Time, however strange, allowed Ash Ketchum to finish his wanderings before nightfall and return to the Lavender City Gym.

The lights were all off, and no sound reached him.

He vaguely noticed, but shrugged it off, heading for a room marked 'Guests'.

It turned out to be well equipped with a miniature fridge, a lamp, nightstand and bed. He walked past the bathroom, barely glanced at the television, and flopped onto the bed. Within minutes, he had fallen asleep.

And seconds after that, Pansy walked into the room, hesitant yet self confident, trailed by an eerily glowing purple light.

She stopped by the bed, taking everything in for a moment. "Ash. Wake up."

He groaned, turning over.

She persisted, walking closer and laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Ash. You have to wake up now."

He refused to budge. She shook him violently. "You must wake up!"
Stirring, he blinked. "Pansy? Wha-"
"Ssh. Are you awake?"
"I, I think so.."
"Good. Stay awake."
"Why would I.." As soon as he had started protesting, he felt incredibly tired.

Just closing his eyes couldn't do anything..

Pansy leaned over and slapped him, hard.

He jolted up. "OW! What was that for?.!"

"I told you, stay awake."
For a moment, there was silence. Ash couldn't think of anything to say.

He opened his mouth to demand an explanation, but a single look from the girl silenced him before he started.

The strange purple orb that had been illuminating her grew in intensity, floating above her head.

An eerie voice shocked him fully into consciousness.

Video killed the radio star...

Ash was thoroughly confused, and when the orb flashed brilliantly, eliciting a bizarre scream from something directly above him, his confusion was replaced by fear.

"Don't be afraid!" Pansy demanded. Her instructions soon let up under the grip of cold claws encircling his throat. He made a strangled sound of terror.

"Damn! Mapikku, hit it again!" Pansy cried, her fingers tensing into fists.

Delighted.

A second brilliant flash threw the claws off of his neck, and the screaming continued. Something flew over his head, turning in a rage towards Pansy. A glowing strange mass of grey and gold stopped inches from her, menacing, drawing it's claws towards her face.

Her eyes flickered, a pale purple in their depths. She grabbed the creature, pulling it forward, destroying the distance between them.

What appeared to be it's face was now pressed to hers, and Ash, horrified, noticed her tongue had eased out, and met with the thing's face in a macabre parody of french kissing. It's claws twitched noiselessly, it's body shuddered and paled. He could see the door through it now, and suddenly it wrenched free and disappeared into wisps of grey smoke.

Pansy shook the fog away from her face, eyeing it with a bit of disgust.

The orb was revolving around her again. She turned her attention back to Ash, apparently waiting for his barrage of questions.

He settled on the first one. "What was that thing?.!"
She looked completely undisturbed as she informed him.

His jaw dropped. "That-was a pokemon?"

"Yes, a Dusknoir, to be exact. He's quite powerful, and has been hanging around here ever since the radio tower was built. The sooner Pokemon Tower can be rebuilt, the better. His goal is to take unsuspecting people and pokemon to the spirit world. The radio waves might have made him a bit crazy, I'm afraid. He's convinced they tell him to do it."

Ash sat in silence, feeling his neck for telltale marks. Physically, the attack may have been only a dream. But inside, he knew it was all too real. He hesitated, wondering how to phrase his next question.

"How did you..get rid of-"
"It's late now. A lot later, actually. Timewarps are inconvenient. You should get some sleep. In the morning, I'll accept your challenge."

Ash faltered, then nodded. "Um, okay."
She got up, and walked to the door.

"Oh-Pansy?"
Pausing, she turned halfway. The orb, which Ash had decided to ignore, stopped it's circling.

"What?"
"Thanks."
"..No problem."

-

Shutting the door behind her, she let out a sigh. The orb materialized into a large, intelligent looking Gastly.

Well. What fun. Too bad it took three hours.

"Someday, that thing may actually get someone."

Perhaps, The Gastly wavered up and down, thinking, You could commission Morty to help you catch it?

Pansy shuddered. "I'd rather not drag him into this."

The Gastly laughed.

"Maybe it will get tired of being intercepted, and go away."

You and I both know that's wishful thinking. In fact, we were chasing him all day. To find him back here, attacking this trainer, seems a little too much like he's hitting closer to you now.

Pansy sighed, closing her eyes. "I've got to figure out how to stop him for good. Anyway, thanks for your help, Mapikku."
Never a problem. Going to bed now?

Pansy nodded, running her arm down her side.

Then I'll get back to the peak. Call me whenever you need me.

"Will do."

-

Pikachu started. He had been asleep on a large bed, a few feet away from Kodachi.

Nothing he could see had woken him, but for some reason he found it hard to get back to sleep. He twitched an ear, and jumped down, walking out of the room.

Following Ash's scent, he soon found his trainer asleep, and apparently fine. "Chaa.."
It hadn't been anything to do with him, then. He wandered away, deciding a walk would settle him down.

Through the main hall, a small hallway, and a room that some sound was coming from. Little noises of business and contentment reached him from the inside of the room. He stuck his head in. "Pikaa?"
A strange purple creature looked up, it's luminated eyes never blinking. In it's claws, it clutched a variety of shining objects, and stood by the shimmering pool.

It grinned, revealing sharp teeth, and made a happy noise. Pikachu bounded in, smiling. Despite the creature's appearance, it was clear that it was friendly.

Hi! I'm Pikachu. What are you?

The creature thought for a moment. Voldo.

Pikachu tilted his head. That's a cool name. Do you know what kind of Pokemon you are?

Sableye! Voldo held out his handful of shinies, inviting Pikachu to admire them.

Sparkly!!
I found pretties! I look for jewels. Shiny pretties good.

Pikachu picked up a piece of foil, and unraveled it. There were two large pieces of silver foil in the bundle. Sableye watched curiously as he folded the foil into pieces, and stuck one on his head.

Shiny hat! Voldo was astounded.

Here's one for you! They're our official Shiny Hunting Hats!
Voldo squealed in excitement as he accepted his hat.

We find shinies now! Search this way!
Pikachu bounded after the Sableye as he led them into a hallway.

-

An hour later, they had both found snacks, some PokeChow for Pikachu, and a few jewels for Voldo.

Bidding goodnight to his new friend, Pikachu headed back to Ash's room to take a rest.

When morning brightened the world, and Ash awoke to find Pikachu at his feet, with a strange foil hat on, he groaned.

"Musta been a weird night for you too, huh?"