Chapter 15: Seeking Shelter from the Storm!
Thunder flashes and rain falls on an old mansion; inside, a painting shows an old woman wearing a green pendant. Outside the mansion, Ash and his companions are getting soaked. The run for cover underneath the mansion's porch.
"Geez, why does it rain so sudden..." Serena says as she is drying her hair.
"The weather is really bad now." Luke says as he looks at the clouds.
"It's a good thing we found this place." Says Clemont.
"You said it. I hate thunder." Bonnie said and at that moment a thunder flashed by, scaring the little girl. She takes a step back and accidentally open the door.
Ash looks at the mansion and says, "Oh great...just how many times did this happen to me..."
"Ash? What's wrong? You look really worried." Serena asks in concern.
"Oh nothing." Ash says, but deep inside his heart, he is very worried, only that he doesn't want to show them.
Bonnie turns around and says, "Hey, the door is opened." Then she rushes inside as Clemont yells, "Wait up, Bonnie."
After they are inside the mansion, Clemont scolds his sister, "Bonnie, you don't just going into someone's house without permission."
"But I never opened it. It opened by itself." Then she turns to the inside and she yells, "Hello is anybody home."
Dedenne also yells with her, and Trenor even politely knocks at the door, but there is no one answering.
"I guess that this mansion is probably uninhabited..." Luke says.
"Maybe we should stay here for a night, since it's raining outside and we have no where to go." Ash says.
"I guess it is the only option..." Serena says with a frown, she has been truly scared of this place already.
"I don't think it is the only option..." Clemont tries to retort, but Bonnie sighs, "You are scared only because it is dark, if we can turn on the lights, it will be no problem."
Then they decide to search for the light, except for Trenor, Ash asks, "Trenor? What's wrong?"
"Guys, if you didn't notice, the doors won't open." Trenor tries to open the twin doors but with no success.
"No way...But why did it close on its own?" Luke asks.
"It must be the sensors, that is why." Clemont says, "This place is highly advanced."
Trenor says, "Haha, nice joke, Clemont. Look at the dust, a highly advanced mansion that no one has ever lived? Are you going to say that?"
"Maybe there is a monster living inside of this mansion..." Serena says with a creepy voice and everyone except for Ash shudders, Serena quickly covers her mouth and says, "I shouldn't have said that!"
Bonnie notices Ash is still in deep thoughts, she asks, "Ash? What's wrong?"
"Yeah, Ash. You have been acting strange, what's the matter?"
Ash thinks for a second and then he decides to say, "Well...something happened in Unova that is quite similar to this, but I am not sure if I want to tell you about it."
Just then, the chandelier mysteriously lights up, much to their relief. "Oh, now we can see everything." Luke says.
"Yeah, thanks, Clemont." Trenor says.
"But I didn't find the switch..." Clemont says.
"Then who turn it on?" Ash asks, causing them to shiver again.
"It must have been the sensors they turn on the lights." Clemont frighteningly says. "It's the only logical answer."
Ash says, "No it isn't." Then Serena says something that makes them shiver again, "Maybe this place is really cursed!"
After seeing the faces of others, she quickly says, "Why did I do it again?"
Ash takes a deep breath, "I have a feeling that...we are not alone in this place."
This sends shivers to everyone in the room, Ash says, "Guys, I am going to check if the owner is here. And I suggest that follow me and don't leave anyone behind."
The others gulp as they follow Ash, especially Serena, who Ash offers to let her hold his hand for courage.
Just then, they come across a portrait, everyone except for Ash and Bonnie are terrified at it. Bonnie says, "Guys, it is just a portrait."
"Yeah, but I wonder...is this the owner of the mansion?" Ash says.
"Maybe the owner of the mansion is already dead and it is a ghost!" Serena says as they all shiver again.
"What is actually wrong with me?" Serena covers her mouth.
Just then, they hear knocking and Clemont says, "It might be an antique clock..."
"I think it may be something more sinister..." Trenor says.
And after they move forward, they hear screaming once more. "What is that sound?" Ash asks.
"It must be the wind, that is why." Clemont says.
"Clemont, the door is shut, the window is shut, the fan isn't operating, where did the wind come from?" Luke says.
"Maybe this house is haunted?" Serena says, which sends chills to their spines.
"Did I just say that again?" Serena covers her mouth.
Ash says, "You don't need to worry abut haunted or ghosts." This causes them to be confused. "And why did you think so, Brother?" Trenor asks.
"Think about it, Ghosts are afraid of the lights, then why are they turning the lights on?" Ash says, causing them to be relieved. "Maybe..." As Ash steps forward, he notices a sword on the ground.
"Huh? A Sword?" Ash says as he looks at it, but then noticing the pattern, he pales, "Okay...I guess I spoke too soon."
"Spoke too soon about what?" Bonnie asks as she tries to pick the sword up, but Ash stops her.
"Don't, Bonnie." Ash says. "If anyone dares to grab its hilt, look at the blue cloth besides it, it will wrap around that person's arm and drains that person's life energy completely."
This causes them to be terrified, and Serena says, "Ash? Why are you saying such things to a young girl like Bonnie?"
"I just read the entry from the Pokedex." Ash says as he shows them the Pokemon. Just then, the Pokemon opens its eyes and then it starts to float in the air. "It's a Honedge..." Luke says.
Serena scans with the Pokedex, and then it says, "Honedge, the Sword Pokémon. Apparently this Pokémon is born when a departed spirit inhabits a sword. It attaches itself to people and drinks their life force."
