A Maiden's Journey
Chapter 5: She Walked to the Bridge
Waking up that morning was a pain in the ass for several reasons. I was sore. When I realized it was everywhere, I also realized that being a girl, meant things were twice as bad as they really were. Rotom was also sore. He couldn't even levitate for five seconds before relocating onto the ground and making friends with the dust bunnies. Our first Gym battle had gone almost perfectly, yet we are in Jubilife, miserable.
After twenty minutes of sleeping in, I realized we'd end up sleeping the whole day away, so I got up and threw my pillow at Rotom.
"Don't do this to me right now. I'm sad and tired." Rotom said sarcastically.
"Aren't we all." I stated before I rolled my eyes and went to our tiny bathroom. The mirror on the wall was probably originally made for some nasty fun house because my augmented reflection made me look really fat. I'm not at all fat, I swear. I may have put on a little weight my junior year in high school but that was when this new ice cream place opened for kids and pokemon and it was right next door. I digressed.
"You do realize were going to Eterna City? That's Galactic Sinnoh. So get over yourself and lets get ready to go. I'm not waiting for you." I yelled at my swelling reflection.
"Don't have a stroke we just got through our first Gym Battle. Can we please take it easy?" Rotom said and yawned.
"If you're gonna be a big baby, then I'll treat you like one. I'll walk to Eterna City by myself and you can sleep all day in your pokeball." I said as Rotom scowled. "So what's it gonna be?" I smiled. Rotom, grumbling, floated over to the bathroom and looked at me murderously.
"Fine. I'll deal. But no battles."
"Thanks." I turned to him smiling. We were eye to eye and I could have sworn he would've used an attack on me for being so oppressive. I'm not oppressive. He can just be a lazy Slaking once in a while but I'm the same.
I looked through my backpack to make sure everything was in its place and we set out in the opposite direction of my town. I thought about going to see my Dad but it would resurface my home sickness I've been feeling every minute of this trip. I've lived my entire life surrounded by walls and buildings. Being out in the open is so refreshing I can't help but think I'll be traveling for the rest of my life. But that doesn't mean I don't miss my Dad. He's done everything for me so I can have a life. I just want to make him proud and this journey is my way of giving back to him.
Rotom and I wandered through the northern side of Jubilife City, passing by hotels and casinos with bright flashing lights that had a Pikachu bathing in money. I saw a Jynx and its elegantly dressed trainer walk out of the hotel and cross the street. A car passed by them and an Umbreon shook its head out and peered at the us. Its owner parked the car on the side of the road and got out of the car.
The man, dressed in a trench coat in the summer breeze, opened the door and his Umbreon hopped out of the car and followed him, but this Umbreon looked like it was colored on with a blue crayon. I'd never seen an Umbreon like this before. Rotom and I passed the two as the oddly colored Umbreon's trainer opened the trunk of his car and pulled out several file folders and documents. While he was rummaging through his folders, his Umbreon was watching us and Rotom returned the curious stare to the Umbreon as we walked further away from the two.
The blue colored Umbreon scampered after Rotom and I, without us noticing and without its trainer noticing, either. We turned a corner when I saw out of the corner of my eye a black patch that hadn't been there before. I turned around and there was nothing there, but when Rotom and I turned around we saw the Umbreon, sitting on the sidewalk looking at us. It was wagging its tail.
"What the hell!" Rotom yelled. He floated over to the Umbreon who kept looking at Rotom and wouldn't budge.
"What are you doing little guy?" I said petting the pokemon and it was as though it was purring as I scratched it behind the ears. Rotom was looking at the Umbreon when it became startled.
"What are you doing?" A voice startled me from behind. I quickly turned around to face the tall man in a trench coat, whose face held a touch of displease.
"Why did you take my pokemon." He repeated his question.
"It followed me, sorry. I promise I didn't take it and we were planning on giving it back to you." I said smiling. As I was saying this, the Umbreon rose up from where it was sitting and dusted off its rump, before walking between my legs and nudging my ankles with its soft head.
"Wow." The trainer chuckled. "She must really like you." He said pointing to the pokemon.
"I'm Aria and this is my best friend, Rotom. Your Umbreon is so precious. And the color of it. I've never seen anything like it." I said crouching to pick the Umbreon up and handing her to her master.
"My name is Looker." The man in the trench coat said. "I work for the Society Police force in Jubilife."
