Hey guys. This chapter will be a Halloween special, and will probably be longer than usual. Thank you Fire Drastar and Yereton for reviewing. I hope you enjoy.

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The Power Trials

Chapter Seven: Ghosts in the Dark

The triangular doorway led Eldon and his Pokemon through a one way series of twists and turns through a dark cave, and ended where a large hole was directly facing the sky.

"Phew," Eldon exclaimed happily. "I guess this is it!" Putting his hands over the edge and hauling himself up, he breathed in the fresh cool air. Scanning his surroundings, he found that he was on a large platform with a small rock in the middle. Two people were already there on the edge of the platform.

"Hey!" Eldon called out. "What's on that rock?"

Two voices answered him through the dark, and a male voice greeted him first. "Some sorta… uh…"

"I dunno, we have to go and see, don't we?" A female voice called out this time.

This time, two other people could be seen pulling themselves up the platform, one of them dragging their feet up a pair of stairs.

"Aw, that was tiring," A male voice muttered. It was John.

Megan flipped herself over on the platform and sighed, looking around at the others.

"So… what're we supposed to do?"

"I dunno, get what's on the rock I suppose?" John replied.

"Okay!" Markus said, shifting his feet into a running stance. "On the count of three, we all charge forward and get whatever the heck is on that rock."

"Suits me," Eldon shrugged.

"One…Two… THREE!" Markus's voice rang through the air, loud and clear.

Eldon ran forward as fast as he could, every muscle in his legs straining.

That was when the scream came. It was high-pitched, and hit everyone like a bullet. Doubling over, Eldon held his pulsing forehead and saw everyone else staggering to the ground and doing the same…

It is time…

Darkness…

Oh by golly, Eldon, you've got your first Pokemon! Isn't he cute…

Silence. Eldon found himself in a large flowery meadow. He felt himself reaching his legs out, dancing forward, like a ballerina, a ballerina, a ballerina…

Unleash the force. This voice was gruff and booming.

This time, Eldon found himself sitting in a closed cell, with many other people beside him. They were…

Save me!

"Aaaah!" Eldon felt himself being thrown backwards, sliding back through the platform. Hefting himself up, he found his Pokemon beside him, swaying from side to side.

"What was that?" Eldon asked, rubbing his forehead in pain. He discovered that all the others were also pushing themselves up from the ground.

"I dunno…" John answered. "Something is preventing us from reaching that rock."

"Another obstacle?" Alex asked. "I haven't used my third Pokemon yet, and Markus hasn't even sent out his second."

"Well, we'll have to go through it again before we can figure out what the problem is, right?" Megan suggested.

Everybody agreed at her logic and charged towards the rock once again. The scream hit like a lightning bolt this time, breaking the night sky.

Tormenting…Tormenting…Tormenting…

Eldon was sitting in a dark cave beside a pool of shimmering blue water. The voice echoed again…

Save me!

Eldon stepped back immediately, before he could be tormented again.

"Guys!" Eldon called out, breaking the silence. "I think it has something to do with the scream! Everytime we have hallucinations, the scream happens before that!"

"Then that means we need to find someway to shield us from the scream," Megan called back.

"We'll need our Pokemon's voices to shield us from the scream, so I guess we need all our Pokemon's help," Alex suggested. "White!"

The Shiny Togekiss appeared in a flash of light, singing cheerfully.

Markus nodded, accepting this situation.

"Rex!" The Arcanine appeared, roaring into the night sky. "Now that's called a booming voice!"

"Ok, so on the count of three, we charge towards the rock while our Pokemon yell," John called out. "One, two, three!"

The group of people charged forward, the sounds of all their Pokemon mingling into one powerful roar, blocking out the scream completely. Eldon's hand was nearing the rock, and he saw the glimmer of a blue stone…

A black shadow streaked down from the sky, hitting Eldon in the chest, throwing him backwards, and continued to strike everyone else while it streaking through the sky. Everyone struggled on the ground, clutching where they were hit. Eldon looked up to see the figure clearly, a sinister purple glow around it. It seemed like it wore a wide hat around its head, and a tattered dress like shape flowed below its waist. The head turned to face Eldon, its mouth zigzagged across its plain features, yellow eyes boring into Eldon.

"Mis-Mismagius…" Eldon barely whispered.

"Alright, it's your turn, Dark!" Markus had taken action and an equally shadowy bird flew through the air towards the Mismagius. Raising his head at the Mismagius, the two eyed each other grimly. "Honchkrow," He muttered slowly.

Eldon stood up and called to his Weavile. "Alright, Ara-"

"No." Markus said firmly. "Once Dark is angry, it's his battle. Night Slash!"

Their was a flash of shadows as Dark hit the Mismagius, another shrill shriek piercing the sky. Staggering a bit in the sky, the Mismagius eyed the Honchkrow warily and turned away, wafting into the night sky.

