Interlude 1: Haunted

AN: I changed my mind, I'll put the 'Interludes' into the story, just because. Um, nothing much to say now; everything I wanted to say to you wonderful people is in the last chapter, so I'll just be quiet and give you something different from said last chapter.

"Ark! Hey Ark!" Both Michael and Darius turned in confusion at the young girl's voice shouting behind them. A brown-haired girl in pigtails wearing a pink shirt with black bows and a black skirt came running up behind them, waving vigorously as a chespin bounded along behind her. The younger of the two agents blinked, trying to remember why she looked familiar. Luckily, his memory clicked just as she came to a stop before them.

"It's Shauna, correct?" He asked, hoping he'd remembered the girl's name correctly. She nodded vigorously, sending her pigtails wagging.

"I haven't seen you since we bumped into each other on Route 4! How have you been? Are you still lost?" Ark noticed Darius suppressing a smirk out of the corner of his eye and resisted the urge to glare at the older agent.

"I've been fine, and I'm not lost anymore. How about you?"

"I was thinking of inviting all my friends to get together to visit the haunted house just north of here!" Shauna declared, pointing in the general direction that Ark and Darius had been headed. "I have an idea! Why don't you come with us?"

"Go on Ark, it'll be fun." Darius said, elbowing Michael lightly in the side. This time the teen didn't bother trying to hide his glare.

"You sound like you don't intend on coming." Archangel grumbled, already guessing the answer. True to form, Darius shrugged.

"I've seen enough haunted houses. Remind me to tell you about Barry and the haunted electric blanket later on." He smirked and tapped one of his Pokeballs in a gesture that was becoming annoyingly familiar to Archangel. Seconds later, he flickered out of sight. Archangel was getting used to the older agent's disappearing trick, but beside him Shauna gasped, practically jumping a foot in the air.

"Where'd he go?" She demanded, looking around to try and catch a glimpse of the vanished agent. Michael sighed and shrugged.

"He does that. It's a neat trick if you never want to lose an argument. Get in the last word and have your Pokémon teleport you away. Problem solved." He shook his head but turned to the younger girl, who was just staring at the spot the young man had disappeared from with a smile on her face.

"I love seeing new things like that." She commented before turning north. "Now come on, I don't want to keep everyone else waiting!" And she took off, glancing back every couple of seconds to make sure Michael was following, which he did with a bemused smile on his face. As annoying as his method of getting the point across was, perhaps Darius had been right. Their encounter with Team Flare at the Power Plant had shaken the younger agent, and the revealing conversation with Johnny had only made it worse. Perhaps a tour through a supposedly haunted house would help ground him again. Though he was curious about Darius's mention of a haunted blanket. That sounded like quite the story.

Serena tapped her foot, glancing around the forest. She honestly had no interest in the haunted house, but Shauna had made her promise to come along. Off to the side, Tierno was practicing moves with his new Pokémon, Combusken. Trevor was sitting on a fallen log, orange hair almost obscuring his face as he flipped through the pages in his Pokedex.

"Sorry I'm late everyone!" Shauna's voice called, bringing the three sets of eyes up as the young girl came running up the path. Behind her, a familiar dark-skinned teen strode along, looking rather amused even as his hands were stuck in his pockets.

"You're that officer kid." Serena declared as way of greeting. "You ever find that other cop?" The teen paused for a second before nodding.

"Yeah, I found him. Thanks for the tip by the way, I'd have never tracked him down otherwise." At Shauna's confused glances between the two of them, Ark shrugged. "My blue-haired friend from earlier."

"You're both cops?" Shauna demanded, blinking widely. That caught everyone else's attention, and suddenly Ark had four sets of eyes glued to him. Serena noted with some amusement that that seemed to make him somewhat uncomfortable.

"Yeah." He half-muttered. "I haven't been on the force very long though- I don't even have my official badge yet." Noticing just how uncomfortable the young cop was becoming, Serena decided to take pity on him.

"Weren't you the one who wanted to see the haunted house Shauna?" She asked, diverting everyone's attention away from him. Going by the relieved nod she received, the gesture hadn't been missed either. Shauna, for her part, clapped her hands together.

"Of course! Come on everyone; it'll be really something to remember!" And with that, she took off in the direction of the ramshackle house, leaving the others to hurry along after her.