"Your name's 'Looker'?" I asked incredulously.
"Castor is my first name. Looker is my undercover name when I'm working. You don't strike me as someone who works for Team Galactic so I don't mind sharing that with you." He smiled brightly in the cool summer air.
"Sorry, but aren't you hot in that coat?" He looked down at his coat then shook his head at me. The whole time Rotom and Umbreon were having a staring contest. Umbreon was winning.
"Where is a young woman and her pokemon going on such a beautiful day, like this?" Castor said at me, noticing the pokemon playing with each other. He pet Umbreon's head and she purred and rested in his arms. I explained the Sinnoh League to him and showed him my Coal Badge to which he congratulated me on my accomplishment.
"Wow. Old man Wilbur Underwood finally climbed out of the dust and had a Gym Battle. I knew him when he was a lot younger and faster, when I was a kid." Castor said looking at me.
"But I have to leave you." He said suddenly. "I have a job remember." He said and I noticed we were standing on the corner of a building that a huge Society symbol on the wall. It was the Jubilife Police Station and I guess Looker was an officer after all. We said our good-byes but there was something different about him. Something magnetic that I couldn't quite figure out.
I dismissed him from my thoughts and we continued trekking through the city until we hit the city limits around an hour after walking around. We had stopped by for an ice cream cone and looked inside at a clothing boutique that sported a plastic Glameow wearing what looked like uncomfortable clothes.
We reached the end of the city towards the north end and saw a huge patch of grass ahead of a white picket fence. Three trainers who looked like they were freshmen in high school were battling with their pokemon and Rotom saw me looking at them.
"Don't even think about it." He said and I just kept on walking. The trainers saw me walking, but where transfixed with Rotom. One of the little boys wearing a baseball cap pointed at Rotom in awe as he hovered by.
"They're pointing at me." Rotom said flatly. I sneaked a peek at the kids and saw them watching us as we walked by. I wondered what could cause an Umbreon to change colors. Looker's Umbreon was so affectionate and cute I couldn't resist holding her in my arms when she had followed us. I could tell she was interested in Rotom or me and I remembered her soft skull bone as my fingers stroked the warm fur on her dark coat.
We continued walking and passed through a small cavern before ascending more walkways until we reached a large view of the scene we had just come out of. I saw the kids from before running around in the field as a Beautifly and Dustox were flying around them. Another kid who looked older than the kids was taunting them from the picket fence. It really sickened me how there's so much bullying in this world that I stopped where I was walking to make sure the kids were safe. One of the girls went up to the big kid and yelled at him. He threw a pokeball and released a Hitmonchan. The girl's Beautifly flew before her as if to defend her body from an attack. I heard the boy and girl quarreling and the boy allowed his Hitmonchan to use a Low Kick on Beautifly but it took the hit and kept flying. That pokemon in particular was really resistant to Fighting-type attacks.
"Aerial Ace!" I heard the female trainer yell as her Beautifly zoomed through the air really fast and struck Hitmonchan forcing him to faint. The boy returned his fallen pokemon and ran off screaming into Jubilife City. I walked on with a solemn expression of content.
We walked through some trees and the vegetation was getting thicker as I saw two Weedle, one following the other into a patch of grass. Rotom and I walked through the narrow vegetation and were met with a beautiful flower patch. It was a huge field of multicolored flowers that bloomed magnificently in the cool summer breeze. They all faced the flowering city of Floaroma and Rotom and I were happy to have made it here.
The sun was shining bright as we crisscrossed our way into the pokemon center, avoiding any flowers that would happen to be in our way. Rotom spotted the town map and I opened it, revealing the location of Floaroma Town and the next place we'd have to trek toward. Eterna City and my second Gym Battle were within reach and I shivered. I could feel the excitement swell within my body. Rotom was looking at the map when he looked up suddenly to see a Gengar and its trainer walk from Nurse Joy's desk. The trainer, who was a darkly dressed girl with pink highlights in her hair and a nose ring, walked to the door without uttering a word or looking back at us. Her Gengar, though turned back to look at me with its ferocious smile and left the building without a seconds hesitation.
As we placed the map back, a man approached us carrying a pokeball in his hands looking frantically for someone. He looked to me, holding the ball and proceeded to tell me that a female trainer who walked with her Gengar had forgotten its pokeball. I told him I'd take it to her and he handed me the ball. We ran out of the center looking for the two and I saw them walking deeper into the city. I ran after them, shouting and only when her Gengar turned around did she.
