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"Getting lost is just another way of saying 'going exploring'." –Justina Chen Headley
Harry hummed cheerfully to himself as he and Lilium walked down a path shadowed by trees. He had gotten his first badge a week ago, and when he reached Floaroma Minn and Sol had been waiting for him. He had spent a few days back home before heading for Eterna City, and was perfectly content. Except for one thing.
"I have absolutely no idea where we are." Harry said, inspecting the fork in the path in front of them. "What about you, Lil?"
"Ran." Lilium shook her head.
"Hmm… Well, I guess we just pick one, huh?" Harry asked. Lilium made a shrug-like movement.
They picked the path on the right for no apparent reason, and continued on their way.
Finally, about two hours later, Harry flopped down at the base of a tree in exhaustion.
"Ugh, I'm so tired." He groaned. He released Meki and set out some food for his two Pokémon.
As they ate, he grabbed a sandwich for himself, and for a while there was only the sound of chewing and the chirping of Bug Pokémon.
After they finished eating, Harry stretched and relaxed for a moment.
You know what? Meki suddenly said. With all the walking you're doing trying to find the exit, the Egg's probably going to hatch soon.
"Haha, that's true!" Harry laughed, standing up. "Let's get going, maybe we'll have better luck finding the way out now."
After about thirty minutes, they did find something, but it wasn't the way out.
"What's a mansion doing in a forest?" Harry wondered. He eyed the prickly looking bushes blocking the entrance, before grabbing one of the old bars of the fence and somehow heaved himself over.
He recalled Meki and Lilium back into their Pokéballs before releasing them again on the other side of the fence. Harry headed towards the door, his Pokémon following hesitantly.
Are we really going inside little brother? Meki asked, eyeing the peeling paint and broken windows of the obviously abandoned house. It doesn't look safe.
"You can stay out here if you want." Harry told him and Lilium. "I just want to take a look around." Meki hissed in disapproval.
And let you get yourself into trouble? No way little brother. Right Lil?
Lilium nodded hesitantly. As Harry and Meki went inside, she paused and gave the outside of the house another worried glance before following swiftly.
And surely she had just imagined a pair of glowing red eyes, right?
Then the door slammed shut behind them, and a deep, evil sounding laugh reverberated through the house.
They froze in shock, before Harry spun around and tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge.
"Locked." He grunted. "We'll have to find another way out."
Looking around, he noticed two staircases leading to the next level, as well as a slightly ajar door straight ahead.
Lilium had just taken a step forward to get a better look around, when she noticed she couldn't feel the floor anymore. Looking down, she shrieked in fear when she noticed she was floating.
"Lil? Lil!" Harry cried, eyes widening. Meki tried to leap up and grab her, but she was out of his reach. Before their eyes, she disappeared.
The same laugh from before echoed again.
Harry grit his teeth and turned back towards the open door.
"Come on Meki, we have to find Lil and a way out." He said, pushing the old door some more.
The Seviper nodded solemnly, and followed, only once looking back at where Lilium had disappeared.
With a muffled yelp Lil landed on a dusty, but soft, pile of pillows.
Oh my Arceus I'm in a haunted mansion and I've been separated from Harry and Meki. I'm so damn screwed.
Finally looking up, she found herself staring into yet another pair of eyes.
Her scream could have blasted eardrums.
Meki and Harry found themselves in a dining room, where a long table stretched almost wall-to-wall.
"I wonder who used to live here." Harry whispered. Shaking his head, he and Meki set to looking for Lilium.
She was nowhere to be found in the room, but Meki called Harry's attention over to another room off to the side.
It was a kitchen, and once again, there was no Lil.
"We'll have to go up to the higher levels, unless we can find a basement or something." Harry told his partner.
Meki nodded when something caught his eye.
Harry! He yelled. The plates!
"What?" Harry asked, turning. Only to freeze when he saw all the plates in the kitchen floating. "Move!" He shouted, throwing himself out of the room, followed closely by Meki.
