Shauna and the others are already gone from my sight. I decide to try and catch a Pokémon in the nearby marsh. No Pokémon are approaching me. I can see a few off in the distance, eyeing me warily. I trudge through the swamp. Up ahead, two people in red uniforms turn to face me. As I walk toward them, they call me over. They introduce themselves as Pokémon Rangers Melina and Nash. It seems they're finding their jobs a bit monotonous today and would like to liven things up with a couple of battles. I oblige them.
Ranger Melina is up first. She sends out a menacing Arbok. I send in the trustworthy Grumman to do the job. Arbok lunges for a Bite attack but Grumman is already underground. Grumman makes quick work of the purple snake with a well-placed Dig. As Melina sends in her Pyroar, I send in May. May easily downs Pyroar with Brine. Ranger Nash steps in at this point. He sends in Goomy while I put Grumman back in.
"Training day, is it?" asks Grumman.
"Yep. Let's do this."
I suddenly remember that Goomy has a penchant for Water-type attacks and recall Grumman. I send out Hohenheim who takes Goomy's Muddy Water attack full force, leaving him drenched and blinded. I recall Hohenheim and send in May, who takes Goomy's Flail attack with ease. May uses Hone Claws while being assaulted by both Muddy Water and a Body Slam. Due to her eyesight sharpening, Muddy Water has not lowered her accuracy and she strikes the Goomy down with Acrobatics. I recall May and the Rangers set off again on patrol.
A little farther along the way, I hear a voice.
"Closer, closer, it draws closer to you," whispers the voice.
I whip my head around, looking for its source. A strange woman stands to my right, dressed in purple rags. She caresses a PokéBall in her hand.
"Who are you?" I shout.
"Ehehehe!" laughs the odd woman. "Litwick, out."
A Litwick appears in front of the weird woman. It hovers in the air, a smirk on its face, its purple flame wavering in the breeze.
"The outcome of this battle is predetermined by the fates," cackles the woman. "You shall lose here, now and forever. Litwick, Imprison!"
"Riza, get back!"
Grumman pushes me out of the way and takes the Imprison attack, a strange symbol appears etched onto his fur.
When did Grumman get out? I wonder.
"You gotta be more cautious, Reez. Pokémon attacks affect you nearly as well as they do us," he says.
"Is that so? In any case, use Mud Shot!"
Grumman launches high velocity mud balls at the Litwick, knocking it out in one hit.
"Hehehe, Haunter, I choose you!"
A Haunter has appeared next to Grumman. Grumman seems a bit nervous.
"What's the matter?"
'I can't hit Haunter worth a thing," says Grumman. "They float and twirl all around so I can't get 'em from below and I can't hit 'em head on either."
I recall Grumman and send in May. I tell May to use Hone Claws, a command with which she happily obliges. It seems to be her favorite move. Suddenly, Haunter is behind May, striking her with a Psyshock attack. May falls to her knees.
"May, come-"
"Leave me in, Riza. I've got this. Send Alphonse out, too. He needs to see this."
I comply with her wishes. Alphonse appears at my side.
"May!" he cries. "Come back. It's too dangerous."
"I've got this, Alphonse. You told her, didn't you? About Maes."
"But…you were in your PokéBall, you couldn't have heard."
"You're right, but all Pokémon have an instinct for when their evolution is near. Since my species evolves with a Water Stone, and I didn't have this feeling outside the Lumiose Gym, it can only mean you asked her to buy a Water Stone for me. I'm going to show you that I don't need it, right here, right now. Hiyaah!"
May strikes the Haunter with an impossibly quick Shadow Claw. The Haunter faints instantly. The Litwick, Haunter, and woman all begin to fade away.
"Closer, closer, it draws closer, ehehehe."
I can't tell which one of them is speaking.
"Flower, flower, black and red, what once was gone came back then fled, in the darkest hour, our dour vower gives tower power."
The three fade away. I make a run for it with May taking the lead and cutting down obstacles in our way with her Shadow Claw attack. Alphonse is behind us, keeping an eye out for the woman. After a few minutes, we slow down.
"What…what was that?" I ask.
"I don't know, but it was certainly creepy. Oh, look, your friends are up ahead."
"I see them. Return, you two."
Shauna and Trevor are waving at us. They're standing in front of a run-down house. There is a dim light being emitted from the windows. Shauna is all smiles. It seems to be her default setting. Trevor may be a bit shy, but it seems this house has him even more on edge than normal.
"Miss us, Riza?"
I…I did miss them. I can't remember who they are, but they must have meant something to me.
"Didn't have time to start. So, what's this 'Scary House' all about?"
"Rumor has it that after the owner passed on, strange things kept happening in the house. Books would be moved, footsteps could be heard in the dead of night, the fireplace would be lit when no one remembered lighting it," said Trevor.
"It's basically your standard haunting. So, let's just waltz on in."
"Wait, what about Tierno?"
"Oh, he came by earlier, but he freaked out when he heard we were planning on going inside the house. Said something about catching a fashion show in Laverre City and ran off," said Shauna.
