Sorry this took me so long. Finals + Team Fortress 2 addiction + Computer Virus = less writing.
Answering some questions. First of all, some people have been wondering why Jared's lineup is always changing. I haven't explained that well, so I'll do it here. Jared, being a trainer for much longer than Cody and Heather, currently has 10 pokemon that he switches in and out. Hope that helps.
The only problem i have is that Cody seems to be wining ALL his battles. i get he gets his talent due to his father and watching his frinds battle but still. Also i would love if you went into depth of heather's battles. You know how you said pidgy evolved? How did it evolve and what made it?
The thing is that battle scenes are really hard to write, so I try to keep them relevant to the plot rather than writing every little battle. Now Cody is a talented trainer, but he has lost before (and more than the battles that I've written out where he loses) but I only write in losses when it's relevant to the plot development. As for Heather… I get it that she's the token female of the group that some of the female readers like, but since she isn't the focus of the story, I did that evolution off screen. It's very hard to focus in on three trainers and all of their pokemon at once.
Chapter 22: The Brave and the Brash (Part 2)
"Okay Heather, I'm gonna get you out of there," Cody said as he jiggled the handle on the outside of the closet. It was locked. "How'd you get stuck in here?"
"I don't know, it just locked!" Heather shouted from the other side. "Just get me out of here! I hate small places!"
"Okay, hold on," he pulled back on the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Heather, try pushing on the other side." He kept pulling on the door while jiggling the handle. Seeing their trainer struggle with the door, Bastion, Mars, and Larvitar grabbed at the lower portions of the door and began to pull. Suddenly, the door flew open and they all flew backwards.
"Heather?" Cody asked. He couldn't see what was in the closet, but it didn't look like there was any movement. "I must be going crazy."
It was then when a powerful blast of wind flew down the hallway towards the open closet. The wind was so strong, it carried Cody and his three pokemon the closet. "Holy fuck!" Cody screamed over the howling gust as his monsters and he crashed into the tiny closet and the door slammed behind them.
Heather woke up from a light sleep as she heard a creak in the walls. Suddenly alert, she glanced around the parlor that she had been sleeping in, only to see noting but old furniture and the eerie looking paintings on the wall. She was about to close her eyes so she could go back to sleep, but she noticed that Jared was still up. He was sitting on the sofa with his arm crossed, looking as though he was deep in thought. She had a pretty good guess about what was bothering him, given that he had a tendency to hold grudges. She stood up from the armchair she was sitting in and joined him on the sofa, trying not to wake up Somnos, who was sitting near her feet.
"You alright?" she asked, though the answer was written all over his face.
"No," he answered in a grumble.
"Look, maybe you should get some sleep while we're he-"
"I don't feel comfortable sleeping here. I barely feel comfortable breaking into somebody's house, so…" His voice trailed off at the end of that comment. He obviously wasn't in the mood to chat.
"Look, I know what this is about-"
"I'm not traveling with him anymore," Jared said, interrupting Heather a second time.
"Jared-"
"He's arrogant, he's an asshole, and he pisses me off so much. I can't take it anymore."
"Jared…" Heather began again, "you're right. Cody is a jerk sometimes, but he's a good person at heart, and you know that. Please just get some sleep so you can think about this. For me?"
"No, not happening. I don't even know why you like hanging out with him. Name one redeeming quality about the guy! Just one!"
"Um… He's friendly most of the time… not when he's fighting with you, but otherwise…" She stopped to think some more. "And he's the reason I even left home on this adventure. And if I didn't leave home, I would have never met you." She kissed Jared on the cheek, but he didn't respond to it at all.
"Whatever you say, but now he's a nuisance. After we get to the next town, I say we split up from him," Jared suggested. "I'm not putting up with this anymore."
"Jared," Heather sighed, "I tried to be fair about this, but… Look, the reason you and Cody fight so much is partly your fault."
"What? You can't be serious!" Jared said loudly. "How is any of it my fault!"
"Stop shouting and listen," Heather snapped. "Cody has proven himself to be a capable trainer thus far and he hates being talked down to. So when you say stuff like 'you're not experienced enough to raise a fire pokemon,' or 'you don't need a fire pokemon,' it's just going to piss him off. He's a big boy, Jared. I'm sure he can take care of himself."
