A Maiden's Voyage
Chapter 6: The Ghost of Rotom's Past
We descended into unutterable darkness as I followed Rotom's intense light, emanating from his plasma-like body. I could hear the shuffling of the Dusknoir as we went deeper, reaching the lowest reaches of the mansion in what seemed like an eternity. The air became dry as I felt the walls to keep my balance and increased my walking speed when the Ghost pokemon descended faster.
"Do you have any idea where were going?" I asked Rotom, a touch of fear mixed in with my voice as I saw him shake his ghostly head, never taking eyes of the faint shadow pokemon in front of him. The Dusknoir turned around once to make sure we were still following, raising its hand to beckon us into this bottomless pit. We eventually did find the bottom, but it was completely cloaked in darkness and I had no viable way to see other than the faint green glow coming from my poketch. Other than the unrelenting darkness, the stench of the room was so foul I had to hold my breath and breathe through my mouth or I'd lose consciousness.
"I think I remember your Dad packing you a flashlight before we left." Rotom said as the Dusknoir began shuffling ahead. I angled my backpack into the best lit area nearest Rotom and found a small rod that came equipped with a button. My Dad was an ingenious life savor. I quickly grabbed the flashlight and illuminated the dismal basement in the mansion.
I saw the bones of a decaying human, lying face down on the ground and squealed when some insect crawled out of the broken skull of the human. We were in a large room that looked like a private study and I couldn't quite make out the shapes yet, but I could see stacks of rotting books as we walked onward, through the study. Pokemon poked their heads out at us when the light shown near them and I completely walked past a sleeping Arbok, oblivious to its exposed tail. The Dusknoir came up to a door and produced a shining key from its yellow-eyed stomach as it twisted the key and opened the door, allowing us entrance into a room smelling less foul than the first.
"We're in some sort of private lab?" I said pointing my flashlight at a lab table still occupied by a flask with a strange liquid presiding in the glassware. This room was much smaller than the study and I saw as the Dusknoir pulled open the sides of the white wall and procured a box. Rotom and I cautiously walked up to the Dusknoir, holding the box and I shined the flashlight at the contents. Rotom looked up at the Dusknoir who was communicating by a series of dusk and nor sounds.
"What's he saying?" I asked.
"He's seen me in one of these books." He replied mortified. I didn't understand what was going on when the Dusknoir grabbed my hand and beckoned me to open a book lying very carefully in gauze. I screamed, and Rotom calmed me down as I touched the decaying cover of a bluish green journal. I put the flashlight in my mouth and moved my head to read what the words said on the first page.
Dr. Maximus L... The words were too obscured by age to be legible. I peered down as Rotom and the Dusknoir were watching me, waiting for a response. I flipped open to the first page of the journal entries and read out loud the date, and upon further calculation I discovered the first entry was from four-hundred and fifty years ago.
"Four-hundred and fifty years." Rotom repeated, in awe. I continued trying to make sense of the scribbles written by the author who wrote a short biography of the log, talking about the chemical properties of acetone, the biology of horseweed and the superposition principles of electromagnetic induction for an electrical pokemon whose name was unidentifiable. I almost dropped the book, which would've extinguished it, when I saw an exact drawing of Rotom on the page over. I showed Rotom the image and he just stared peculiarly at the page. I continued flipping until I reached a page that had a picture of a Dusclops with a trainer. From what I could make out of the picture, they were in the study when it was illuminated with candle lights.
"Is this you?" I said to the Dusknoir pointing at the Dusclops and its trainer. The Dusknoir nodded its head, almost despairingly. Then it looked back into the study briefly and I deduced something horrible.
"Then is that-" I began pointing back into the study with my chin, but suppressed my voice at the thought of the stench.
"Why are you showing this to us?" I looked at the tall Ghost pokemon who appeared sad. He talked to Rotom who then relayed the information to me as he's in need of our help and that he wanted to confirm something...