"It was a dark and stormy night, many years ago." The grey-haired gentleman began once the five children had gathered around him. "Lost, I arrived at this house and went inside. The lights would not turn on, so I fearfully looked around the house. Eventually, I made my way into the kitchen. There was no sign of anyone being there… I found the fridge, and when I opened it, a faint light leaked out. I could finally make out my surroundings, and I saw the faint outline of a man huddling in the corner of the room. I tried to tell him that I was lost and I was hoping he'd let me stay until morning, but when I approached him… the man suddenly screamed, 'Stay back!' I apologized and continued to plead my case, 'Please, can't you help me?' 'I'm not talking to you!' He shouted. I looked at the man in surprise. When I did this, the man asked me… 'Can't you see them? Behind you! A horde of faceless men!'"

The man fell silent. Michael was the first to blink. He glanced around the dark and dusty house they sat in, frowning. That was it? Shauna seemed to be similarly unimpressed.

"That's it?" She demanded.

"It was a very scary story; was it not?" The man asked, puffing his chest out proudly.

"Hmm?" Tierno blinked, turning his gaze away from the window he'd been staring out of. "Is it over? I wasn't paying attention."

"Not so much a haunted house as a ghost story then." Serena said, rising from her chair.

"Come on guys, let's get out of here." Shauna grumbled, hopping off her chair and making her way to the front door. Michael trailed after her, followed by her other friends. He stopped however when the girl grabbed the handle, tugging on the door.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, coming up to stand behind her. Shauna frowned and put both hands on the doorknob, twisting it and leaning backwards, pulling on the door with all her might.

"I can't get it open!" The girl yelped, dropping the doorknob like a hot potato and quickly backing away.

"Maybe it's just jammed." Serena soothed, brushing by Michael and grabbing the doorknob, frowning as she too failed to pull it open. "What's wrong with this thing?" She demanded.

"Oh!" Tierno exclaimed. "It must be part of the haunted house! A scary story to set the mood, and then getting trapped inside!" He turned, probably to congratulate the old man on the trick, but the white-haired man was staring out the window, eyes wide and mouth set in a frown.

"It was sunny when you children arrived, wasn't it?" He asked nervously, drawing their attention to the dark window. Trevor approached the window, glancing outside.

"It has gotten incredibly dark." He commented. "I must say, this is very convincing. I don't know how you managed to make it so dark. If it started raining, then it would be the same as your story." He turned back to the old man, but the story-teller's face was almost as white as his hair.

"I-I'm not doing this." The man said fearfully, eyes darting between the sealed door and the darkened window. Serena rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, sure. But seriously, can you unlock the door?"

The man shook his head, practically quaking in his chair. "I told you kids, I'm not doing anything! I'm only here to tell that story!" There was a deep rumbling growl from outside and the man squeaked fearfully.

"Listen, its just thunder." Serena declared with another eye roll. "A storm must have rolled in while we were listening to the story. That's why it's dark out. The moisture in the air got into the old wood of the door and wedged it shut. It's simple." There was another dark growl from outside and Tierno edged closer to Trevor, who also looked somewhat disturbed.

"I don't think that's thunder Serena." The large teen muttered, frowning. Before the girl could answer however, all the windows began rattling in their frames, the whole frame of the house trembling. Seconds later, it quieted, leaving the group of teenagers huddled in a nervous group in the centre of the living room.

"Just the wind." Serena muttered, suddenly sounding much less sure of herself. Michael frowned, biting his lip. He could tell she didn't believe her own words, but he didn't have any more logical solution. Unless it was something to do with Team Flare, but there was nothing he could think of that the group of criminals would want with a run-down shack in the middle of a swamp.

"Maybe we should go deeper inside." Trevor suggested. Something scratched at the door, and this time it was Tierno who squeaked in fright.

"I second that!" He stage-whispered as the strange growling / thunder started up again. Quickly, the group of teenagers shuffled from the living room at the front of the house down the hall until they found a staircase. Once upstairs, they all filed into one of the old bedrooms, Michael frowning as he was the last one to enter.

"Where'd that old story-teller go?" He asked, sticking his head out into the hallway and glancing around.

"I'm telling you, it's all part of his trick." Serena grumbled, seating herself cross-legged at the head of the bed. Shauna sat in the same position at the foot, and Trevor leapt up to sit atop the dresser, which Tierno leaned against. Still frowning, Michael closed the door. Despite Serena's shaky assurances, something odd was definitely going on.

Serena was not afraid. Both her parents had been well-known Pokémon trainers, and Pokémon trainers weren't scared of little things like storms. Which was exactly what that was.