"Hey." I said puffing air. "You forgot your pokeball back at the center." I said extending my hand to reveal a familiar pokeball. The girl flinched and looked into her black bag. She sighed and grabbed the ball from my hands and stuffed it into her bag before turning around and walking away.
After a second of shock, I ran after her and stopped in front her.
"You know, normal people thank others for doing them a favor." I said never letting my eyes wander from her purple eye shadow. She looked blankly into my face as her Gengar smiled menacingly at Rotom and me. Then it waddled up to us and pointed at Rotom. The Gengar looked back at his trainer who in turn looked at Rotom.
"My Gengar wants to fight your pokemon." She said, with power and boredom in her voice.
"I want a thank you, first." I said to her.
"Thanks. Now can we get this over with? I'm due back somewhere." She said to me. I looked her dead in the eyes as her Gengar was running around, staring at Rotom who in turn was reciprocating an icy stare. Rotom and I followed the girl and her Gengar to the city limits of Floaroma, which was very small, and we distanced ourselves as our Ghost pokemon took the stage.
"Are you ready, Rotom?" After yawning Rotom bounced up and down frantically, as if his laziness had vanished. The girl asked if her Gengar was prepared to win and it jumped up and down as well as and held its small dark fists up in excitement.
"Gengar, use Shadow Ball." The gothic girl said as the Gengar focused its energy into creating a dark ball of ghostly energy. It was then fired at Rotom who was barely able to get out of the way of the attack.
"Discharge!" I yelled. Rotom floated closer at Gengar before releasing a blue burst of explosive energy.
"Fly, Gengar!" The trainer said as her Gengar floated into the air, with no windy breezes in sight.
"What?" I blurted, worriedly. I didn't even realize Gengar could levitate. The blue energy lashed underneath Gengar as it laughed in its levitating state. It fired off more Shadow Balls as Rotom dodged all of them. After Gengar's attack ceased, it flew in closer and fired one more which struck Rotom with break-taking velocity, sending him to crashing to the ground.
"Rotom!" I screamed as Rotom had trouble getting back up. The blast was double effective since Ghost pokemon are weak to Ghost attacks. We all watched as Rotom couldn't float back up and lay there unable to fight.
"Wow." The girl turned around, without ever giving her name. She wandered over to the bridge which forked from the path leading to the Society fortress: The Valley Windworks. I collected Rotom in my arms and ran back into Floaroma Town. I hadn't even realized Rotom wasn't intangible. I almost dropped him out of shock when I realized I could touch him.
Nurse Joy took Rotom's pokeball from me as she walked carefully into her room where I could hear two Blissey arguing over how to medicate a sick Girafarig. The pokemon sat on the ground and looked super pale as the two Blissey quarreled. I noticed that there were two trainers sitting in the corner of the room, waiting for their pokemon, possibly the Girafarig, to get better. A Pachirisu was sitting quietly, waiting on the ground before them as the two looked down at the pokemon.
The nurse checked on the Girafarig and took its temperature after handing Rotom's pokeball back. She told me that he should be okay to fight again and I thanked her before turning around. Then I turned back.
"What's wrong with that Girafarig," I said looking over the counter and into her infirmary. She told me the pokemon had a nasty burn that got infected and they didn't know how to treat the burn. She also said that the burn was causing the pokemon so much discomfort that it became ill from the pain. I reached into my backpack and pulled out a familiar device that Rotom could have identified. It was a burn relief spray bottle that I asked the nurse to try. She observed the bottle and sniffed the contents before thanking me and walking back into the room.
"You two can go take a break." She said to the two Blissey and they walked out of the room and beneath a locked flap separating the trainers from the pokemon center staff. They purposely shoved each other as they went into the opposite corner of the room and sat down on the carpet back to back. After a moment they reconciled and played with blocks meant for small children. I wondered what is was like to be a Blissey who worked day and night healing pokemon and helping people and I was simply enamored with the idea.
Nurse Joy came back ecstatic as she walked over to the counter. Girafarig out from the side of the counter and the two trainers stood up, walking over to the counter as their Pachirisu squeaked awake and hopped after them.