"That's debatable," Jared muttered to himself, though he was able to see where Heather was coming from. "Look, are you saying that I shouldn't speak my mind?"
"Over petty things like whether or not Cody can raise a fire pokemon, yes, maybe we should just keep our mouths shut. But once said fire pokemon burns down our tents, then we can yell at him. Sound fair?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jared grumbled. "I still don't want to travel with him."
"Just give him another chance? For me?" Heather pleaded while giving him puppy dog eyes. "He's a good guy..."
"Fine, fine," Jared groaned, "but only because you asked. And don't expect us to be best buddies or anything."
"Thanks hun," she said as she squeezed Jared in a tight hug. "This means a lot to me."
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. There was another creak in the old house which caused both teens to jolt in their seats. "Man, this place is creepy. Cody couldn't have picked a younger house?"
"Yeah, it is pretty scary," Heather agreed, squeezing tighter her boyfriend. Then, she began to think about the last time Jared had yelled at Cody for teasing him about the house. "Hey Jared, can I ask you something personal?"
"Go ahead," he replied.
"Are you afraid of… um… ghosts?"
A surprised look sprung onto Jared's face, but he switched to a neutral one in seconds. "I'm not talking about that."
"It's just, I noticed you seemed really upset when he mentioned ghosts. Do you have some issues with ghosts or whatever?" she asked delicately so he wouldn't get upset.
Jared let out a long sigh and then rested his forehead in his palm. "You're not going to give up, are you? I guess… Yeah, I don't like ghosts. Just the sight of them pisses me off."
"But I don't understand," she confessed, "I've seen you battle ghosts before, and you've never seemed afraid of them or anything."
"I'm not going to tell other random people what to do with their lives. It's just that I want nothing to do with them."
"Why?" Heather asked. "Or would you rather not say?"
"Heather…" Jared began again before beginning another pause to figure out what he needed to say, "I told you how my father died, didn't I?"
"Alcohol poisoning, right?" she asked. "I remember you saying-"
"That's not the whole story," he said, interrupting her. "The night he died, he was drunk out of his mind. I remember him and Mom fighting about something trivial before he stormed out in a rage. The police found him dead the next day in some back alley in the city."
"But… if it wasn't the alcohol, what was it?" she asked.
"There was a homeless man that talked with the cops about what happened that night. Apparently, Dad staggered into the alley, screaming about how he just didn't care anymore and that wanted to die." He paused again and shook his head. "I wish I could have been there for him. Maybe if…" Another pause. "According to the homeless man, when he started screaming all that stuff, a Chandelure descended from an old building, its flames burning brightly… The Litwick family line feeds on the life energy of people and pokemon, but Chandelure are capable of absorbing a person's or pokemon's entire spirit if they victim willingly gives it up, and so, they roam in search of desperate people who just want out… I guess you can figure out what happened next."
"Holy… that's awful…" Heather whispered.
"Yeah… but that's why I don't like ghost pokemon. Something about them seems so… so wrong … I mean, when you see a Yamask, there's a piece of somebody's soul that makes up that pokemon. Every ghost pokemon has a piece of something that was once living inside of it, and that… that's just sick if you ask me. So yeah, I was really pissed when Cody brought up ghosts. Maybe I overreacted, but I just don't want to have to deal with the thought of them, you know?"
"I understand," Heather replied. "I bet Cody would too if he knew."
"You give him too much credit," Jared responded, rolling his eyes.
"I think he would. Maybe you should explain it to him and then he'll understand. No secrets, remember?" she reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll think about it. Still, I don't know if-"
"Holy fuck!" somebody screamed. It came from the upstairs and echoed on the first floor.
"What the hell was that!" Jared bellowed as he sat up straight as a reaction to the noise.
"It sounded like Cody!" Heather gasped. "It sounds like something is wrong! Come on, we need to find him!"
Seconds after being sucked into the closet, Cody pulled his face off the ground and rose to his knees. What the hell was that? He rubbed his head with one hand and felt around with the other, only to find that there was nothing to grab onto. Wow, this closet is pretty big. But when he opened his eyes, he saw that he definitely was not in a closet. Rather, it looked like he was standing in a gray, infinitely large room. Where am I?