"He can be such a scaredy-cat sometimes, right, Shauna?" says Trevor.
"Right," says Shauna. "Not like us. We're brave adventurers, and our job is to figure out this curse."
"What if there's an undiscovered species of Pokémon causing all this? Or it could be a real ghost! I'm trembling with excitement, so let's go, go, go," says Trevor, rushing forward and opening the door.
Huh, I never would've pegged him as the ghost-loving type.
The door opens inward, allowing what little light from the clouded sky into the house. Trevor peeks in, and then waves for us to follow and so we do. The inside of the house is very dim. There are books scattered about the floor. Plates and bowls are piled high in the sink and the fireplace contains one unburnt log. Suddenly, there is a sound. It is faint, but it sounds like laughter.
"Did you hear that?"
The other two nod. The laughter has not gotten any louder so we advance forward. The laughter grows with each step but never rises above a whisper. We get to the fireplace and discover the source of the sound. It is a handmade ragdoll designed to look like a Pikachu. We start to laugh when their faces go pale. Something taps my shoulder so I tur around and come face to face with a middle-aged man with greying hair.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" asks the man.
"I'm Riza, and these are Shauna and Trevor. We came because we heard rumors of this house being haunted. We heard the owner had passed on, so we figured nobody lived here. I'm sorry, we should have at least knocked."
"I knew those rumors would come back to haunt me. You see, I'm an expert on rare Pokémon so people come to me with questions all the time. I got tired of moving from place to place just to have some quiet, so I started up those rumors about my death and the haunting."
"So, there's nothing scary here?" asks Shauna.
"No ghosts, no undiscovered Pokémon, nothing?" asks Trevor.
"I'm afraid not," says the old man. "I could tell you a scary story, if you want."
"Ooh, I want to hear it!" exclaims Shauna.
"I suppose I can live with just a scary story," says Trevor.
"It seems they're for it," I say. "I'll listen to."
"Now, listen closely, children. A long time ago, on a dark and stormy night, a man was wandering through the marsh. He was being followed by something. He didn't know what the something was, but it sounded big and angry. He began to walk faster and faster until he broke out into a full run. The thing was right behind him, its feet thunderously pounding upon the ground, but he didn't dare look. He saw this house, barged in, and shut and locked the door. He could hear the thing outside, breathing. He wrote a note for the owner of the house, explaining who he was and what had happened. He peered out the window to get a glimpse of the thing he was being chased by, but all he could see was rain and the trees flailing in the wind. There was no sign of the beast. He headed toward the kitchen to find some food when he heard a voice behind him. 'Can't you hear it? That stomping outside." The man turned around but no one was there. He heard the voice again. 'Can't you see it? That huge beast outside?' He turned again to find no one. The man crept back to the window. He peered out but the darkness was too thick until a flash of lightning illuminated a single large green eye right outside. The eye became two as the beast turned its head. The beast opened its mouth and let out a tremendous roar. The beast began to ram the door with its body. The man braced himself against the door to stave off its impacts. The stress became too much for the door after the third strike and it splintered into pieces. The beast was now inside the house with the man. The man darted farther into the house to evade the beast. The beast was remarkably agile for its size and soon cornered the man. It reached toward the man. The arms of the beast were dripping wet from the rain yet still managed to seem sticky. The beast pulled him closer and closer until it finally embraced him powerfully. The beast released the man and grinned at him. The man had completely forgotten that he was playing a game of Hide-and-Seek with his Goodra. He recalled the dragon and left the house. And that man was me. The End."
"That's it?" asks Trevor. "Kind of a letdown after letting my imagination run with the stories of this place."
"It wasn't all bad," says Shauna.
"Shauna's right. Remember the creepy laugh earlier that turned out to be a child's Pikachu ragdoll?"
"What's this about a Pikachu ragdoll?" asks the old man.
We all turn toward the fireplace. The ragdoll is gone.
"But…it was right there a few minutes ago…all of us saw it," I say.
"Yeah, it was small and grayish-yellow," says Shauna.
"And it was making this really weird laugh sound, like 'kyikyikyi'," adds Trevor.
"I never had any children," says the man, "nor have I ever owned any ragdolls."
"It must be around here somewhere," I say.
"I'll turn on some lights and we can look for it," says the man.
Light illuminates the room. We all split up and search for the ragdoll we saw earlier. None of us find any clues as to where it could have gone. We give up after about a half-hour of searching. The man is very nice and gives us a bit of food for the road. We leave the house and set off for the next city together.
"Oh, well," says Shauna. "I guess it was kind of scary."
"Too bad there was nothing to those rumors," says Trevor. "I was really hoping to find something exciting and new."
"Think we all could have imagined that ragdoll?" I ask.
"Maybe," reply the other two.
"You're coming to Laverre with us, right, Riza?" asks Shauna. Her eyes are sparkling.
"Of course," I reply. "I just wanted to catch a Pokémon or two in the marsh, if you don't mind waiting a bit."
"No problem, right, Trevor?"
"right."
We set off to catch me a Pokémon.