"Your spray bottle fixed the burn and provided immediate relief! Where on earth did you get this bottle?" The nurse asked me as the two trainers whose expressions changed from somber to elated in less than a second. Both of the boys watched me with their pokemon as I explained the same situation with my Rotom. They laughed when the healthy Girafarig licked its trainer with joy and they went up to me and shook my hand.
"Thank you so much."
"You're a life saver."
"Haha. It's really no problem. Thank my Dad," I said smiling. As they walked out of the pokemon center petting the healthy Girafarig, I released Rotom from its ball and it looked all around the room and saw the two Blissey playing as well as Nurse Joy, who was arranging papers on her counter. I walked up to the counter and waited a second for her to notice me.
"Yes?" She said looking up at me.
"Hi, I was wondering if you saw a girl dressed in black clothes, purple eyeshadow, she had a Gengar...?" I asked. The nurse nodded and I asked what her name was.
"She didn't give her name, dear." The nurse said looking at me, innocently. "But when I asked how her day was she said, depressing and uneventful like always." I nodded at this information.
"Did she say where she was going?" I inquired. The nurse shook her head and with that, I left the center. Rotom and I walked over and remembered the exact spot where we previously had our battle as we left the city limits for the second time.
"I just don't understand how that Shadow Ball had so much power." Rotom said aloud.
"Some trainers are just more powerful and train their pokemon better. Don't worry we'll train harder, then maybe we'll rematch that girl and you'll win." I said looking down.
"Yeah, hopefully. But where are we off to next, Aria?" Rotom floated alongside me and looking at me when he finished his question. I kept looking down because I knew I had something on my mind and ignored his question, temporarily.
"We're off to the Eterna City forest, which is just before the real city. Then we're officially in Galactic Sinnoh." I told him. He nodded and looked onward as we crossed the same bridge the goth girl walked over.
"How is it that I can touch you?" I said, randomly. The question stunned Rotom and he stopped floating to stare at me with a deep concern infecting his face.
"You can." Rotom said still looking at me.
"But you're a Ghost pokemon. And ghosts are intangible." I said, confused.
"Ghost pokemon are intangible, yes, but some of us are able to control when we are and aren't tangible and usually our partners are allowed to touch us. If someone like your friends wanted to pet me I'd change my composition to be intangible again." Rotom explained.
"But why the trouble?" I asked, innocently. We resumed walking (and levitating on Rotom's part) to Eterna City as Rotom explained the phenomenon.
"It's a perk to being a ghost. Some Ghost pokemon are actually solid-bodied and are tangible their whole lives. Some examples of this are the Duskull evolutionary line, Sableye, Spiritomb, the legendary Dragon pokemon Giratina..." Rotom listed some more names. I went up to hug him and could feel the buzzing body of the Electric-Ghost pokemon as it nestled itself in my arms.
"I can't believe I can hold you." I said, happily.
After sharing our little moment of intimacy, we cascaded through rocky terrain and saw a girl dressed like a little girl scout, training her Staravia as she stood behind a Squirtle whom she ordered to fire bubblebeams at. The Staravia flew through every single beam and perched itself on a rock nearby. She walked over to the bird pokemon and pet it on the head as she returned it to the pokeball and saw me walking above on the ledge.
"Hey, trainer!" She said from down below. Rotom and I stopped walking as she cupped her hands around her mouth and challenged us to a battle. I quickly walked down the rocky steps to the grass ground several feet away from her. I was looking to redeem Rotom in a battle for our earlier defeat.
"My Staravia wants to battle your pokemon!" She yelled as she threw her pokeball and released the Staravia from before. It flew freely in the air as Rotom analyzed its movements from the ground.
"Are you ready, Rotom?" I asked my pokemon and he nodded as he floated closer to the center of the battlefield. I allowed her the first move and she declared she would take her Staravia to victory. I smiled a little because she reminded me of myself after I claimed confidence in myself when I met Rotom.
"Use Take Down!" She called to her flying pokemon as it slammed full force at Rotom, and it looked like it had hit my pokemon, but flew straight through it and curved in the air.
"Wing Attack!" The pokemon used its wings to strike Rotom in midair, but Rotom endured the attack and flew, rapidly, out of the way to a secure vantage point nearer to the ground. I knew if I used an Ominous Wind it wouldn't affect the Normal pokemon so I yelled for Rotom to use a Discharge.