"Rup, rup!" Cody looked down to see Bastion tugging on his jeans as if to ask his trainer the same question he was asking himself. Meanwhile, Mars was running around in circles, looking for something to burrow in while Colossal was cowering in a fetal position. But something was wrong with how everything looked since everything, including Cody and his pokemon, was colored in grayscale.
"What is this place?" Cody muttered to himself.
[This! This place, this house, and everything in it, including yourself, is mine!] The voice seemed to contain a thousand voices speaking in unison. But where was the sound coming from?
"Who are you?" Cody shouted. This whole situation was beginning to spook him since it seemed so much like the nightmares he had.
[I have many names. One hundred and eight names to be exact. But you will come to know them all in time.]
"What do you want!"he screamed.
[Your soul!] From the grayness in the room rose a strange looking stone, and out of the stone burst a cloud of purple that seemed to be unaffected by the surrounding grayscale. In the center of the cloud was a wicked looking pair of green eyes and a large grinning mouth. [Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Take your pick!]
Where have I seen this pokemon? But the answer soon sprung to his mind when he recalled an old documentary he once watched. The pokemon was a Spiritomb: one of the rarest pokemon on Earth, made up of a multitude of human souls. He didn't know much else about the ghost pokemon, but by the looks of things, it looked like it wanted to keep him around for whatever reason.
[Join me, and you can live forever as one of my many-]
"I don't think so. Let us out, or we'll force you to." At those words, Mars and Bastion went to stand in front of their trainer, but Colossal was now hiding behind his legs in fear.
[Very well. You shall enjoy a slow and painful death!] Put of the purple ghost came several black pulses of energy, knocking Cody and his pokemon over. The after shock of the Dark Pulse had a strange secondary effect on him besides the immediate pain. He felt an unending hopelessness grow in his gut. [Wallow in your despair!]
"Bastion, Water Gun!" Cody yelled over the feeling of impending doom. The turtle leapt over another dark blast and sprayed a stream of water at the stagnant ghost. The water hit the Spiritomb straight in the face, but it didn't seem to be that hurt from the blast; an advantage of being an insubstantial pokemon. The Spiritomb then blew an Ominous Wind, sending Bastion backwards, but this gave Mars a chance to try and tackle the ghost, only to faze right through the gaseous ghost. Cody quickly figured that there was no use in the Diglett even trying to fight the ghost in this dimension since there was no ground for him to burrow in, making his situation equivalent to that of a fish out of water.
"Mars, this isn't your fight! Return!" Cody returned the helpless mole to his pokeball and then took out Elesa's. "Let's go baby girl! Flame Charge!" The beautiful horse let out a loud whinny and let her front body burst into light flame. The Zebstrika laid a furious flaming smack on the ghost, but was pushed back by another one of the Spiritomb's blasts. It then blasted Bastion away as he let out a perfectly aimed Water Pulse. It seemed like no matter what Cody's pokemon did, the Spiritomb just wouldn't show an inch of weakness.
[You are quite brave, young trainer. I could use a brave soul such as yours in my vessel. It's a shame that you think you have a chance of defeating me.]
"Shut up!" Cody shouted as his mind twisted and turned in order to find a way to defeat the Spiritomb. It seemed like it was taking some damage from the attacks that Elesa and Bastion had delivered thus far, but at this rate, it wouldn't be long before they were completely drained of energy. This thing just has to have a weakness. If only I can figure it out. Oh, why the hell did I leave my guidebook in that room? "Elesa, Spark!"
The angry zebra let out another neigh and charged the Spiritomb again. The ghost retaliated by shooting a purplish beam from its center, but Elesa jumped up into the air an crashed where the ghost stood.
[EEEEEEAAAAAAAAUUUGHHH!] The spirit screamed in pain as it threw Elesa back again. But Cody was astounded.
What the hell? How did it get hurt that-… The stone! It's gotta be the stone! "Bastion, Iron Tail to the stone that the ghost is coming out of!" With a grunt, the Squirtle dodged another Ominous Wind and with an incredible vertical leap, it laid down an Iron Tail to the ghost's center stone.
[AAAAUUUUGHH! This is not possible. But in SPITE of this setback, I shall not lose!] The Spiritomb was cackling now as it cast a reddish light onto Bastion's body, though Bastion didn't seem hurt by this development.
