Archie - Pokémon: 7 Deaths: 2
Blue - Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 0
{Jinua 11th, 12:06PM}
{Route 209}
"LET GO OF HIM!" Blue heard Star screech angrily, unable to see clearly because of all the sand flying around and hitting his face like he was trying to walk through Orre on a bad day. There was a light crunching sound, and he heard Archie and the spirit possessing him howl in pain in unison. "Are you okay, hon?!" Star gasped. The gym leader tried to look past the makeshift sandstorm when the Luxray yelped and something fell with a soft thud just a little further away.
Suddenly, Archie's body was a whole lot closer than Blue remembered and he felt a large hand grab him by the front of his collar to lift him off the ground. The spirit had made use of Archie's body to pick the gym leader up. Clawing at Archie's wrist and reflexively trying to kick him in the sides ended up reminding Blue that, despite how non-aggressive Archie tried to be, the Aqua Leader was still pretty damn tall and bulky and could probably snap Blue's arm in half if he squeezed hard enough, even when he wasn't possessed by a spirit that thankfully hadn't considered that option yet.
The other thing that Blue ended up remembering was the possession incident in Lavender and that this was probably more or less how Saylee felt when she'd been on the receiving end.
A pit formed in his stomach when the ghost shifted to hold Blue over the well instead.
"OUR LIVES ARE NOT YOURS TO PLAY WITH, MURDERER!" the spirit snarled, its voice warping around Archie's.
Blue quickly reached for the Pokéballs on his belt, grabbing Pete's and tossing it up-
His eyes widened when he felt his collar slip from Archie's fingers. The well wouldn't be big enough for the Pidgeot to dive into the well after him. He'd released Pete just a second too late.
He was knocked out of mid-air by a large body of black and blue fur instead.
"You alright, sugar?" Star asked, standing over him protectively and glaring in Archie's direction while Blue spat out a bit of sand.
"I'm alive," Blue wheezed, pressing a hand against his ribs. Fuck. That hurt. FUCK.
He raised his head when a warped-sounding scream of rage resonated in the air and watched as the spirit tried to swing a fist at the Pidgeot.
"Don't attack him directly!" Blue shouted, trying to ignore the sharp pain in his chest. "There should be a stone in his hand; aim for that!"
Pete gave an affirmative screech, brandishing his talons at Archie and clawing at his hands while the spirit struggled to fight back.
Archie sank to his knees when the stone fell out of his hand.
Blue felt his stomach lurch when the smell of blood and burnt skin suddenly grew stronger, a chill running down his spine when a large, purple disc with crazed glowing green eyes emerged from the stone with an enraged shriek. Star snarled defensively as she protectively leaned over the gym leader even more. Pete returned the shriek and started trying to claw at the angry spirit.
...Suddenly, the ghost vanished into a red light.
The smell slowly faded. The ominous wind died down and the sand sank back to the ground. Blue stared, trying to process that the dangerous spirit was now in a Pokéball. He watched as Archie- actual Archie, not possessed by a rampaging ghost- shakily made his way over to his newest capture, leaning down to grab it. Pokéball in hand, Archie finally collapsed, hitting his head against the edge of the well, and didn't move.
Star darted toward her trainer. "Hon! Hon, are you okay?!"
"Well that was anti-climatic," Pete said, settling to perch on the edge of the well.
"I don't care whether or not the battle was epic, I'm just glad that shit is over with," Blue said.
"But seriously, what the hell was that?" Pete asked. "What was it even so pissed about, anyway?"
"I think it was mad at Blue for suggesting it should be dropped down the well and tried to return the favor," Star said. "Even called him a murderer." Blue ignored the side-glance his Pidgeot was giving him. Star looked up at the two of them and frowned. "Anyway, nobody cares about the ghost anymore! I want to know that my trainer is gonna be okay!"
"He'll be fine, he's just exhausted," Blue said simply, pulling another Pokéball off his belt and releasing his Arcanine. "Gary, I need you to do me a favor and carry this asshole. He's out cold and can't walk, but I'd like to get back to Hearthome as soon as bloody possible so we can dump that thing on that ghost lady from Hallowe'en."
"I have no clue what thing you're talking about, but I can definitely do what you asked," Gary replied, grabbing a mouthful of Archie's coat and helping Blue lift him onto Gary's back. Then the gym leader climbed up as well, taking a deep breath as his chest gave him another sharp sting, in order to make sure the Aqua leader wouldn't fall off as they darted for Hearthome.