"That was amazing…" John muttered, edging closer to the rock.

Even Markus seemed surprised himself. "Wow."

All of a sudden, a happy yell broke the silence. "I got the sapphire!" John called out, doing a happy dance by throwing his arms around.

Almost immediately, a large white helicopter hovered down to the platform. Alan Harrison could be seen holding his arm out through the empty doorway.

"Congratulations," He called out. "C'mon everyone, hop in! You'll get your points tomorrow at your free day, when the other group is also finished! Also John, put the sapphire back, the group tomorrow needs it."

oOo

It was late afternoon and a bright, sunny day. Eldon, John, Megan, Alex, and Markus were stretched out on the lobby sofas, bathing in the sunlight, though it was the end of October.

"Ah…" John said, stretching his arms as he played with his DS Lite. "This is the life."

"Ok," Markus said with his head on his right hand, sitting with a bored expression on his face. For the whole day he was saying the same thing to everyone.

"Cheer up," Alex muttered, who also looked slightly bored.

"You guys do know it's Halloween today, right?" Megan said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Alex replied. "But we eighteen-year olds don't actually celebrate it."

"Why not?" Eldon asked. "It's fun. Well I mean, trick or treating. I think."

Suddenly, the plasma screen in the lobby flickered on. A large scoreboard could be shown, with Harrison's voice speaking.

"Taking first place would be John, with 97 points. Second is Markus with 96.5, Alex with 96, Megan takes fourth with 95 points, and Eldon takes fifth with a close score of 94.5 points. Oh, and by the way guys. Happy Halloween."

Eldon sighed, looking out of the window.

The automatic doors slid open, welcoming in a large amount of chattering and groaning.

"Aw…" John said, turning off his DS. "Peace and quiet was good."

Several people went directly back to their dorms, some sitting down at the conference table while a few plopped themselves on the sofas.

They were three girls and one boy.

"Hi," The youngest of the three girls said, who was dressed in traveling clothes and had dark blonde hair. "I'm Lindsay Skies."

"Uh, I'm Evelyn," This girl was dressed in plain clothes, with waist length hair dyed green.

"I'm Aiden," The boy with short hair sat back, rolling his eyes.

"And I'm Olivia Belldorm," This girl was the oldest of the three, already a woman. She also had waist length hair and wore clothes of contrasting colors.

The other five stared at them for a few minutes before Markus broke the silence. "Uh… Was that introduction planned or something?"

"Probably", Aiden said, standing up. "I didn't like the first trial, and I'm going to go to sleep. I'll wake up just in time for trick or treating."

The rest of the people looked at each other.

oOo

Wind was blowing through the dark night sky outside, but inside the dorms, the whole lobby was bustling with activity. People were introduced to a special Halloween shop in the Stadium lobby, and there they bought small packets of candy and different assortments of masks.

The dormitory lobby was filled with people eating candy and chatting, while the fun-loving ones went trick or treating under different masks to each of the dormitories. Eldon had decided to join in the fun. Equipped with an Ursaring mask and a paper bag, Eldon started at the first floor. Knocking the first door, he waited for a few moments, shuffling his feet. The door slid open, revealing a burly fifteen year old with a buzz cut and a surly face. He wore a black t-shirt that had a skull on it, and sported a pair of brown cargo pants.

"Trick r' treat," Eldon said warily.

The boy scowled, emphasizing each word slowly. "I. Don't. Give. Candy."

Eldon smiled hesitantly. "Oh. Uh… Guess I'd better get going."

The night wore on, and soon Eldon had a sizable amount of candy in his paper bag. Sitting down on one of the armchairs, Eldon unwrapped a few of his sweets. He was soon joined by John, who hid behind the back sofa, laughing nervously.

"What happened?" Eldon asked curiously.

"Ahaha… uh… you know the first floor? I started on the second. Anyhow, when I reached the first room on the first floor, the door slid open and this emo with a pair of huge ass chains came lumbering out! Freaking scary."

Eldon laughed. "I met him too, I guess he was tired of people knocking on his door. I wonder if he's good at battling."

"Who cares?" John asked, standing up from behind the sofa. "He can whoop anyone with those chains!"

The night drew on, and people stayed up late in the lobby, a few people watching T.V. The bustle didn't end until eleven, and Eldon was tired of eating his candy. Walking up the stairs to the second floor, he crossed John's room towards his own. Then he stopped. Something wasn't right. Walking back again, he found that John's door was open, while John was back in the lobby.

Hesitating and taking out Ara's Pokeball, Eldon slowly stepped in.

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Wow, that was one of the longest chapters I've ever written. Well, tell me what you thought about it and R&R! Also, due to lack of character ideas, I'm still accepting OC's, but since I have a limited amount I can use, I'll only choose some. Happy Halloween!