"Uh-oh!" The trainer yelled as Rotom released a burst of blue energy that knocked the vulnerable Staravia out of the sky. Before the flying pokemon could hit the ground the trainer returned Staravia back to its ball and ran past me crying as she ventured all the way to Floaroma Town. I felt kind of bad, but realized she had challenged me and just continued walking alongside Rotom.
"That was incredibly easy." I looked at Rotom with a solemn expression. He turned to face the way we were traveling and didn't say anything else. I thought really hard about that girl who defeated us because something just struck me as off about her, like she didn't belong, but I didn't understand it and my brain dismissed it from my thoughts.
We climbed over a ledge and hiked over some stairs as we passed a house sitting right before the forest started. We had made it about halfway to the city as Rotom looked up and down at the forest peering inside but couldn't see passed the dense trees. We walked closer to the start of the forest and saw a group of trainers participating in a tag battle. I entered the forest expecting to see Galactic grunts but was greeted with shrubbery and trainers enjoying themselves.
Rotom and I wandered deeper into the forest passing by some Bug pokemon and even a Phanpy lying in a patch of grass next to a Donphan. We couldn't see through the thick trunks of the trees and I had a hard time pinpointing where we were. If we got lost I don't know what we would do. So we kept going, deeper into the massive trees and I even saw a Noctowl perched high on a tree branch watching us from below. We came to a section of the forest that was slowly inclining downwards and I could see the roof of a building farther down.
We descended into the deepest reaches of the forest when Rotom suddenly stopped where it was floating.
"I know this place." He said solemnly. I looked concerned at him and went farther down to see the large estate. It was a large mansion that looked like nobody had lived in there in over hundreds of years. Some of the windows were missing and the paint of the raggedy dark purple house was beginning to wither.
"What is this place? And how do you remember it?" I asked, facing Rotom. He shrugged his electrifying shoulders to which I became stunned.
"This place is so familiar but I can't remember why. It's like I've been here or something, I really don't know, sorry." Rotom said and I tried ignoring it but as we were walking toward the house to continue on our path to Eterna I stopped him and asked if we should go inside.
"I don't think that's a very wise idea." Rotom said to me.
"Are you scared or something?" I asked, smiling darkly, but playfully. Rotom followed me inside the large purple house when we walked around it and I could have sworn I heard a faint voice from the inside of the house, but upon further inspection I realized the sound I was hearing was a static coming from inside. Rotom became increasingly alert as we walked in the courtyard of the menacing mansion.
We ascended the stairs to the large black door that creaked when I opened it and Rotom floated inside when I walked through the opening. I saw the elegant arrangements of the previous owner of the house and frowned when I saw it was tarnished by some hooligans who spray painted derogatory slurs about Team Galactic on the walls. I ignored the slurs as I walked up the creaking staircase and into a room. Rotom did the same but with the room opposite, which had a parallel staircase of its own. We looked at the walls, whose paint was peeling horribly, and as I turned around to find Rotom, I heard a struggling sound coming from inside of the house.
Frightened, I called out for Rotom and saw he was using a Discharge in the room he had explored. I ran inside and saw the smoky body of a Gastly that must've attacked Rotom.
"What happened!" I said. Rotom was breathing really fast and told me the Gastly snuck out of the closet and attacked him. He retaliated and I suggested that we leave. Rotom refused to leave and said we might as well find the source of the static, which had become increasingly loud since we had gone upstairs.
"Did you figure anything out? Because all of this crap looks ancient." I said to him. We looked around the room Rotom was in and I discovered stacks of decaying papers on a desk. I couldn't make out what it said and I saw Rotom had floated out of the room and down the hall into a room in the center of the top floor. I walked after him and we entered a hallway with a long row of rooms, equally spaced from each other. The static had become increasingly loud. Rotom looked at me and signaled for me to follow. I pulled him back out to the foyer and we hugged the sides of the wall, when a Haunter peered out of a room and had gone out to explore the scene. After roaming the halls for us, the Haunter returned to its room at the way end of the hall and, we once again, resumed searching for the room with the static. It was very dark in this part of the house and I relied on Rotom's luminescent body to guide me through the darkest of the rooms.
We came to a loud room that forced the hair on every reach of my skin to stand on end as we walked into the bright room. There was a television in the center of the room and Rotom was transfixed with it. I covered my ears, then ran over to the television and looked around, with my ears covered to avoid the obtrusive noise, and located the off switch, but couldn't press it. I worried I would go deaf and Rotom saw me struggling and possessed the television, silencing it. I recovered my hearing after a moment and heard the shuffling of a pokemon in the room next door, as if enraged that the television had been silenced.