Just then, it detaches its sheath and then it starts to use Fury Cutter, Ash says, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt." Pikachu attacks the Pokemon with the attack and then it shakes it off.
"What?" Ash is surprised and it starts to use Autotomize, causing the blades to be more sharper. "This is bad..." Just then, it charges up the Shadow Sneak, but before it can hit Pikachu, Ash rushes in front and then the attack doesn't affect on him.
Honedge is a little dazed at the fact, and then Ash uses Shadow Ball to knock it out.
After waiting until the Honedge wakes up, Ash says, "Honedge, I am sorry for intrusion in this house, where is your owner?"
Honedge looks at them curiously, she says, "I am the owner...I was dead a few years ago. My soul had become this Pokemon."
Ash turns to one of the portrait, he asks, "This lady in the picture, that is you, right?"
Honedge floats to the portrait and nods her head. "Yes, this is me before I become a Honedge. Why did you come to this house uninvited?"
"Wait, Honedge. Your door opened on its own and have us inside." Trenor says. Then Honedge thinks for a second and says, "Oh...so it is their doing."
"Who?" Ash asks, then it starts to float away, Ash and his friends follow her, until they reach the bedroom. There, they see two Espurrs who are playing balls.
"Espurrs?" Trenor asks. "You say that they are the ones that lock the door and also open the lights?"
"Yes. They are my Pokemon." Honedge says, "With me being dead, we are the only ones in the house."
The two Espurr turn to them as the male one says, "Hi."
"Um...hello." Ash says.
Then the two Restraint Pokémon lead them to a door to the next room. In the next room there was a slide, a Ponyta rocking horse, and various toys on the floor. The female Espurr then used Psychic to toss a ball to Bonnie.
"Do you want us to play with you?" They nod and Bonnie then tosses the ball back and it.
"Cool." Clemont says. "So the problem is solved."
"Yeah." Serena says as the ball goes to her. "Here, Let's play together." Serena tosses the ball to Honedge, as Honedge throws the ball to Sylveon, who uses ribbons to catch it and throws it back.
Once they have fun in the mansion, they decide to take a rest. Serena then asks, "By the way, Ash. What is the story that will scare us?"
Ash says, "Okay, I'll tell you. It is a scary story, but real."
As the group sits down, Ash says, "In Unova, me and my travel companions also meet the rain, we found a house and stayed there."
"That is just like what happened." Luke says.
"Indeed." Ash says. "The door locks, but then we start to see a lot of paranormal things. Flying chairs, dresses, a moving knight armor..."
Clemont and Serena start to have chills. "When it stops, we found out that there are Litwick in the mansion."
Ash shows them the pictures, Bonnie says, "It is cute. What is wrong with that?"
"When I scan them, the Pokedex shut off on its own. Then we found Team Rocket, we thought that it is their doing. But slowly, our Pokemon starts to get disappeared, one after one...even Pikachu..." Ash says, causing them to shiver.
"It is then we enter the room, we see our Pokemon, their life force are sucked by those Litwicks to lit up the candle." Ash says. "And suddenly..."
"What?" Clemont asks, and the group are now terrified.
"The room we were in...are now teleported...inside of the Spirit World..." Ash says, causing the others to scream.
"Spirit...world...?" Serena says. "How did you escape?"
"We have to kill the Litwick, by pushing them into the Spirit World, then everything went back to normal." Ash says as Pikachu nods.
"So that is why you are thinking a lot when you come in?" Bonnie asks.
"I was afraid that the same thing might happened again, so I hesitated to go in." Ash says.
"Dude, that is a hell of a story." Luke says.
"I know." Ash says.
"But that doesn't explain where the knocking sound and the scream come from..." Luke says, much to the three Pokemon's confusion, as they didn't do that.
Just then, they hear something falling off and they go to check it out, and then Ash asks, "Who's there?"
Just then, they see Team Rocket, who are wrapped in sheets and stammering in fear as they try to deliver their motto.
"Hey, it's the twerps." Jessie says.
"And some rare Pokemon as well." James says.
"So you are the ones that made the noise?" Serena says with anger. "How dare you."
"We are scared! But since you are here, we might as well take those Pokemon." Jessie says as they send out Seviper and Amoonguss, but just as they are using Venoshock and Energy Ball, Espurr use Protect and stops the attack.
Honedge then uses Aerial Ace on the trio, with Espurr opening the window, they are flying out of the mansion as they are happy, before yelling, "We're blasting off again!"
After they are gone, they hear the rain stops, Clemont says, "Well, now the rain stops, we should continue our journey."
The male Espurr whines, "No, don't go. We don't want to leave you."
Honedge looks at them and says, "You guys..." She turns to Ash and asks, "Ash, can you also take us with you on your journey?"
"You want to come with us?" Ash asks as they all nod. Serena says, "But what about the toys?"
"Maybe I can teleport them to our house." Aurora walks into the room, much to their surprise.
"Mom! You scared us." Trenor says. "More importantly, how did you get inside the place?"
"Sorry, I used Teleport to get inside. I have heard your story, Ash. I never thought that you had been through that." Aurora says.
"I guess I didn't mention it before." Ash says. Then he turns to the 3 Pokemon. "Okay, welcome to the family." Ash says as he places the Pokeballs on the ground, the male Espurr and Honedge go inside, but the female looks at Serena and asks, "Can I be with your team?"
"Sure." Serena says as she opens the Pokeball and captures the Espurr.
After the moving is done, Aurora leaves them again as the group leaves the house and continue their journey.
Here is my improved version of the episode 14, I also add Honedge into the story since the only appearance in the anime is Sawyer's. I hope you like it and the next one will be the episode 17.