"Get him with another Iron Tail! Elesa, get ready to charge when Bastion's out of the way!" The turtle hurdled into the air again, ready to smack the Spiritomb once more, but this time, his tail didn't glow silver as it smacked the stone. Wait, why didn't it-
Right after the Spiritomb shot Bastion away, Elesa landed another Spark on the opponent, but just as she hit, she began to glow red too, and her body stopped fizzling with electricity. Whatever the ghost had just done, it had drained Elesa and Bastion of the energy needed to perform those specific moves.
"Get out of there and attack from afar!" Cody screamed over the Spiritomb's laughter. After making a hasty retreat, Bastion sprayed the rock with a Water Gun and Elesa blasted it with a Shock Wave. The combined attack brought severe pain to the purple ghost as it let out another shriek.
[You don't know true pain! None of you! Let me show you, Cody Storm! Share my pain!] The ghost shot a strange looking green beam at Cody, but Elesa leaped in front of it to protect her trainer. When the green beam hit her, she let out a scream like nothing Cody had ever heard out of her before. At the same time, the Spiritomb seemed to be re-energized by this attack. The Pain Split had worked perfectly… or so it thought.
While attacking Elesa, Bastion had positioned himself behind the foe and launched a horizontal Aqua Jet at the basin of the ghost. The impact of the Squirtle's shell was enough to send the Spiritomb skidding across the ground to where Cody stood.
"Rah!" Colossal shrieked as it clawed up Cody's back and onto his trainer's shoulders and used Harden in fear.
[Hah! Your pokemon has only brought us closer together! Now I shall AUGH!] The Larvitar had accidentally fell off his trainer's shoulder, and landed horn first on the ghost, piercing the basin stone. The Spiritomb's gaseous body was beginning to fizzle out, but it was still preparing another Dark Pulse. But before it could release the attack, Elesa stomped on the stone of the ghost with a strong hoof. [Nooooooo!] And just like that, the purple fog that made up the Spiritomb's body dissolved, leaving only the stone behind.
"Well that was anti-climactic," Cody muttered to himself. "All it took was your horn?" he asked Colossal. "You need to buck up and fight next time, buddy," he said as he pat the frightened Larvitar's horn.
"Neeeiii…" Elesa cried in pain as she bent her knees.
"And you did beautifully too, girl. Return." He called her back into the pokeball. All that remained in the monochrome room was Bastion (who was breathing heavily), Colossal, the stone which the Spiritomb resided in, and himself. "Now how do we get out of here?" There didn't seem to be any conceivable exits in the endless fields of gray.
He sighed as he sat down, cross-legged, next to the stone. Inquisitively, he picked up the stone and eyed it as dark thoughts sprung in his mind. The rock contained a very powerful pokemon inside of it. This Spiritomb was pretty tough. When I figure out how to escape, I should take this with me. If I can capture this ghost pokemon, I would kick so much ass, it wouldn't be fun-
[No! I shall never be enslaved by the likes of you! Never!] the ghost's voice roared. The stone floated from his hands into the air and a burst of purple energy exploded from the stone and the force of the blast sent Cody and his pokemon upwards into the grayness. Suddenly, the color came back and he found himself and his pokemon laying in a clump on top of Jared, Heather, and what he believed to be Somnos, but he couldn't tell for sure.
"Cody, what the- Why the heck were you doing in that closet!" Jared shouted, "You scared us half to death!"
"It was, I was, there was-" Cody began to sputter as he stood up and went back to the door in a flustered stagger. But when he opened the closet, he saw that there was nothing inside except a pile of old boxes. "It was in here! We were fighting a ghost in-"
"Is this some kind of joke?" Jared roared, "there's nothing here!"
"What, do you think I beat up Bastion myself!" Cody shot back.
"He's right, Jared," Heather added as she knelt next to the Squirtle, "Bastion has some fresh bruises on his face. He was definitely just fighting something."
"But…" Jared stuttered, "in a closet that-"
"Forget the stupid closet," Cody yelled as he kept looking around, "this place is crawling with ghosts. I'm getting out of here. I'd rather take my chances with that psychopath that was sent after us outside."
"But Cody-"
"You can 'But Cody' me once we get out of here," he said to Heather. "You two grab your stuff and meet me in the entrance room. I have to run to the library where I left my stuff." Without waiting for a response, he dashed down the hallway with Bastion at his heels. Colossal had climbed back up onto his back and was quaking with fear. Geeze, now's the time to grow up and be brave for once!