She tried not to gulp when the bedroom window began rattling violently, drawing five sets of eyes to it until it settled once more. When storms rattled windows, you could hear the wind behind them. Feel it gusting even through the structure of the building. This just wasn't natural…

Off by the door, Serena saw Ark pulling an oddly coloured Pokeball off his belt, watching as he stared silently at the Pokémon contained inside before sighing quietly and snapping the ball back to his belt. Whatever that was all about.

"Do you think his story was true?" Shauna asked nervously, breaking the tense silence that had followed the window's display.

"Of course not." Ark declared, sounding far more confident than Serena had. "Whatever's happening now is our own haunted house story."

"So you think it is a ghost?" Serena demanded incredulously. Ark shrugged.

"Could be a ghost-type Pokémon." He looked like he was going to say more, but instead the cop just closed his mouth, gazing towards the window once more.

"Many ghost-types are known for being terribly cruel pranksters." Trevor commented from his perch, retreating once more into the pages of his Pokedex. "One of them could have taken residence in this house and thought this was the perfect time for a prank."

"Is something wrong Shauna?" Ark asked abruptly, drawing everyone's attention to the oddly quiet girl who had moved to stand by the window when no one was paying attention.

"I can't see anything out there." Shauna muttered, frowning. Serena also rose from the bed, moving to stand beside the younger girl. It was true; not even the outline of the trees could be seen anymore.

"It's still early in the afternoon; it isn't physically possible for it to be this dark out yet." Trevor muttered, his eyes darting between the window and the Pokedex. Serena noticed his nervous behaviour and quickly glanced around. This wasn't good, she and Ark were obviously handling the situation, but Shauna and Trevor and…

"Where's Tierno?" Serena yelped as ice stabbed through her heart. She'd just seen him leaning against the same dresser Trevor was sitting on, she hadn't seen him leave, so where was he? Ark also glanced around, suddenly looking much less confident than before. Shauna edged closer to the young cop, gripping his sleeve as she too searched the room for their missing friend.

"He didn't leave, I know he didn't." Ark muttered, more to himself than any of the others.

"Don't you see it?" Trevor gulped, bringing his knees up to his chest as he curled up in fright. "It's picking us off. First the old man disappeared, and now Tierno's gone!"

"We don't know that yet." Ark quickly reprimanded, but Trevor just shook his head.

"Do you know how many ghost-type Pokémon feed off fear and stolen life forces? Most of them!" The window rattled viciously again and Shauna turned away with a swallowed scream, twisting around and tucking her face into a startled Ark's shirt. Trevor tucked his head down between his chest and knees, bringing his arms up to cover his head as if to hide from everything. Just as the window settled however, Serena felt an odd tingle in her body. She glanced down to see that her whole body seemed to be quickly taking on a pinkish-purple glow. She opened her mouth to alert the others, knowing with crystal clarity that this was what had happened to the old man and Tierno, but before she could so much as squeak, the run-down bedroom disappeared.

Michael stared at the window warily, even as he tried to ignore how awkward he felt with Shauna clinging to his shirt like superglue. Not removing his eyes from the dark glass, he reached up and patted the girl's head, shooting a few glances over at the boy called Trevor, who hadn't uncurled from his little protective ball atop the dresser.

"It's going to be okay." He tried to reassure them. "We're going to find that silly old man, and Tierno, and then we're all going to leave if I have to blow a hole in the wall to get out. Right Serena?" Michael turned to his fellow in reassuring the others, only to blink at the empty bed.

"Kuso." He growled darkly, clenching the hand that wasn't buried in Shauna's hair. Making a decision, he tugged the girl over to Trevor's perch, tugging on the boy's limbs until he was forced to uncurl and come down from the dresser or risk falling. He was only half-surprised when the orange-haired boy, like Shauna, latched onto his shirt. Biting his lip now, Michael took one more look at the now-dormant window before Archangel sighed, reaching for the Pokeballs on his belt, removing two of them. Thanau he released, smiling slightly as the bright, warm flame on the charmeleon's tail momentarily distracted his new charges. Quickly, he glanced down at the occupant of the other Pokeball. Amersu looked a little nervous, but her eyes were glued to the two limpets on Archangel's shirt. She wasn't actually afraid yet, so they probably weren't in as much danger as they could be. Even so, the agent thought as he returned her ball to his belt, it was time to leave.

"Come on you two, we're leaving." Archangel soothed, nodding to Thanau to indicate to the Pokémon that he should lead. It was somewhat difficult to walk down the hallway with the two preteens on the front of his shirt, but he didn't think it would be a good idea to try prying them off, so he let them be. He did however have to shift them behind him to get down the stairs. Once they reached the living room however, Archangel froze; his eyes inextricably drawn towards the strange stone that he didn't remember being on the coffee table beforehand. Thanau growled at it, obviously not liking whatever the stone was.

