~ Chapter 27 ~

Eterna's Ancient Mansion

"Things aren't always what they seem. If I'm going to say it once, I'll probably say it a thousand more times in my adventures to come. One time this rang true was during our travels through Eterna Forest, specifically the Old Chateau, where we traced Alyssandra. With my strength back, we packed up almost instantly and moved as fast as we could towards Eterna Forest, following Niya's Glameow towards Alyssandra's scent. What we found in there later become subject to much debate between us…but even now we laugh it off as just another unexplainable oddity, until we went back…"

Alyssandra walked up the spooky mansion. She had spent the past few days camped outside of the mansion, in the old gazebo that once served as sitting place for the family who used to live here.

Alyssandra refused to go inside the haunted house, whether the stories were true or false. She also figured that if she waited, it would give her friends some more time to catch up to her—she had been a few days ahead of them…who knew where they were, or if Sam was better yet.

Alyssandra sighed, her Pokémon refused to stay outside of their Poké Balls too long around the mansion. She couldn't really blame them; Alyssandra herself refused to enter that place, and barely enjoyed the thought of being around it at all.

But her time had come; she was bored of waiting in a broken gazebo for her friends to come find her, and she couldn't even enjoy the backyard because most of it lay in ruin.

Alyssandra knew her friends were coming to get her at some point, but the only way she was going to pass the time by was if she waited in the house. Besides, if the rain returned, she'd be a sitting duck; she'd get soaked through within minutes…plus, with Team Galactic braving to get closer to the mansion with each day, she would need to stay someplace far out of their sight.

They may be brave enough to walk the grounds, but inside the house was a different story.

Alyssandra saw the truth of this as she pushed on the large oak doors that comprised the front entrance of the house. The old doors were antiqued and had heavy brass knobs and a doorknocker that looked like a Dragonite.

In the panels of the door were carved scenes of Pokémon, of all species and types, playing in fields of wide-open space. If this house wasn't so old and creepy, and the door not so weathered with age, it would've been a beautiful work of art. But alas, inside the house was no better than the front door.

It was as if the front door was, but a glimpse of the inside would look like. As she entered the house she became surrounded by darkness, the only light coming from her flashlight.

It was dusty; it was dark and covered in rot and decay. The place smelled of old, wet, rotted wood—and no doubt the holes in the roof had attributed to the furthering of that smell.

Dusty, cobwebbed sheets covered all the furniture in the foyer. A chandelier sat in the middle of the large, high ceilinged room; shattered against the ground…no doubt it fell decades ago.

The walls were draped with paintings, many lying against the ground now, their nails having decayed and rusted beyond the point of use. These paintings were torn or deformed and now grotesque looking; what was once a beautiful painting of a man and his young bride was now a zombie portrait of a headless ghostly looking man with a half a bride in a muddy brown dress.

A piano sat by the stairs…several of which were broken or collapsing, and hallways shot off in all directions…this place was a maze.

Alyssandra shivered as the door closed behind her, the holes all over the place provided a very uncomfortable draft, and this was one of the few times that Alyssandra regretted wearing a skirt, as it left her legs wide open to the freezing cold.

She hugged herself, hoping to keep warm that way, but it didn't work. Alyssandra let out a little shiver as goose bumps started to form on her arms and legs. Haunted or not, this place was definitely creepy—there was no doubt about that.

Alyssandra picked the doorway straight ahead, out of the sake of pushing herself forward. She wasn't looking for anything in particular, just something to do while she waited for her friends.

As she exited from the short hallway that she had entered, Alyssandra found herself in a large dining hall. Another old, dusty piano that was half covered lay in the corner. Its back leg was missing and was partially collapsed on the ground.

A table was covered with a white tablecloth and was set as if dinner was about to be served.

"Hmm," said Alyssandra thoughtfully as she walked towards the table, curiosity leading her on. She picked up one of the knives; and to her surprise it was new. It wasn't covered with a layer of dust, or cobwebs, or even tarnished or stained by time.

This silver looked as if it had been polished recently…but why? And by whom, or what? Alyssandra placed the knife in her bag, hoping to bring it along as evidence in case she wanted to prove to someone that this place wasn't haunted…or perhaps it was to prove to people that this place should be avoided at all costs.

Either way, Alyssandra took the knife with her and kept walking. But as she reached the far end of the table, where the head of the table would usually be, she froze, and a loud creaking noise sounded from the floors above her.

Alyssandra wheeled around, and flashed the light up at the ceiling, hoping that by some luck it was a Golbat or a Zubat or even a Rattata playing in the rafters making those noises…but nothing showed up in the light.

Alyssandra shook it off as nerves, though, and pushed on through the room. But after a few more steps the noise happened again, and then a thunk.

Alyssandra turned around again, flashing the light around the room. "Hello?" she called, her voice resonating through the decaying house.