The Dusknoir was shaking its fist when Rotom explained what we had discovered and I almost dropped the book again when a creature appeared in the doorway. Dusknoir and Rotom looked up and I shined the flashlight on the figure as it climbed on the bookshelves in the room before us out of sight.
"There's something there!" I screamed. The creature made a sort of clicking sound and Dusknoir rushed into the room looking around in the darkness, using a Fire Punch when it had located the culprit. Rotom and I came up to the door as the Dusknoir shuffled back into the room, dragging the mangled body of a Sableye who was faint in the darkness, glistening when I moved my flashlight.
"This Sableye's been down here all this time?" I looked at the Dusknoir. It hummed something to Rotom and he relayed this to me as: "Several Ghosts find residency in this basement." I asked if we could leave and the Dusknoir halted us in the doorway buzzing something quickly to Rotom. Rotom in turn, buzzed back and the two went on like this until I had to interrupt, but Rotom silenced me with one look as Dusknoir was saying something, more.
"This Dusknoir needs our help." Rotom said finally.
"Okay, so then why are we still here. The mansions been out of use for hundreds of years and you finally turn up? What's the significance behind this?" I retorted. My fear of this place was rising exponentially. Dusknoir and Rotom agreed to lead us outside of the chateau, with Rotom guarding me from behind as Dusknoir led us back through the study. I screamed when I stepped on the tail of an Arbok who attacked us. Dusknoir was able to silence it with one Shadow Punch and Rotom floated near me for comfort.
We went back up the never-ending staircase and finally reached sea level. I was still holding the old journal and once I ran outside it was still bright out. I looked at my poketch which registered at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It felt like we were down in the abyss for days let alone minutes. Rotom exited the mansion along with Dusknoir and we found a quiet place in the courtyard of the chateau where the sun shone bright through the leaves of the tall trees.
"Can you ask Dusknoir why it wanted us to see this journal?" I looked at Rotom.
"Dusknoir already told me back in the mansion that he was also a former resident of the mansion when it actually operated. It turns out that someone tried to renovate the estate a couple decades ago and Dusknoir was their companion, but that corpse you saw in the basement was none other than Dusknoir's former master. The Dusknoir also hears the sounds of a little girl every night but never was able to find the source. He thinks the little girl is a ghost that was here far earlier than him and his master were"
"Holy crap." I said out loud, looking sullenly at the forsaken Dusknoir. I turned to face the pokemon and spoke, "Why haven't you left the place?" Rotom and Dusknoir communicated again and Rotom sighed before relaying the information to me.
"Ever since his trainer died, Dusknoir has been bound to the chateau by the trainers pokeball. The ball was stolen by the ghost pokemon living in the chateau and Dusknoir has spent his entire life searching for it, but nothing the Ghost pokemon say help him get anywhere near the missing ball rendering him bound to this stinking dump." Rotom explained as we looked at the dreading Dusknoir. I couldn't help but feel complete despair for the pokemon, whose trainer had died and now its bound to the very place where his master died.
"Well then we're going to get his ball back. We're going to search every last inch of this forsaken place and find that pokeball" I said with an inch of confidence that was extinguished when I saw two Zubat nesting above my head. The idea, although reckless, was the only thing that gave me a sliver of hope in rescuing the bound pokemon. Rotom, dispirited, spoke to the Dusknoir, and mentioned my tenacious scheme. Then I got a better idea.
"What if I offered to just take him with us? You know like catch him?" The Dusknoir shook its head no and I wondered what was wrong. Rotom and Dusknoir, again, exchanged buzzes and ghostly verbs.
"Do you know how if you tried to catch any normal trainer's pokemon it wouldn't work because that pokemon was already caught? Well the idea is the same here."
"But the pokeball might be gone so maybe if I try to catch him it'll free him." I said, pulling out an unoccupied pokeball from my bag. I held it up to the Dusknoir who didn't respond and tapped it lightly. The pokemon, who wasn't resisting my attempt to catch it, wasn't transferred to the ball and remained standing before us.