Once he got to the library, he scrambled to put on his shoes and slung his pack and jacket over his left shoulder before leaving the room and practically skipping half of the steps as he ran downstairs. Jared and Heather were already there with their things, but they both looked bewildered at the situation, and Jared's bewilderment was mixed with anger.
"This is crazy," he said as if he was picking up where he had left off upstairs. "Why should we believe that this place is haunted, just because you say it is!"
"And why won't you just trust me for once! Let's go before this place gets any weirder." Again, not giving Jared any time to respond, he went to the front door and tried to turn the handle, but it wouldn't budge. "Damn it!"
[You thought you could get away from me that easily? You may have defeated me, but my comrade shall be the end of you! You will wish you that you had agreed with me! I would have given your body a painless death, but he won't be a sweetheart. Enjoy!]
An eerie stillness overtook the room. At this point, Cody saw that both Heather's and Jared's faces were both filled with terror. "Is there another door out of here?" he asked.
"Uh…" Jared stalled, "what was that-"
"IS THERE ANOTHER DOOR!" Cody screamed angrily. Believe me now, you douche?
"… there's one in the kitchen that leads to the backyard…" Heather muttered softly.
"Well, lead the way," he said. Heather walked through a doorway near the stairs with Somnos by her side, and the others followed them. The kitchen looked completely unfitting compared to the rest of the house, with quite a few modern appliances.
"There it is," she said while pointing.
"Good, let's get out of here before whatever else is in this house attacks," Cody said in a gasp of excitement. The group ran to the door quickly, and Cody yanked it open and held it for the others. Once they were outside, Cody was about to follow before the door slammed shut on its own. "What the-" He grasped the handle of the door and began to yank on it, but he received an electric shock that made him jump back.
"Fwahahahahahahahahahahaha!" cackled a strange figure from the center of the room. Cody slowly turned his head to see a new figure levitating just a few feet below the ceiling. It looked sort of like an orange Christmas ornament with light blue trimmings extending from its body like appendages.
Rotom… Cody didn't know much about the ghost species, except that like Spiritomb, they were exceptionally rare, and that they enjoyed sucking electricity out of manmade appliances. "Looks like we got another big one on our hands, boys," Cody muttered, but the response wasn't promising. Bastion puffed out his chest, and tried to look fierce, but the injuries that he had sustained from the Spiritomb were evident. Colossal, while still in good shape, was still cowering behind Cody at the very sight of the ghost. Pefrect. Only Bastion is left… there's no earth in here, so I can't use Mars. There's not enough room for Elesa to fight, even if she was able to now. Antonia is outside, but she's not strong enough to face an electric pokemon anyway… Just perfect… "It's up to you, Bastion!"The weary turtle stepped forward and stared down the Rotom, but the enemy seemed unconcerned.
The electric ghost laughed wildly at the little turtle that stood before him. The laughter itself was enough to send shivers down the Squirtle's spine, as well as his trainer. The ghost cackled again before shooting a Thunderbolt at the Squirtle. Bastion rolled out of the way, and shot a Water Gun at the electric specter. It hit, but the ghost shook off the blast and shot another bolt at Bastion. This one hit, but Bastion refused to give in. Now limping, the turtle let a stream of bubbles fly from his mouth, however, the Rotom let out a strange squeak before phasing into the kitchen's refrigerator.
"Be ready for anything!" Cody warned. Before he even finished his sentence though, the freezer side of the refrigerator opened, and an icy cold wind blew out. Bastion dodged this, and sent a Water Pulse at the appliance, but the Rotom was too quick. It sent another Icy Wind at Bastion as he was spraying the Water Pulse, and the water froze in midair, and stiffened the turtle's body. "Get out of there!" Cody screamed, but Bastion was as stiff as a cadaver as ice crystals formed around his body. The Rotom emerged from the refrigerator and formed a gigantic purple sphere in front of its body. "Bastion!" Cody shouted again, but the frozen reptile couldn't respond. The purple Shadow Ball was released, and it launched Bastion from his statuesque form, slamming him against the kitchen's cabinetry, and knocking him unconscious.