{Jinua 11th, 8:19PM}
{Hearthome Gym}
Hearthome, oddly enough, didn't feel too different from when it'd had festivities going on. All the food and game stands were gone, but the city was still full of light and activity at night. Thankfully, since the city-wide party was over, the streets were a lot less crowded and Blue could easily dash past the gate with Star and Gary and an unconscious Archie, and up to the local gym.
"Oh, hey! It's you!" a vaguely familiar voice said brightly as Blue carefully slid off Gary's back. Blue looked up to see a tree-like ghost floating over to him.
"You're...Pavel, right?" Blue guessed, much to the spirit's delight. "Could you get Fantina? We ran into some overly angry ghost that just about took out my travel-companion here."
"Be right back," the Phantump said with a nod, doing a small somersault and vanishing through the gym's wall.
"Blue, are you alright?" Star asked worriedly. Blue glanced down at her. "Your breathing is strange."
"That's just because today's been a big mess of events," he scowled. Actually, it was mostly because his chest hurt like fuck, but he didn't want to admit that to her.
Blue took a few steps back when a pair of Haunter came out of the wall.
"Wow, this one really is worn," one of them said, leaning over Archie and prodding him curiously. "That can't have happened in just one day."
"How long's this been going on?" the other asked, looking at Blue.
"Not sure," Blue replied, stepping closer to the comfortingly massive Arcanine. "He started having exceptionally big mood swings a couple days ago, and today things finally went as far down the drain as things can go, but he's been having trouble sleeping for about two weeks at least."
"Sounds about right," the second Haunter said, while the first one nodded in agreement.
"Miss Fantina'll be here any moment. We'll go ahead and help carry your friend inside."
Blue pressed his lips, trying to not to protest. Gary was too big to fit through the door, Star was too small to carry Archie properly, and Blue wasn't strong enough. Right now all he wanted was not have to deal with any ghosts for the next century, but he was still grateful when the two Haunters lifted Archie off the Arcanine's back and carefully made him float into the gym. Blue offered a quick 'thank you' to Gary before returning him and following after Star and the Haunters.
The first room they stepped in was large and mostly dark, dimly lit by candles. Blue felt his shoulders tense and hissed when his chest stung him again. A much brighter light quickly shone down from the ceiling when another couple ghosts opened a trapdoor hiding in the darkness and a set of retractable stairs came down. Star went up first, zipping past the Haunters carrying Archie upward.
Blue was relieved to find that the next room was much brighter and didn't look like it'd been purposely arranged to scream 'graveyard atmosphere'. There were still an unnerving amount of books and trinkets and tools and a couple Pokémon skulls that were visibly intended for occult research, and all the red velvet was probably a reference to the color of blood, but…
"Bienvenue," Blue heard a voice say behind him. He turned his head and saw Hearthome's gym leader, long purple hair cascading down over her shoulders instead of tied up in buns like last time he remembered seeing her, wearing an elegant dress that seemed to be inspired from a Mismagius. She offered him a smile. "I have been told that your friend requires assistance, yes?" She looked up at the two Haunters and gestured toward another room. When they floated over to where she'd directed them, she held out a hand, inviting Blue to follow along. "How much are you able to tell me of the situation?"
"Mostly we just came here to drop this thing off," Blue replied, holding out a Pokéball. Fantina gave him a confused look and carefully took the Pokéball from his hand, turning it over a few times and inspecting it. "Some ghost living in a rock was feeding off Sebastian's life energy or something. He hasn't been able to sleep properly for about two weeks now, and when we found the rock in his bag and tried to ditch it earlier today it came out and attacked us." He didn't really feel like going into details about Archie being possessed and himself nearly getting dropped down a well of undetermined depth.
"A rock, you say?" Fantina repeated, thinking. "That is certainly unusual...Les esprits are not normally possessing lifeless objects, or making them their home."
"Hey, you're the ghost expert here, not me," Blue said. "How about a big purple saw disc with lots of green glowy orbs and crazy eyes? Does that ring any bells?"
Fantina thought about it some more, frowning. She eventually gasped, eyes widening. "This is..." She didn't finish her sentence, instead trotting as fast as her heels allowed her to a shelf full of books and running a finger over the spines until she found the one she wanted, pulling it out and flipping it open.
Blue walked over, hands in his coat pockets.
"This is a Spiritomb," she breathed with a hint of excitement. "How have you come across this?"
"A really, really weird guy showed up two weeks ago and shoved it into Sebastian's hands," Blue replied. "We weren't sure if he was drunk or crazy or whatever, though looking back I guess it makes more sense when you consider that the rock was possessed by some evil spirit or someshit."
