The next area was a hallway, filled with jumping shadows and dilapidated furniture—old, broken-down couches, fallen chandeliers, candlesticks snapped in half. The theme was clearly a haunted house, further accentuated by the tattered red rug that ran the course of the hall, flickering brass sconces, and notched picture frames hanging crookedly on the walls. They contained pictures of people, but the faces had all been rubbed or scratched out. Like every other hall we'd encountered, there were doors on either side of the hall, but none of them seemed to open.
"More fake doors," I mumbled as I tried every door handle we passed. They rattled in place like they'd been loosely screwed in, and one even broke off when I touched it. We proceeded until we came upon a section of the wall covered in blood. There were no bodies in sight or any blood on the ground that would suggest a body was moved, but the blood glistened dully in the dim lights. I noticed a part of it looked like it had been cleanly wiped as the area next to the blood stain was clean.
"It's been a while, but looks like some of it's still wet," Hector whispered, reaching out as if to touch it. "Let's move a little more carefully." We continued until we reached another doorway and entered an area that looked like it had been ripped out of another building. We peered over the wooden railing and looked out over the floor beneath us, maybe thirty feet down, covered in black and white checkered tile. There was a long dining room table, dotted with place settings for over twenty guests, and tall white candles burned in the center. Over the table hung a large silver chandelier. Its arms stretched out tenderly in all directions like an old tree, and crystal adornments hanging off the arms twinkled sweetly in the candlelight. We could also see a fireplace, alive with flame, roaring invitingly in front of a bear rug on the ground and two armchairs facing the fireplace. There was a mantle above it, covered in kitschy items and picture frames, but the eye-catching piece was the trophy staged on the wall. From where I stood, it was partially obscured by the chandelier, but it appeared to be the upper torso of a person, well-muscled and pale. The arms disappeared into the wooden plate the body was mounted on, and the skin slowly peeled away to muscle as it got closer to the neck. The face was entirely bone, but antlers covered in vivid and bright flowers protruded from the forehead. The bust was twisted in such a way to suggest agony, one shoulder jutting up and out in front of the rest of the body, but the skull seemed to sneer with its jaw agape.
On the level we were currently standing on, the floor wrapped around with the railing, granting way to more doors. Dim lights were fixed to the wall in between each of the four doors on either side of the chandelier. On the far side, there was just one door along that wall. The tattered rug continued trailing along the ground, but parts of the wooden floor were splintered in that area, suggesting it may have been possible to fall below.
"I thought those trainers said they wrecked this place—why does it look like everything is untouched?" Hector questioned aloud. I merely shrugged and wished Noanne was still with us. She did say she had a knack for finding things.
"I have a feeling these doors actually open… Should we split up to check them all?"
"…No, we should still stick together. Also, looks like there isn't a way to get downstairs from here, so the steps might be behind one of these doors." I nervously gripped the railing as I eyed the doors. I thought about Hector's observation—why was everything so neat and tidy? Maybe the trainers had exaggerated. In fact, it didn't even look like anyone had been through there let alone searching for a random key that could've been hidden anywhere.
"You're right. Something's definitely off. But wait—remember what that couple said? Someone else had other keys. Could it mean there's more than 3?" I asked and looked at Hector. He nodded slowly as he considered the question.
"Based on that, it sounds like it. That could also mean that some people have already escaped." A smile tugged at the corner of my lips, but then it immediately wilted.
"If people have made it out, then why hasn't any help arrived?" Panic and despair took root in my gut, and I leaned against the banister for support, bracing myself with both hands. Hector shook his head and put his hand on my arm.
"Well, we can't know for sure if anyone's made it out. And even if someone did and called for help, would we know if someone were here to rescue us? They'd probably be combing through the wreckage of the entry areas before reaching us." I nodded to show he was right and that I was jumping to conclusions, but my anxiety was already working overtime.
"So then maybe we should just go back to the dining hall then? Or that room where everyone initially got split up. Anyone arriving to help would find us there pretty easily, right?" Hector then reached across me so he could put a hand on both of shoulders, turned me to face him, and looked me squarely in the eyes.
"I think we're doing what we should be doing. Again, we can't assume anything, so the best bet is to keep searching for the last key so we can get ourselves out. It's gonna be okay, all right? I'm right here with you, and I'm not going anywhere. We will get through this together. We are so close, and I know it's hard. But we can worry about whatever we want once we're out of here. Do you believe me?" My mouth had fallen open in surprise when he turned me, and my lips quivered as he spoke. My eyes teared up, but I didn't want to blink them away. Hector was just a blurry outline in front of me.
