Disclaimer: I still don't own pokemon. Too lazy to write any more than that.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who have commented (a whopping three people now!). Thanks again to Murkrowfeather and GirlWaterShaman, as well as my newest reviewer, EeveeCelebi749. I'm glad you all like it! Please let me know if anyone still has any more questions on my explanation of the story of the Old Chateau, as I have a clear explanation of it, but I'm too lazy to post it unless someone requests it. Thanks to everyone who's read and will read my story, and I really hope you enjoyed it!
Spirits of the Past
Part 8: Epilogue
"Hey, how are you feeling?"
Exactly one week had passed since that nightmarish day at the Old Chateau. Gardenia was now making her rounds at the hospital. Gardenia herself had had to stay for a couple nights, due to the second and third degree burns she had sustained from Jenna's ninetails. They had allowed her leave soon enough, though, with the promise that she would keep fresh bandages on the injured places. She was now using crutches to get around, since putting too much weight on her leg caused too much pain to practically get around.
Cynthia, whom Gardenia had been addressing, smiled. "I'm doing a lot better today. It's not hurting quite as much. The worst part is just not being able to get around." Cynthia laughed a bit at this, and Gardenia joined in. One of Cynthia's arms, as well as one of her legs had been broken. She had needed surgery to get a metal plate put into each to hold the mending bones in place, but other than that, Cynthia had been unharmed. No concussion, as Gardenia had so feared. After they finished their giggling, Cynthia continued, "So how are my pokemon doing?"
"They're all doing fine. They're just anxious to see you again." Gardenia had agreed to taking care of Cynthia's pokemon while the champion remained in the hospital. After talking casually for a bit more, Gardenia wished Cynthia well, then crutched her way to a room on the next floor up. This was where the children who were healing were placed.
"Helloooo? Is Mia in here?" asked Gardenia as she poked her head in the doorway. A little girl ran up, followed by another, slightly older girl as well as a boy her own age.
"Gardenia! You're here! Look at the puzzle we just made!" Gardenia took an appreciative look at the simple jigsaw puzzle the kids had put together. Mia, though not physically hurt, was gaining back her strength after her long period of eating a drinking little. The ghost apparently hadn't done it's best at keeping its host alive - perhaps it had been so long since that spirit had lived, it no longer remembered how. Gardenia had tried to get the full story of what had happened to Mia out of her once she was beginning to get her strength back, but it was still slightly muddled. As far as Gardenia could tell, it sounded as if the girl had actually felt... drawn to the haunted mansion. Whatever the case, she couldn't remember anything from the time when she entered the chateau to the time when she had woken up in the hospital. Gardenia and Evan, combined witht he efforts of their pokemon, had managed to find the girl passed out in the hallway sometime after that final battle with Jenna. Gardenia was still a bti confused with what had happened with that whole thing as well. As Evan had explained, he had managed to send the ghost of the father on, away from this world. With her father gone, the spirit of the little girl had also been able to 'pass on.' And without any object of his revenge left, the evil butler had apparently dissapated.
After entertaining the children for a little longer, Gardenia took her leave. There was still something that needed to be done.
***
About an hour later, Jenna, Evan, and Gardenia all arrived at the Old Chateau. It was a place that Gardenia had hoped never to go to again, but Evan had said that it would be... healing for her to come to it one last time, to finish one last bit of business there. Jenna didn't really need healing, but she had wanted to come along anyway. She remembered nothing from the time she was possessed, and had had to listen to the whole story from Evan. She couldn't quite believe it, but then she wouuld remember her brief struggle with the dark presence in her mind before being possessed, and she believed it well enough. She had the scars from the cuts to verify her possessor's threats. But she handled the fact hat she had been possessed well; she apologized for what she had done, and more or less went on with her life. Right now, she was staying at the Pokemon Center until Cynthia healed. A couple times, she had a nightmare where the dark presence came again, but each time she simply dismissed it as her imagination. Evan said that the evil ghost had dissappeared. There was no way he could harm Jenna again.
They walked into the house, and instead of going to any of the rooms, walked straight over to the glaring statue. Evan led the way, followed by Jenna who was being followed closely by Gardenia. They had already let out Jenna's sandslash and outfitted her with a cleanse tag, so they had no problems with ghosts. Once they made their way to the statue, Evan put his hands to it and stood there for a good five to ten minutes. Jenna and Gardenia remained silent as they waited, not wanting to disturb him. Eventually, he backed away from the statue, rubbing his temples as if to dispel a headache.
"Jenna," Evan said after some time, "Would you have your sandslash move the statue and dig underneath it?" Jenna nodded to Sandy, signaling to her to do so. The statue was heavy, but Sandy was able to move it aside with some effort. She then went to digging a hole where it had been, breaking through what was left of the tiled floor of that area. After digging only a foot deep, her claws rasped against something solid. Something metallic. After clearing away the rest of the dirt on top of it, she managed to reveal a large set of metal double doors, leading down farther into the ground. Together, Jenna and Evan opened them to reveal a pile of nevermeltice.
"What... is this?" Jenna asked, surprised at the cold chamber they had uncovered.
Evan's eyebrows came together in a thoughtful scowl. "It's just like the memories said... Here, let me take care of the ice, and you'll see why we're here." Evan let out his alakazam, who used psychic to lift out the ice. When they saw what was beneath, Jenna gasped and Gardenia had to turn away.
Within an open coffin at the bottom of the vertical chamber was the decomposing body of a woman. She must have been pretty at some point, but now her face looked much hollower - almost mummified. However, her body was actually very well preserved.
"This is the mother of the girl spirit, and wife to the scientist." Evan said. "Her spirit was bound to here since her body was never properly buried. Her husband had been hoping on preserving her body so that he could try to revive her one day, but obviously died before that happened. If such a thing could ever happen." Evan seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, but then continued. "Well, let's give this woman a proper burial. It doesn't have to be fancy, and I'd rather not tell anyone about this. We can bury her outside the mansion." Using the combined psychic attacks of the Jenna's golduck and Evan's alakazam, they managed to lift the coffin and its contents out of the mansion and over to the left side of the mansion. Sandy dug a hole large enough for a proper burial, then filled it back up once the coffin was closed and inside the hole. Evan said a few words for the spirit, and announced that he could no longer feel the ghost's presence.
And so, with that last action, the infamous Old Chateau was rid of it's last human inhabitant. Ghosts still continue to wreak havoc in the old place, but no longer do the memories of the past taint the decaying building. However, if you're lucky, there are still those that say that if you go up to a certain room, on a dark, dark night, you just might see a certain pokemon. The last ghost, you could say, of the sad story of this haunted mansion. It's a mischievious little rascal: an electrified blob of plasma that just loves to wreak havoc with electrical devices. Some say it was the last successful experiment of the late scientist, and perhaps the greatest completed experiment in the history of the world. They say that it was the only case in which life has been artificially created, though it came with the cost of the lives of those in the mansion.
But, of course, it is just a legend.