"Not evil, no," Fantina disagreed, snapping the book shut and taking it with her as she started hurrying back toward the room where Archie'd been taken to. "Volatile, yes. But not evil."
Star and the two Haunter raised their heads when Fantina and Blue walked in. The Viridian leader saw that Archie had been laid out on a bed- it was actually strange, finally being able to get a good look at the man and seeing how much the past two weeks had physically changed the Aqua leader. Disregarding the purple hair dye and the tan spray that Blue knew Archie'd used to make himself look even darker than before, the Aqua leader was thinner, cheekbones starting to show on his face, dark shadows under his eyes even more prominent, his breathing much more shallow. Blue'd seen this kind of state countless times in his life, but what made it creepy seeing this now was that they weren't in Kanto.
Fantina waved her arms over her head. The two Haunter nodded and vanished, floating out through the walls. "I have requested that les esprits leave the gym, for the time," she said, looking at Blue and Star. "I intend to release the one which is in this Pokéball. I promise it is not dangereux as long as you are not showing emotions of aggression, but of course, I am understanding if you do not wish to remain here."
"I'm not leaving," Star said firmly. "Not if you're gonna release that thing here next to my human."
"C'est important," Fantina insisted. "Please consider. If it has been with you for a time, why has it only affected one of you? There is une connexion between this one and your companion. If I release it in a place where he is not, that is where it will be trouble. It will also be trouble if it is feeling threatened. If you stay, you must be calm."
Star made a face.
"I've had enough ghosts today, so I'll be off," Blue said. "I'll just trust you not to get anyone killed or anything."
"Certainement," Fantina said, smiling and giving him an elegant bow. "Your trust is appreciated. Not to worry, your friend shall not come to harm while I am here."
{Jinua 11th, 10:24PM}
{Hearthome}
{Pokémon Center}
The fact that Star had stayed back at the gym to stubbornly remain at Archie's side was...a relief, actually. He was pretty sure that he didn't have to worry about Archie and that Fantina could probably handle ghosts fine, but Star not being around meant that he could sneak a quick check-up with a nurse into his schedule.
The way the Luxray'd headbutted him out of the way when the spirit tried to drop him down the well left...a big bruise on his chest. A really big bruise. The entire right side of his chest was a dark shade of purple and red, a small ring of yellow around the edge. Cracked ribs, according the the nurse. He wasn't in any danger of lung puncture or anything of the sort, so he would simply have to do what patients with cracked ribs usually did, which was...to let things heal on their own. Ribs were sturdy bones that didn't often require intervention. For the most part, he just had to make sure he did some breathing exercises every hour or two, be sure to rest with a pack of ice over his chest every now and then, and take a good bunch of painkillers because this shit was gonna last between three to six weeks and knowing himself and how things went it'd probably even take as long as seven.
Blue was more than happy to get a room and just rest on the bed with a pack of ice on his chest for a while. It was cold as fuck, but it felt soothing.
Hopefully he'd be able to take painkillers while Star wasn't looking because he knew that she'd mother the shit out of him if she knew, and he didn't want that. He hated that. He also didn't want her feeling endlessly guilty about injuring him because what was done was done and he'd much rather be grateful that he was alive in the first place than be upset that he had a purple chest.
He removed the ice pack and took a few deep breaths. Fuck, that hurt. The more he did it, though, the less he started feeling it. He knew it wouldn't go away for ages, but it was good to know he could breathe without worrying about his bones poking holes in his lungs.
It was good to breathe for a night and not think about ghosts.
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Sorry for being behind on chapter updates. We're finally entering uncharted territory because although I've been re-writing Deliverance from the start I could still use the original draft I had as an outline. Unfortunately, that outline only went up to about Solaceon, so a lot of my non-writing came from not quite knowing what to do next or -how- to write it. May or may not be able to catch up during Christmas week because I'll have some vacation time and not have to worry about work but at the same time my brother's coming back from the US to visit us and of course we're all very excited about having him back for a while. Chances are we'll be streaming a thing together while he's here as well.
I honestly don't expect to have two chapters up next week to make up for the lack any the past couple weeks, but we'll see what happens after that.
ARCHIE
Shanks the Sharpedo, Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Basil the Buizel, Sutekh the Spiritomb
BLUE
Sam the Blastoise, Pete the Pidgeot, Adam the Alakazam, Gary the Arcanine, Girish the Gabite