"Return!" he said somberly. As Bastion returned to his ball, Cody glanced around for Colossal, who was nowhere in sight. Cowardly little… He was unable to finish the thought as he noticed the Rotom approaching him. The electric ghost was howling with laughter as it was charging another blast, this one made of electricity rather than ectoplasmic energy. The young trainer backed against the wall as fear overtook every vein in his body Is this really how it's going to end?
"SKREEEEEEEEE!" A young, steel bird crashed through the window, but the Rotom adjusted its attack immediately, and electrocuted the Skarmory instead.
"Antonia!" Cody screamed, as the steel bird hit the ground. The brave bird had saved his life, but she had only bought him a few seconds of time. He recalled the bird into her pokeball.
The ghost cackled in a bone-chilling way once again. It began to charge up another electric blast, but this time, Cody had a plan for counter-attack. If Elesa has enough energy in her, she can absorb the electric attack, and may be able to reroute the electricity back into the Rotom and overcharge him, like she did with that Manectric. It was a long shot, but it was better than just standing there and getting fried to death. He plucked the Zebstrika's ball off his belt and waited for the right moment. If he let her out too early, the Rotom could counter with another attack and overtake the weakened horse, but if she was released too late… In a second…
Before he pressed the button on the pokeball, a green blur came up from behind the Rotom and slammed it crackling body into the floor. "Rah!" It was Colossal. Had he snuck away so he could attack the Rotom from behind? Or did he run away in fear, only to find his courage which brought him back to help his trainer. Cody was unsure, but he was glad that the Larvitar had returned.
"Rrrrrrrp!" the Rotom screeched as it began levitating again. It looked down at the lizard and shot a Shadow Ball at him, but the Larvitar swung his horn at the ball of energy and sliced it in half. He tried to hit the ghost with a Horn Attack, but the ghost saw the attack coming, and it made itself insubstantial. It then occurred to Cody that he was still at a huge disadvantage. Even though Colossal could handle electric attacks, he was a victim of the kitchen's environment. Like Mars, he had no access to the ground, so he couldn't whip up a sandstorm, and he wouldn't be able to stomp up a rock from underground. Even though he could physically attack the ghost, such attacks would fail more often than not.
"Cody!" Heather shouted from the window. "All the doors are locked, and we're being attacked out here! Try to get out this win-" Before she could finish her sentence, the Rotom shot an electric sphere at the teen. It missed her, but the impact of the attack sent her flying. Colossal took advantage of this, and tackled the Rotom, who's guard was down. The two landed in the sink, but only one stood up. The Rotom was gone. Cody's eyes widened.
"Colossal, get out before-" The sink exploded with a stream of gushing water and the Larvitar flew back from the blast. The Rotom phased out of the sink and sent more lightning bolts at the poor lizard. Normally, such electric attacks wouldn't hurt Colossal that much, but since he was soaking wet, the attacks were more effective. But Colossal wouldn't give up. Again, he tried to jab Rotom with his horn, but missed. The Rotom took this opportunity to phase into the oven, and almost immediately, the oven door opened, and flames burst from it straight towards the frightened Larvitar. But Colossal dodged the flames and backed up towards Cody as the Rotom reappeared. Even though Colossal had energy to spare, he was still struggling. Hey Arceus, if you're there, I could really use some divine intervention right about now. But something just as good came to the rescue.
"Wheeeeeeeee!" screamed a dozen high-pitched voices in unison.
"Hey, it's you guys again!" Cody exclaimed, but the group of Litwick ignored him as they began to circle the Rotom. The electric ghost pokemon made the first attack, releasing a Discharge onto one of the floating candles.
"Ehehehehehe!" all of the Litwick chanted at once as they unleashed a collective Ember onto the Rotom, overwhelming it.
Perfect. I can escape through the window now, Cody thought to himself. But then he noticed that Colossal was gone again. Damn it, where the hell did he go now? He turned his attention back to the Litwick, who were still peppering the Rotom with small bursts of fire. But the Rotom had had enough of this barrage. Letting out an angry scream, its body seemingly exploded with electricity, repelling all the surrounding Litwick. It looked furious, its eyes burning with intensity, though his frame was weak from the attacks.