"Anyone there?" she called to her echo, but no one answered.

There was another pause of silence, but again nothing answered…nothing human anyway. The only sound was the creak again, and then the heavy thunk, and then another creak, and another heavy thunk.

Alyssandra could feel her heart beat in her chest, and then the sound of laughter, a high-pitched cackling laughter filled the room, that caused Alyssandra to jump.

"Hello?!" cried Alyssandra loudly, practically screaming at the top of her lungs. But there was still no answered, in fact this time all she got as silence. Nothing replied, nothing made a noise, nothing laughed, and not even the sound of her breathing resonated in the room.

It was eerie, and even worse it was unnerving. Whatever it was that was making that noise, be it the wind, a Pokémon, or even Alyssandra's imagination, it was way too silent now compared to a few minutes ago.

If it was the wind it was fine; the wind was never predictable anyway. A Pokémon wouldn't be so bad, maybe it moved to another part of the house…it was the third option, her mind, that made her worry.

She had never been one for delusions or psychosis, but suddenly, she was hearing things…at least that was a possibility anyway. If she could imagine things, what did that mean for her, that her mind could just make up noises one minute and go silent.

But Alyssandra was resolved that she was just letting the house get to her.

With a sigh, Alyssandra turned around again, and as she did, let out a horrible scream.

Terrible red eyes and a black face were pressed close to hers. Alyssandra stumbled back, but as she did she hit the floor causing it to crack and break.

Tumbling through the floor below, Alyssandra let out a fearful scream, and whatever it was that had scared her had followed her down into the pit where she had fallen, and Alyssandra knew, this was the end.

Sam looked up at the dilapidated and warped mansion. At one time, he would've marveled the craftsman ship of it, but now it was just an old crooked house that was falling apart on itself.

He, Jeremy and Niya had been following Niya's Glameow towards Alyssandra's scent for the past few days. It had led them right to the Old Chateau in the middle of Eterna Forest.

It wasn't easy, having to dodge the Team Galactic search parties that were looking for them everywhere.

Sam wondered if Alyssandra knew about them, maybe that's why she went inside. Even Team Galactic wouldn't brave the Old Chateau to find them.

"Jeez, so this is the old creepy place that used to scare me as a child?" asked Sam, scanning the left and right wings of the house—what remained of them at least.

"Yeah," said Niya, "It's everything we used to talk about, right?"

"Precisely," said Sam, "And yet it's one of the least scary things I've seen in my life…of course the scary part is the inside."

"I can't believe it, ten years later and we're still afraid of this house," said Jeremy slowly, "And we've never even been here before."

"I don't think there isn't anyone alive in the Sinnoh Region who isn't afraid of this place," commented Niya.

"Yeah that's because all the people who aren't afraid of this place live here, with the rest of the dead ghosts" smiled Sam, "That's why it's so haunted."

"So, what happened here exactly?" asked Jeremy, "How'd a house this big, owned by a family as rich as—what were their names? Anyway, how'd it get so run down?"

"Well, when I travelled by here on my first Pokémon Journey, I had this guidebook with me," explained Niya, "Apparently, this house was once home to a rich family, known as the MacAbres. The family was founded on Pokémon Ranching a few hundred years ago; at least two hundred if I remember correctly. They were extremely rich, and it was their money that helped settle Eterna City. Until their final days of wealth, they would pour money into Eterna City to help modernize it and keep it running. They even owned Eterna Forest, and their ranch specialized in raising Pokémon in natural habitats, so they used the forest to raise Pokémon."

"So, how'd they go broke?" asked Sam, "My family runs a Pokémon Ranch and we haven't gone broke yet; I'd like to be prepared."

"Actually, that's exactly why they went broke," said Niya, "Your family drove them out of business. I'm surprised you of all people don't know this. Your grandfather opened the Johto and later Kanto Ranches, and drove them out of business. When he started expanding about almost fifty years ago he drove them into complete bankruptcy. They weren't making any money, and their expenditures outweighed their profits."

"Oh…" said Sam slowly, "Well, I'm sorry to hear that."

"No, you're not," laughed Niya, "Or at least, I wouldn't be. The MacAbres, specifically their patriarch, Jonathan MacAbre, tried several underhanded tactics to try and get your family to give up their business. They even went as far as getting people to try and burn down the Johto Ranch and hiring Pokémon Hunters and Poachers to steal Pokémon."

"So, how'd he stop them?" asked Jeremy, interested in the story, "Clearly Sam's grandfather won out since the Accardi Pokémon Ranch is still in business."

"Well, he started teaching the Pokémon on his ranch how to defend themselves; and the idea of having battle ready Pokémon just made their Pokémon more popular," explained Niya, "Stopped the attacks and the thefts, and it drove the MacAbres even further into debt. It destroyed them. Jonathan took his own life a few months before their bankruptcy, and Sam's family went on to success and fortune."