Archangel was admittedly caught off-guard as the stone abruptly levitated up, dark purple shadows exploding from the crack that ran down the centre. The light shifted, becoming a swirling vortex around the stone, a smirking face appearing in the swirling patterns.

"It's a Spiritomb." Trevor muttered, peeking out from behind Archangel. Mutely, the older teen brought his arm around to drape it around the younger boy's shoulders, sheltering him.

"Thanau, Flamethrower." Archangel commanded in a steady voice, glaring at their captor. Thanau snarled, the flame on his tail flaring high as the reptile shot a massive stream of fire from his jaws. The stream struck the stone at the centre of the ghost, eliciting a pained screech from the Pokémon, which quickly retaliated by shooting back a dark orb of energy. The attack struck Thanau directly in the chest, sending the charmeleon sprawling back into the kitchen table, breaking several of the table's legs on impact.

Archangel gritted his teeth as the windows began to rattle once more and Spiritomb snarled, whipping more of the dark energy balls at not only Thanau, but also Archangel. The teen quickly ducked behind the sofa, dragging two startled trainers with him.

"Thanau, Flamethrower again, maintain it as long as you can!" Archangel commanded, wincing as the windows began to shake even more violently. The ominous noises at the front door had returned in full force as well, and Archangel gritted his teeth hard enough to make his jaw hurt. The accursed ghost was still trying to frighten them, even after it had been exposed.

Thanau braced himself against the collapsed table, drawing lips back in a snarl as he once more shot a jet of fire at his opponent. Spiritomb tried to dodge, but Thanau just shifted his head, his eyes like steel flints at the threat to his trainer and the two younger children. Finally, several things happened at once.

First, one of the windows shattered, glass flying everywhere. At the same time, the door splintered and a red-eyed, black-furred demon leapt into the living room with a primal howl. Spiritomb shrieked, sending a few of the energy balls at the newcomer, but they simply disappeared into the demon's fur, seemingly useless. White fangs gleamed in the flickering light of Thanau's flame and Spiritomb's purple aura, moments before those same fangs latched onto the stone at the heart of Spiritomb's mass. Thanau's flame petered out, the charmeleon finally needing to take a breath. As he closed his jaw, he began to glow with an intense white light. Light that swelled up around his form, shooting down past the length of his tail and unfurling in waves from his back.

Seemingly seconds later, the room fell silent. The Mightyena that had charged through the door growled softly and gave the rock in its jaws a solid shake, but the stone remained silent. Thanau's odd glow died down, leaving a much larger, winged, Pokémon in his place. Finally, Darius Stellon stepped through the wreckage of the front door, almost immediately being pushed aside from behind as Serena charged into the living room, running up to where Archangel was kneeling baffled behind the sofa; still trying to shelter the younger trainers behind him.

"Oh, I'm so glad we were able to get in!" She cried, flinging herself at their odd little pile of bodies and somehow managing to wrap all three of them in a tight hug. Behind Darius, Archangel could see both Tierno and the old story-teller peering nervously in through the shattered doorway.

"What just happened?" Archangel muttered, once more trying to calm his fluttering heart. Darius smiled, glancing over at Kuraishi, who still hadn't dropped the rock.

"A Spiritomb decided to take up residence in this place. No doubt it planned to trap you here and play with you for its amusement for however long it could get away with." He shrugged. "The only reason I knew something was wrong was because I had decided to stop by and check out the haunted house, but I couldn't get the door open. Then you lot started getting more freaked out than a regular haunted house should have made you. When I tried to enter, the door was sealed. So I had Ayashii force her way through Spiritomb's trap and pull you guys out."

"The windows rattled whenever his Gardevoir pulled someone else out." Serena explained, grinning even as she trembled from the adrenaline she must have been coming down from. "First the old man, then Tierno, then me."

"Then you guys got really panicked and I decided on a more direct route." Darius finished with a shrug, tilting his head to indicate the shattered remains of the door. Archangel sighed heavily, momentarily giving up on trying to calm down.

"Somehow, I don't think this is what you meant when you said 'fun'."

AN: A little different from the usual I suppose, but that 'haunted house' never sat right with me. Anyway, I've completely erased everything I had for chapter 13, so I'm trying to work with a clean slate on that chapter. Hopefully that will help get it written. Until next time readers, thank you.