In the brightened hallway a murderous pokemon stood looking at me with daggers shooting from its one, single eye. I had never seen the pokemon before and it stood staring at me with, until I noticed it had a yellow face on its chest complete with eyes and wide yellow mouth of its own. The pokemon had no legs, only a tail that shuffled on the ground. It roamed into the cramped room where Rotom and I were and I walked to the back of the room, hitting the wall and sitting down in frozen terror. Why had I suggested we come in here?
The pokemon raised its hands and pointed at the television, to which I looked and saw Rotom was sitting on top of it watching the pokemon, never letting it leave his sight.
"Do you know what this thing is?" I asked Rotom.
"Dusknoir." He said, not taking his eyes off the pokemon. I looked back and saw the evil pokemon place its arms on its sides as Rotom and Dusknoir stared each other down.
"What's gonna happen? Rotom?" I asked, my voice breaking. Rotom wouldn't respond, and didn't move from the silent television, only staring at the Dusknoir. When it shuffled closer to me, Rotom floated in front of me, awaiting an attack from the pokemon.
"Rotom, whatever you do don't threaten it. Maybe it'll let us leave if we don't come back." I said trying to coax my pokemon to leave. I was scared so much by this pokemon and I just wanted to get us to safety before we antagonized it to the point where it attacked.
"It's not going to let us leave." Rotom said, finally. Dusknoir stood in the doorway, placing one hand on the wall, separating the room from the hallway. The Haunter I saw from before, peered underneath the Dusknoir's arm, and was watching us from its spot. I also saw a Shuppet looking from underneath the Haunter's head.
"Are you gonna let us through?" Rotom buzzed to the Dusknoir. I couldn't understand but I figured Rotom could talk to the pokemon. The pokemon didn't say anything and Rotom was still eying the Dusknoir, with cold plasma eyes. I could tell the Dusknoir was communicating with Rotom when I saw its hands move but Rotom hadn't looked away from the pokemon.
"Dusknoir isn't pleased that we trespassed into this place he keeps calling the 'chateau.' But I introduced myself and the Dusknoir had a change of heart, wanting us to follow him." Rotom said. Horrified, I looked at the pokemon whose yellow-eyed stomach was chomping as if preparing to devour Rotom and I , whole.
"Can you reason with the pokemon that we were stupid and curious?" I said.
"You were the one who wanted to come in, I said nah." Rotom joked. I couldn't believe his attitude during this frightful time and panicked.
"Don't worry, Aria. If he comes at us, I'll protect you with my life." Rotom said to me, I could tell he was smiling. Rotom conversed with the Dusknoir in a matter of buzzes and shrieks coming from both pokemon that I didn't understand. All I could see were the books lying face-down on the ground and the Haunter who floated inside the room and coming towards me. When it got too close, Rotom used a Discharge, which startled it. The Shuppet shrieked from behind the walls but Dusknoir was unfazed from the attack.
"What's happening?" I said panic streaming from my lips. I stood up in the illuminated room and walked next to Rotom who asked me to watch the Haunter to make sure it didn't advance any further from where it was floating inside the room.
"The Dusknoir said I looked familiar and told me to follow him. At first he wouldn't allow you to come but I said I'm not going anywhere without you and so the Dusknoir conceded and you'll be joining us to the basement of this place, Aria." Rotom said. I calmed down a little, but with a jolt of fear every now and then. The Dusknoir's yellow face stopped jiggling and the entire body had turned with its back to us. It said something to the Haunter and it quickly flew out of the room, the Shuppet had also disappeared. We followed the Ghost pokemon down the hall, when Rotom said out loud to me to remain calm and follow him.
The Haunter was still looking at us from the corner of the hall where we were, as the Dusknoir pushed up on a bust's face of a man I couldn't identify. The scalp of the decaying stone rose up to reveal a button, to which the ghost pokemon pressed, opening a hidden staircase. It descended into the basement of the house and Dusknoir beckoned us to follow. Rotom floated after the Dusknoir, as I watched carefully underneath Rotom to guide my feet as the stairs began spiraling. I was concentrating on Rotom's brightly illuminated body and my feet when I heard a click. The door behind us sealed us inside the dark spiral staircase as I kept my pace with Rotom.