"…I believe you, Heck," I whispered. The floodgates opened when Hector pulled me in for a tight hug, and I buried my face in his chest and gripped at the back of his shirt in fistfuls. I missed the feeling of being held by someone. I missed Hector.
We remained that way until I was calm again. Hector kissed me on the cheek before we molted from each other's arms. I gave a half chuckle, feeling my face burn in light but familiar embarrassment as we averted each other's eyes. Wiping the remaining tears away to cover up the awkwardness, I then looked around and pointed to the left.
"Let's start over here?" I suggested. Hector nodded, and we walked quietly to the first door. The knob twisted, and I slowly pushed the door open. It was dark inside, so I pulled my phone out of my pocket to use the flashlight. It didn't turn on. "Shit. I think the battery died. Fuck! I really hope my pictures got through to Laryn. Yours is still good, though, right?"
"…I'm at 5%," he said and produced his phone from his pocket. He turned on the flashlight app. "We'll have to stick to spot checks for now to make it last. We can grab one of those candles downstairs and come back up if we need to." The room appeared to be a plain bedroom but covered in layers of dust and cobwebs. There was a circular rug on the floor, wrinkled in the center, and a lone wooden chair sat in the middle of it facing the door. There was a bed next to a small nightstand, a tall mirror, a desk, and a wardrobe.
"I'll take a quick look," I whispered and stepped inside. Part of me expected something to pop out at me or for the ground to open and swallow me. Instead, the silence in the room crawled into my ears like a night crawler and made me shiver. A sudden feeling of being watched overcame me, and I danced around the room to open the wardrobe and the desk, ruffle the blanket on the bed, and kick up the rug. All of that produced no reaction from the room, so I hurried back to Hector. As I was about to push past him to get back into the hall, he stopped me and pointed to the wardrobe. An odd liquid seemed to be spilling from inside the wardrobe onto the floor. I almost gasped when the liquid built itself into an amorphous blob on the rug. Its slimy shimmer under Hector's flashlight gave off a slightly purple tint. Inside the blob seemed to be a network of veins sprouting from a tiny black beating mass. "Is that…?"
"I called dibs," Hector whispered and slowly pulled out his spare Poké Ball from his bag. Though it had no eyes, the Ditto appeared to be observing us. In Hector's beam of light, dust swirled around the creature in mesmerizing eddies. Without warning, Hector threw the ball at the Pokémon, causing it to be vacuumed into the capsule. The light on the button disappeared without a struggle, indicating that Ditto was caught. Hector quickly retrieved the ball from the ground and joined me out in the hall. "That was easier than I was expecting."
"Think it can actually use Transform?" I imagined the Pokémon attempting to copy the form of something else but bearing the iconic silly face of the cartoon.
"I don't think I want to risk finding out if we get into another trainer fight. Maybe I'll try experimenting later when it makes sense. Let's keep going," Hector said. The next room was locked so we skipped it. The third room had a lit candle inside, so Hector put his phone away. The candle had been sitting on a wooden stool in a corner of the room, but it was empty otherwise. From the looks of it, it hadn't been burning long.
When we got to the fourth room, we could only partially open the door as something seemed to be obstructing it from the other side. I couldn't see much of anything inside the room with the candlelight, so I struggled to stick the light into the room. The first thing I saw was a pale figure hunched over on the ground, causing me to jump back and almost drop the candle. Hector caught me. "What was it?" My hand on my chest, it felt like I was playing catch with my heart and a professional baseball player was pitching it to me.
"There's a body…or something in there. On the ground," I said when I'd calmed down enough to speak. I handed Hector the candle so he could look. After he had a peak, he closed the door.
"It looked like a sheet covering a body maybe. Based on what we found in the other rooms, I think it'd be a good idea to get in there and check…"
"How? We can't push the door open any farther. …Maybe we could use one of our Pokémon to break the door down?" Hector scrunched his face at me.
"…I don't think that'd be a good idea. We'd attract a lot of attention. Or it could set off a trap or something." I opened the door again as much as it would allow and stepped back a little bit to examine the width of the crack. It was too narrow for Dragonair or Milotic to slither through. "Ya know…?"
"What?" I muttered. Hector had a look on his face that told me I wouldn't like his idea.
"Eevee could probably squeeze in there." At the mention of its name, Eevee poked its head out of my bag and yipped quietly into my ear. I protectively put a hand over its face.