"See." Rotom said flatly. I was crestfallen when I realized the pokemon had spent decades in this place, alone. It reminded me of how lonely I was before Rotom came into my life.
"Well. Now you and I are going to help unbind this pokemon no matter what." I said looking at Rotom, who nodded. Dusknoir understood us and bounced as if this was the only thing that made it happy in a long time. I understood now why the pokemon had given me this journal and I flipped through the pages to find where the descendant of the original owner of the house had moved in.
"I get it now." I said as Rotom looked from Dusknoir to my eyes. "Dusknoir wanted us to decipher the entries written by its trainer who is a descendant of the previous owner of the house."
"How did you know that?" Rotom inquired. I looked through the pages, carefully as to protect them from their own demise, when I came to a page that talked about the newer tenants family.
Maximus left this house a broken man and my great grandfather didn't even realize this house was left for him by his grandfather, who is the same man. Now I'm here and it cuts off right there. Rotom nodded in approval and I read more pages as the three of us stood there. The sound of a Beedrill was buzzing in the woods and Dusknoir turned to look at the window of the chateau when a Gastly peered through the window, looking down at us and giggling to itself. Rotom and Dusknoir waited for me to come across something of value by observing the peaceful nature outside the malevolent mansion.
They talked amongst themselves getting to know each other better. I noticed, as I was reading through worn pages, that they got along well together. I figured I would just let the Dusknoir leave when we fix this dilemma but I don't know, maybe it's time I catch another pokemon. I read the pages in my head and at first they didn't make any sense to me. I read a log about a chemical that had disease curing qualities but the recipe was torn out. The following page had more pictures of the deceased trainer and the Dusclops, when to my horror I saw a translucent little girl standing next to them in the picture. The next picture had the girl lying on the floor when the Dusclops and trainer were busily working in the study. I wondered who the cameraman was, and if he was still alive... Flipping through more pages I came across yet another photograph of the trainer except this time the ghost girl had a small object in her hands and it looked like a ball. The Dusclops looked alarmed in the picture and I could sense the two people must have gone after the girl who took the object, and I concluded after reading the footnotes on the bottom of the page that this phantom stole the Dusknoir's pokeball when it was a Dusclops all those years ago.
"Guys!" I called after the ghost pokemon. They floated and shuffled over to me as I told them my discovery. Dusknoir looked dejected when I said the ghost girl has his ball. Rotom looked angry for a moment.
"That little girl is going to give us that ball if we have to pry it from her ethereal fingers." Rotom said charismatically. I almost wanted to correct him in his oxymoron but felt it wasn't the time for sarcastic comments.
"Well now were gonna do some investigative work. Let's start with that Gastly and Haunter." I said, smirking. The Dusknoir understood the plan and barged through the front door, like he owned the place. Rotom, Dusknoir and I wandered up the stairs and into the first room where Rotom and I first encountered the Gastly, who was still floating aimlessly by the window.
Rotom went before the grinning Gastly and questioned the Ghost in a series of buzzes and giggles. The Dusknoir barred the door so no other pokemon could enter so I looked around the room again, this time inspecting the closet facing the window. It contained nothing except a single coat hanger but I saw that there was a piece of white material (which I later identified as a bone) that lay crumbled on the floor of the closet.
"Aria. This Gastly doesn't know anything." Rotom said looking to me as the Gastly flew straight out of the room, terrified.
"What did you say to it?" I asked, curiously. Rotom winked at me and we followed Dusknoir into a room containing a bed and a bookshelf. We came into the room with the Haunter and it floated upwards and sprang its arms wide, to intimidate us. Dusknoir hummed something to Rotom who was staring the Haunter dead in the eye.