But it would not be a victorious day for the ghost. Colossal appeared behind him again, this time making a successful strike with his sharpened horn. The Rotom fell to the ground. It tried to rise again, but Colossal would not allow it. He picked up the fallen ghost and performed his running body slam on the enemy. With one last cackle, the Rotom fell silent.
"Good job, Colossal!" Cody cheered, but the Larvitar didn't respond. He just stood there with his arms at his side. Okay… He turned his attention back to the fallen Rotom. The Litwick were flying around in ecstasy, surrounding the fallen ghost. I should catch it before it wakes up, he thought to himself, remembering his missed opportunity to catch the Spiritomb. A rare ghost pokemon would do well on my team. He pulled an empty pokeball out of his pack and tossed it at the Rotom, but right before the ball hit, a Litwick flew in front of the shot and was captured instead. Damn it! The ball hit the floor and wiggled a few times before it sealed completely. Cody was a little surprised by this occurrence. He figured that the Litwick would have escaped, but it didn't. Oh well, Litwick are cool too, I guess, he thought to himself, shrugging his shoulders. He remembered seeing a Chandelure in a proffessional battle once on TV, so he knew how powerful they could be.
"Cody! Are you alright!" Heather shouted through the broken window. "Get out here before any ghosts come back!"
"Coming!" he replied. He walked over to the floating Litwick and picked up the pokeball that he had captured his newest pokemon in, and looked back at Colossal, who was still standing still. "Colossal? You alright?" The lizard didn't respond. It was just staring into space, its body completely rigid. "Oookay. Return." He called his pokemon back and shook his head. I hope he's alright… He took one last look at the group of dancing Litwick before heading out the window. Jared and Heather were both nearby, both of them out of breath. "What happened to you guys?"
"We were attacked by three Dusclops when we got outside," Jared explained in a wheeze. "You're right, Storm. This house is haunted. We better get going before we get attacked again."
"Right," Cody agreed. "But check it out! I caught this little guy before I left the house." He picked the Litwick's pokeball off his belt and released it into the open.
"Hehehe!" the ghost laughed as it circled around Cody and landed on his shoulder, much to his surprise.
"Check it out, it already likes me! Why couldn't Antonia be this friendly when I caught her, right?" He was disappointed that Heather and Jared were not sharing in his enthusiasm. Heather looked nervous, and Jared… well, he couldn't tell how Jared was feeling. His facial expression made him look like he could have either been enraged or scared shitless.
"Um… Cody…" Heather stuttered nervously, "maybe you should return that thing to its pokeba-"
"Why? It helped me beat that Rotom, and it seems friendly already." The Litwick giggled again and then floated in front of Cody's nose. Its waxy body was creamy yellow color, and its blue eyes had a nice contrast with the orange flame that burned on top of its head.
"Cody, please, call it back before-"
"Cody! Please tell me you're not going to keep that thing, right?" Jared interrupted. Something weird was going on with his voice when he asked the question.
"Of course I'm going to keep it!" he answered happily. "You ever see a Chandelure in battle? Those things wreck shit up, and when this thing grows up, there will be no shit left unwrecked in our si-"
"Cody, you can't be serious!" Jared shouted. He looked extremely pissed off now. "You do realize what those things are capable of?"
"Yeah, yeah, eat my soul and all that good stuff. Relax, I'll be careful. People raise these things all the time," he answered, patting the floating candle on the back, causing it to laugh at his touch.
"Jared, just let him-" Heather started, but she was cut off by Jared again.
"No! Cody, I'm asking you as politely as I possibly can to release that- that- thing before something bad happens that we'll all regret!"
"No!" Cody shouted back. "I like this Litwick, and I'm going to keep it! If you have a problem with it, you can shove your issue right up where the sun don't shi-"
"Shut up! Just shut the hell up!" Jared screamed in Cody's face. "Fine! Have your soul eaten! See if I care, you dick!" He whirled around and walked away in a huff. Cody looked at the Litwick's innocent looking face and then shifted his gaze over to Heather, who was looking down and shaking her head in distress.
"Geeze, what's with him?" Cody asked, unknowing of what Heather already knew about Jared.
"Oh, Cody," she groaned upsettedly. She knew that it wasn't completely his fault this time, since he didn't know about Jared's hatred of ghosts, but she knew that what he had said would definitely set their relationship back even further. "Let's go find Jared. I'll explain everything on the way."