"You be quiet!" I said to Eevee, then turned my attention back to Hector. "We are not sending Eevee in there! What if that thing is alive and tries to kill it?" Eevee started licking my hand. "What would it even do in there? It's too small to move whatever's blocking the door out of the way."
"I was thinking it could remove the sheet. Then we could see what it's covering."
"I don't think that's a good idea. It's clearly a trap." I crossed my arms sternly, but it was difficult to maintain a serious expression because Eevee started licking my ear. "Cut that out!" I shouted and pulled Eevee from the bag and cradled it in my arms. "You'd really risk sending this adorable poof into the dangers of a dark room with a monster sitting on the ground right there?" Hector then crossed his arms.
"Eevee is still a Pokémon—it can defend itself if needed."
"Using what? Tail Whip?"
"Fine. How about I have Froslass on standby, and if something tries to attack Eevee, I'll freeze whatever it is."
"I don't know, Hector—that sounds like it'd attract a lot of attention," I spat mockingly. "We might as well just break down the goddamn door in that case."
"No, there's still a chance that there is no trap or monster, and Eevee just helps us look what's underneath that sheet. It's a risk I think we should take." I scratched behind Eevee's ears as I thought about it.
"Easy for you to say since you to say… But I guess Eevee is probably pretty fast, huh? And it did manage to survive until we found it…" Hector nodded in agreement. "Fine," I groaned, "but if something bad happens to Eevee, I'm taking Ditto from you." Hector put his hands up in surrender. I let Eevee jump down from my arms and commanded it to go into the room after Hector called out Froslass. Obediently, Eevee squeezed itself through the crack, appearing almost too fluffy at first to fit. "Okay, now pull that sheet off and then come right back out, okay?" Eevee bit onto a corner of the sheet and slowly pulled it back to reveal a horribly deformed and desiccated person in a sitting position, hugging their knees. Their mouth was stretched into a perpetual scream, gagged by a Poké Ball. "Umm, well, I can't say I was expecting that. Okay, time to come back, Eevee!"
"Wait, really? We should take the ball! Have Eevee try to smack it free!" Hector shouted, looking at me incredulously.
"We don't need it! In fact, we probably have too many Pokémon! I can barely keep track of them anymore."
"You're being ridiculous," Hector muttered and crossed his arms. "Come on—Eevee is already inside. We might as well finish what we started."
"Says the person whose Pokémon is safe outside of the dark room with a dried-up zombie in it. And, objectively, this screams 'trap' to me. Every other Poké Ball has been hidden or stashed somewhere dangerous. Why should we believe this one we can take for free? And are you really gonna fight me on this when you gave me so much shit for the ice cube Poké Ball?"
"Okay, that was different because we were literally freezing to death, and taking this ball doesn't require we smash up any dead fingers," Hector said, an odd look of superiority plastered on his face.
"No, it just requires we pry it from a dead body's mouth. How is that any less fucked up?" Hector concentrated on me as he thought of a response. I swore I could hear the hum of the lights intensify as he focused his energy on finding a quippy retort.
"Ya know what? Fine, I was wrong, and you were right—we need all the resources we can get. Call Eevee back. I have another idea. Froslass, return." I coaxed Eevee back out to me. It was all too happy to return to my arms, and then I tucked it back into my bag as Hector pulled out another Poké Ball. "Go, Ditto." The translucent purple blob splashed from the ball onto the ground inside the room.
"What're you doing?"
"Experimenting. Ditto, use Transform to turn into me and grab the Poké Ball from that body's mouth."
"Hector, are you ser—" Suddenly, Ditto started undulating as its internal organs began to glow an eerie green. Then it seemed to explode as though the cells of its body were rapidly multiplying. Before long, a naked version of Hector stood on the other side of the doorway, staring back at us with one eye visible in the crack of the door and half of a soulless but creepy smile. "What the fuck… It looks exactly like you…" The sense of dread spreading from my chest was almost indescribable. I felt like I'd just seen something not only impossible but wrong. A strong urge to reach out and touch the double seized my thoughts, but I managed to resist the temptation. I had a gross feeling its skin would feel practically human.
Hector gasped with amusement, and a smile stretched across his face. He leaned forward to get a better look at Ditto, who, upon closer inspection, was literally a perfect copy. If it had the same clothes on, or any clothes for that matter, and was standing side-by-side with actual Hector, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell them apart. A small part of me wondered what it'd be like to stare into an exact copy of myself.
