped a button, and the phone shifted, growing and changing shape. Soon, a round creature hovered in front of us, blue legs and tail spinning next to its blobby pink body. The bottom of its belly glowed and shimmered into a screen, displaying the image from earlier.
Misdreavus was represented by a dotted outline, and was circling around three large balls. As we watched, the image was replaced by a jagged blast icon. When it disappeared, only two balls and Misdreavus remained, and were scattered around the room.
Janelle gasped.
"Electrode!"
Once Dart cleared the smoke away, we took in the room. What I'd rushed through without thinking earlier appeared to be some kind of lab. While it was now in shambles, there was some kind of housing that looked to perfectly fit Electrode. Based on the wreckage, I guessed it was some kind of power source or monitoring station.
Janelle was directing Mimsey in making barriers between us and the volatile Pokemon as a second rolled over near Misdreavus. The little troublemaker was just rising into the air and righting itself. It looked disoriented but uninjured, but its eyes still widened in fear as the ball Pokemon started glowing.
"Take cover!" Mac yelled, and we dove behind the wall that Mimsey had made.
I saw Misdreavus start to sink into the wall behind it, as if to take cover from the explosion. It didn't matter. In such close proximity, the blast tore through the wall and floor, sending shards of metal and stone debris whipping through the air. We were mostly okay behind our barrier, but I felt a smattering of ricochets hit me from behind.
The addition of the debris to the concussive force must have been more than Misdreavus' semi-incorporeal nature could deal with, because this time it looked haggard, bits of its body looking practically torn.
It wasn't moving.
I heard a creak.
"Uh-oh," Mac said behind me, and I heard Pokeballs pop open. I glanced back, and saw him directing his Pokemon to various areas of the walls and ceiling. Cloyster started sealing up a crack with an Ice Beam, while Graveler used its body weight and multitude of arms to hold sagging structures in place. He sent Magmar and Electabuzz to keep the doorway clear, while he himself teamed up with Hitmonchan to brace a wall, and said, "Girls, you need to stop that last one from exploding. I don't think this place can handle another one."
I looked back at the third Electrode, rolling through the detritus littering the floor towards the unmoving Misdreavus. It was already throwing off sparks.
"What!? How do we-"
"Use that creative head of yours!" Janelle said, leaping the barrier. "Like this!"
The third Electrode must have been stronger than the others. Whatever energy it was throwing off as it powered up to explode was charging the bits of metal around it, and its zig-zag course through the flatter sections of ground meant that some fairly sizable pieces were starting to float and repel each other. Janelle winced as a tiny thing, maybe a screw, zipped off the plate it had been sitting on and drew a spray of red off her cheek.
She landed solidly, though, and whipped an arm forward.
The Great Ball flew true, clacked against the glowing, nearly incandescent Electrode.
There was a flash of light.