Nothing was said after this, there was only a small pause of silence before Sam broke it. "So, are you sure Lyss is in there?" asked Jeremy, ignoring the possibility that the mansion was haunted.

Niya nodded. "Glameow's never been wrong before, have you boy?" asked Niya as she stroked Glameow between the ears.

Glameow purred, and replied with a contented, "Meow, Glameow!"

"Well then, I guess we should get—"

Jeremy was cut off by the sound of a loud scream.

The three looked at each other. "Lyss!" they cried. They knew instantly that she was in trouble; or at least, that she was inside, and something had scared her.

"Come on! Let's go!" cried Sam.

The group dashed from the front lawn towards the large oak door.

Sam threw them open, only taking a small note of the ornate design on the front of it. He dashed into the dusty foyer, Niya and Jeremy close behind him. They forgot their fear as they ran through the house, pausing only to let Glameow gather the scent.

"Meow, Glameow Meow!" cried Glameow, pointing its tail towards the left hallway.

"Come on, this way!" cried Niya.

The three teens and the Glameow ran down the hallway. It was unique as it was undecorated and unpainted, unlike the rest of the house. It was very basic and led to only a single door.

"I wonder where that leads?" wondered Sam, "Only one way to find out."

Sam threw open the door and fell back as someone fell through the door and landed on top of him.

Sam raised his head from the floor and found himself looking into the eyes of Alyssandra.

"Lyss!" cried Sam, followed by Alyssandra's excited.

"Sam! Jeremy! Niya!" she exclaimed, "You're all here!"

Sam and Alyssandra got up, dusting themselves off after landing on the ground, which caused a good amount of dirt to fly up into the air.

"When did you guys get here?" she asked.

"Just a few moments ago," said Jeremy, "We spent the past three days looking for you, we followed Glameow here to your scent."

Alyssandra, at that, turned around and her arms around Sam, hugging him.

"I'm glad to see you're better, by the way," she smiled as she pulled away, "I was worried about you—I knew that's why it took you guys so long to come find me. How'd you finally get better?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story," said Sam.

"Actually, that's a good question," stated Jeremy, "We don't even know how it happened."

"I'll explain it all to you in a bit, all right?" said Sam, hoping to get them off his back for now, "What's important is that we're back together—although, if I'm allowed to ask a question? We heard you scream Lyss; everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh, that was just a scream of joy," she said smiling, "You see, I fell through a hole in the floor because I was scared by something. It turns out the only thing haunting this place was a group of Ghastly and their leader, a Mismagius."

"How does that make you scream with joy?" asked Jeremy sarcastically.

Alyssandra shot him a look and continued. "Well, I learned through telepathy that Mismagius used to belong to the young boy who live here, back when it was a Misdreavus. But when the family went bankrupt and was forced to leave, the boy had to leave Misdreavus and his other Pokémon behind. Since then the other Pokémon left, but Mismagius evolved and gathered a group of Ghastly to help her scare away people and protect the house, in case her master ever came back again."

"I'm still not getting it," said Sam, "How is that happy? That's actually pretty tragic."

"Oh, you see," Alyssandra continued, "When I realized how lonely it was, I offered it a place with my Pokémon on the Ranch. But Mismagius would only come if I beat it in a Pokémon battle, so I beat it with my Budew and caught it—I found some spare Poké Balls in the basement. I was so happy that I screamed with joy."

"I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times," said Niya, "This place is weird."

Sam laughed. "Well, at least we know you're okay," he explained, "We were worried that you'd been caught by one of the Team Galactic search parties that are trying to find us or something."

"So, you met them too?" asked Alyssandra.

"Yeah, just after I caught my Honchkrow the other day I found—wait you know?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, I saw them a few days ago, and then they got attacked by wild Combee and a Vespiquen," explained Alyssandra as the group walked back towards the main foyer, "Then they attacked me, so I caught the wild Pokémon…of course the commotion led the Galactic grunts to me and I ran from them, all the way here."

"So, that's how you managed to escape them," said Niya, "They wouldn't come near here either I noticed. You got lucky."

"Yeah, I know, if they had found me…well, I'm sure it'd be a lot worse than ending up in this creepy house," smiled Alyssandra cheerily.

"Well at least we know it's not haunted," sighed Jeremy with relief as the group finally left the old house.

"Oh no it's definitely haunted," added Alyssandra, "It's just not so scary as before."

As the group walked down from the porch onto the lawn, a loud bang resonated from behind them. As they turned around, they saw the door had slammed shut behind them, before it flew open again and then slammed shut one more time.

The four teenagers and their Glameow paused before looking at each other,

"Let's get going," said Sam suddenly.

"Agreed!" added everyone else, and with that, they left the property and were back on their way to finish their Pokémon Journey, and once again, they were together.