They didn't look back when they heard the sound of the plates breaking against the wall.
After racing out of the dining room, they hesitantly went up the stairs.
Opening the door on the right, they found themselves in a small library. They didn't stick around long, Lilium obviously wasn't there, and they didn't want to find out what the ghost could do with a bunch of books.
The room on the left appeared to just be storage, and Lilium wasn't there either. There was however, an odd plate in the middle of the room. Harry grabbed it quickly and shoved it into his bag without looking at it.
Finally, the door in the middle led to…
A hallway with five more doors.
"This is getting repetitive." Harry grumbled. Meki nodded in agreement.
They started on the left this time, and the first three doors led to nothing of excitement. Inside the fourth room however, there was…
"Lil!" Harry cried when he caught sight of the Nidoran lying on the bed in the room. She didn't react, which chilled Meki and Harry to the bone.
A growl issued from the left corner of the room, and Harry turned to see a pair of glowing red eyes watching them from a painting.
Meki hissed in warning at the eyes, and Harry took a step forward, staring into them fearlessly.
Shadows gathered slowly around the painting, and both Harry and Meki tensed…
The first thing Harry saw as he walked out of the mansion was a pair of women. One, he knew, was Officer Jenny, but he had no idea who the other was.
"Hello?" He called. They turned and looked relieved to see him.
Lil was in his arms, looking rather content, and Meki was slithering after him, looking torn between annoyed and amused.
"Thanks goodness you're alright." Jenny said. "We heard someone had gone into the Old Chateau, and we were just about to go look for you."
"People that have gone inside have been coming out screaming about a ghost causing mayhem inside. Did you see it?" The other woman asked.
"Uh, yeah, actually. I did." Harry told them. "He's right behind you."
They spun around and found themselves looking into glowing red eyes peering at them from the shadows.
The still unnamed woman shrieked and stumbled backwards, ending up on her rear.
"Gastly!" The owner of the eyes laughed, bursting out of the shadow and circling Harry's head. Lilium laughed with him.
"Seriously, you two." Harry huffed at them, still annoyed at their prank.
Lilium had been pretending to be asleep when they walked in, and when they had turned their backs, had leapt and screamed suddenly, shocking them. The Gastly had then burst from the picture and spun around them to confuse them. In his surprise, Harry had dropped his bag, and a Pokéball had flown out and hit the Pokémon, accidentally catching the ghost.
The Gastly hadn't minded, he and Lil had become good friends quickly and she had told him all about Harry and Meki. He also liked his new nickname; Nightshade.
Harry helped the fallen woman up, apologizing at the same time.
"It's fine." She said. "He just surprised me, that's all. I'm Gardenia by the way."
"Harry." He told her. "And they're Meki, Lilium, and Nightshade."
Gardenia nodded, and Officer Jenny was writing something down on a notepad.
"So it was a Gastly causing all that trouble?" Jenny asked. "And you caught it?"
"Yeah, he really likes playing pranks apparently. And it was kind of an accident, but I'm glad I caught him." Harry told her, watching Nightshade circle above him, his eyes no longer the red he used to scare people.
"Well thank you, I'm going to go make my report. I wish you luck." Harry and Gardenia bid her goodbye.
For a moment they stood in silence, and Harry noted that the bushes had been cleared.
Thank goodness, I won't have to jump the fence again. Harry thought.
Suddenly he remembered something.
"Hey Gardenia? Can I ask a favor?" Harry asked.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Can you point me in the direction of Eterna City?" He asked, looking sheepish. "I got lost." Gardenia laughed.
"Yeah, come on, I need to get back anyway. I am the Gym Leader after all." She said, heading off.
"Really? I'll be challenging you pretty soon then." Harry told her, following.
"Oh? I look forward to it!"
So, apparently people want to see more Harry in the Pokémon World.
How do I do this? Show how Harry meets all his Pokémon!
I tried to make this chapter kind of scary, but I don't think I did a great job; horror's not my strong point.
Tell me what you think please!