"Dusknoir wasn't ever able to communicate with the ghosts, but I'm different." Rotom said using a Discharge on the Haunter, paralyzing it to the ground. I stood with my mouth ajar as Rotom floated over the Haunter, interrogating it like a criminal. I stood near the Dusknoir and peered to the hallway of the house. No sound was heard and I remembered the television wasn't buzzing anymore, but my blood curdled when I heard faint laughter as if it was coming from inside of the house. Who knows how many people's souls were bound to this house. I turned around suddenly as Rotom looked at me for a second before returning to the injured Haunter. Dusknoir looked at me, confused, then I could tell it had heard the laughter and beckoned for me to join it. Before we could exit the room the Haunter sighed painfully and Rotom returned back to us.
"That Haunter claims he's only been here a short while, but he said he's heard strange noises coming from the house. Sounds that pokemon don't make." Rotom looked from me to the Dusknoir.
"So if its not a pokemon, then what's making those noises?" Just when I said this a gut wrenching human-like scream came in waves from the walls of the house. I collapsed on the ground covering my ears as the pokemon around me sprang around looking for the source only to find there wasn't one.
"What's happening." I whimpered on the dirty ground, paralyzed with fear. The journal was lying next to me and I saw the Dusknoir was pointing frantically at it. Despite the fear I was able to make the connection: Dusknoir's old trainer may be haunting this mansion. The laughter was heard again and Rotom and Dusknoir left me in the room alone with the paralyzed Haunter as I sat up, still in shock. I recollected my backpack and the journal and exited the room. I saw Rotom and Dusknoir standing in front of the room next to the one I was in and Rotom's eyes were wide open with its mouth gawking into the room. I walked awkwardly to the ghosts who then proceeded to enter the room still in shock by the looks of it.
I walked cautiously into the room and couldn't believe my eyes. I felt like my brain was playing tricks on me and I thought I saw a little girl playing with a pokeball in the room on the floor The Dusknoir hummed again and Rotom, still staring at the girl said, "Dusknoir didn't think the rumors were actually true. That a little girl died in this mansion hundreds of years ago." I was still looking at the girl.
"But why has she revealed herself now and to us? Why hasn't the Dusknoir been able to find her. And if I'm not mistaken, that must be his pokeball." I said pointing to the ball the smoky child was playing with. We entered the room quietly and as if on cue, the girl stopped and looked to us.
"My best friend came back after all, papa." I heard the girl whisper as she stared directly at Rotom. I actually didn't believe this was happening and felt faint from the craziness that was ensuing. Nobody answered the girl as she called for her Dad again before dropping the ball on the floor.
"How the hell does she know you, Rotom?" I asked, my eyes fixated on the girls face. It was pale but looked soft and perfect to the touch. I wanted just for a moment to be able to touch the intangible child but was repelled due to all my anxiety wanting to explode. Another bloodcurdling scream came from the house and I begged Rotom to leave.
"Rotom?" I asked. Then I realized why the little girl was revealing herself to us. It was because she was waiting. For Rotom. I started panicking from this incredible information I had synthesized and was still in shock partially due to the freaking screams that are echoing from downstairs of this house. Rotom was still looking at the girl as she returned a delighted look back.
"My papa wanted to let the motor pokemon know that he hid the Secret Key in the bottom of the ocean." The ghost girl whispered. "And Anna can go to sleep now." The girl disappeared and I didn't hear another scream. Dusknoir looked at the pokeball lying gently on the ground and asked Rotom to ask me to pick it up. Everything was moving so fast and I didn't have time to ask any of the hundreds of questions I had bottled up. I decided this was just one of those things you erase from your mind once it's over and I wouldn't ever have to worry about this stupid mansion ever again.
Rotom and the Dusknoir conversed out in the courtyard of the chateau as I held the old pokeball, noticing that modern technology looked similar to the pokeballs of the past. I looked in the forest, then back to the chateau, vowing never to return to this creepy place, when Rotom produced a laugh.