"Go ahead. Get the Poké Ball," Hector urged, and Ditto slowly turned around, the smile on its face appearing frozen. There was nothing cute or cartoonish about the way it looked. With some difficulty, it eventually managed to pry the ball from the corpse's jaw but only after using its other hand to snap the jaw open wider. The second the ball was removed from the body's mouth, I thought I heard a snapping sound, and the objects in the room began to shake. "Come back!" Hector cried. Ditto, nonchalantly turned, its hand with the ball outstretched. Hector returned it to its ball, and I managed to catch the quarry before something in the room collapsed, slamming the door shut. A cloud of dust assailed us, and we fled farther down the hall to escape it. Afterward, I glared at Hector and threw the Poké Ball at his chest. Something rattled inside. Hector examined it. "This isn't a real Poké Ball."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Hector didn't say anything but twisted the ball open to reveal a shriveled eyeball with a note attached to it. I sighed loudly.
"What does it say?"
"'Watch yourself.'" He threw the eyeball over his shoulder, and it made a gross thud and splat noise. I wanted to say I told you so, but it seemed pointless. "I know, I know," Hector suddenly said. "You don't have to say it." I sighed again, more quietly that time, and shook my head.
"I wasn't going to say anything. You took a risk, but it didn't pay off. At least we know that room is cleared…technically." His expression lightened. He seemed surprised and dropped the plastic pieces of the ball.
"Oh…well, thanks." Honestly, I was more thrown off by what happened with Ditto but didn't know what to say about it, so I suggested we move on. We searched the rooms on the other side of the area but found nothing useful. We returned to the locked door.
"I still can't get over that this area seems untouched… Why would this door be locked if those trainers had already come through here?" I rattled the handle again, but it was, obviously, still locked. Hector shrugged his shoulders.
"No point in worrying about it now. How about we break this door down? I feel like we've made a lot of noise, and nothing's come to attack us yet," I suggested.
"Can't beat that logic." Hector tried kicking the door, gladiator-style, jostling it and causing dust to jump from its surface. A loud crack split the air. I was prepared to get jumped by something, but nothing happened. Hector kicked the door again, creating a small hole in the center. He continued until the hole was big enough to reach through and unlock the door from inside. It was a small room that only contained a closet door of some kind. Upon opening it, we discovered a long dusty hallway, lit by a length of oil lanterns on a wire. It looked like we were about to enter a coal mine or something. The wood frames supporting the rotting beams above looked like they might give out at any second, but there was a quality to them that also appeared to be manufactured to look old. The ground was covered in sawdust or sand and crunched beneath our shoes, and the smell lingering in the air was oddly fresh and industrial. It reminded me of anytime I walked into a Home Depot.
Eventually, the hall led us to a small set of stairs on the right leading down. The steps were wooden, steep, and unevenly cut, so we took our time with our descent. When we reached the bottom, we were greeted only with darkness. The candle we'd found was still going strong, but we had the idea to go back up the stairs to see if we could take one of the lanterns down. Before we could turn around, though, a gate fell from above and blocked our passage back up the stairs. Then the ground started to shake and threw us off balance. In a sudden jolt, I slammed into a wall on my right, Hector practically sandwiching me to the wall, as a loud grating sound screeched in the darkness. I felt like we were on a carnival ride where they strap people to a wall inside a spinning room. When the movement stopped as abruptly as it started, we were tossed to the left, crashed into the other wall, and ended up on the floor. All the commotion had extinguished our candle.
"Fuck! What the hell was all that?" Hector spat and presumably tossed the candle away when I heard something clatter on the ground. We felt around in the dark for each other and helped each other stand. Hector rustled around a bit before shining a light on the ground. "My battery is literally at 1%, so let's try to find our way out of here quick."
"Oh, wait! I forgot about my battery!" I gasped. I took off my backpack and rummaged through it to find the smooth block at the bottom. It was slightly damp. "Fuck… It might not work because it was in the water…" I fiddled for a bit before managing to plug my phone into the battery. No signal indicating my phone was charging appeared. "Shit—it's no good."
"That's okay. We'll just move forward carefully." We each took a step forward when I heard something click. Then the ground started shaking again, so we each braced ourselves against the opposite walls. I was bathed in darkness again when a partition shot up from the ground and separated me from Hector.
"Hector! Oh my god! Hector!" I screamed, pounding against the barrier. It felt like thick glass, but I couldn't see Hector's flashlight at all. I couldn't even hear if he was pounding back. My heart was beating wildly again, making it more difficult to concentrate, but I listened quietly until I heard a muffled voice.
"…can hear me, find…out! …e careful!" I guessed he told me to find a way out, and my heart sank at the thought of maneuvering around in the dark without him.