"Hey, Aria." Rotom called me over. "The Dusknoir is still bound to its original pokeball but we've identified that this is the one. This Dusknoir is now able to roam the world now, freely."
"That's really nice. I'm glad we were able to help him." I said smiling at the pokemon I once thought was going to end my life. I could've been wrong, but the face on its belly looked like it was happy for the first time in decades.
"But." Rotom said so suddenly I got spooked for a second.
"But what?"
"But the Dusknoir asked me if you would be willing to take him along with us." Rotom said and I looked shocked at the Ghost pokemon before me.
"He?" I said pointing at Dusknoir. "Wants me to be his new trainer?" The Dusknoir nodded and understood what I had said perfectly. I couldn't believe it that a new pokemon was coming into my life. And, unexpectedly, this Ghost pokemon who we saved from its bind.
"Well that's fine with me, so lets get-"
"Woah, woah, woah." Rotom interrupted me. "You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?" I looked at him and he smiled from me to the Dusknoir.
"I have to catch him, don't I?" I said as Rotom nodded, smiling. The Dusknoir looked super happy, too. In the courtyard, I stood several feet away from the Dusknoir as Rotom got into a battle-ready position. I pooled all the adrenaline I had from the nightmarish experience inside the chateau to focus on the Dusknoir, and I could see out of the corner of my eye, a Shuppet watching us from above.
The battle began when the Dusknoir launched itself at Rotom and punched my pokemon with a powerful Fire Punch sending Rotom flying backwards, but after a moment Rotom regained its balance in the air I ordered him to use an Ominous Wind. Dusknoir held out against the super effective attack and went for a Shadow Punch when Rotom glided underneath Dusknoir's hand unleashed a powerful Discharge which sent Dusknoir backwards, but not enough to paralyze or defeat him.
Dusknoir shuffled after Rotom again, this time preparing another Fire Punch which, missed Rotom only slightly. After Rotom attempted another Ominous Wind in the same fashion as before, Dusknoir charged through the attack and punched Rotom in the face with another fiery attack, but this time Rotom was able to hold out against the attack and remain afloat.
I commanded Rotom to use Discharge and it struck Dusknoir right in the yellow bellied face, causing him to flinch with pain. Then, Rotom used a final Ominous Wind which knocked the Dusknoir off its tail and it collapsed on the ground near the stairs leading up to the chateau's foyer. I quickly grabbed the old pokeball from my bag and threw it at the pokemon, sealing it within the ball and it shook on the ground before ceasing, rendering the Dusknoir mine. I had caught my second pokemon.
Rotom and I shared a brief moment of celebration and we were jumping in excitement before I walked over to my new pokemon.
That afternoon, Rotom and I walked happily through the forest with the guidance of my new friend, Dusknoir. He shuffled alongside Rotom and I, as he pointed in the direction where he remembered seeing trainers walk through when he stared down at them from the window of the chateau. He asked if he could rest in his pokeball and I happily obliged as Rotom and I talked. We talked about our experience in the house and as I recollected the happenings I remembered I still had the old journal in my backpack. Rotom told me to hang onto it and maybe we'd be able to discover something else about the house's history.
Rotom definitely led a life before becoming my best friend and I was bent on learning his past. I didn't understand though, how Rotom wasn't able to remember anything from before the day when he got badly burned. He couldn't even remember the pokemon that inflicted the burn, only the pain from the burn and my Dad carrying him home.
We came up to a clearing in the forest and I was glad to be near civilization again. There was a small pond with a bridge leading towards a patch of land. The first thing I saw when I stepped out of the forest were mounds of sandbags and barbed wire on top of a large wall that looked like it was thirty feet in the air. I saw watchtowers with people who looked like the stereotypical Team Galactic operatives in the news I usually watched and I stopped on the bridge to look at the fortification made on the entrance to Eterna City. Rotom and I approached the wall, as I fumbled in my bag for papers tucked away in the bottom of my backpack.