Disclaimer: Pokémon is owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.

Chapter 17: History

Mt. Pyre, Danny thought as they stepped off an old and shaky boat, operated by an old, nearly toothless, ferryman and his dusknoir, didn't look all that impressive up close. In fact, it looked like New Mauville's entrance, all concrete and iron leading into a cave. A chilly wind blew in from the east, cutting through Danny's T-shirt.

As if that'd stop him from going up Mt. Pyre as far as he could. He could deal with cold.

There was something in the air, and Danny felt it all the better as they walked up to the entrance. Their footsteps were loud, and he felt shivers run up his spine; shivers that had nothing to do with the weather. He put a hand on the door sheltering Mt. Pyre from the outside, and, after taking one look at Max, pushed it open. The door resisted his push for a second; solid metal creaking on the hinges.

Rows on rows on rows of gravestones and cabinets greeted them. He'd never seen so many of them in one place before. A single, solitary, stone spire – obelisk, Danny remembered from school – stood right in front of the entrance, a plate – plaque? - raised in front of it.

Here rest the spirits of the dead, Pokémon and human alike.

There was a second, smaller, inscription underneath the first.

War or peace, healthy or ill, rich or poor, young or old, remembered or forgotten, death comes for all, and in it, we are all equal.

They said nothing as they moved into the cave proper, footsteps echoing as they slowly passed uncountable gravestones. Danny glanced at some of them out of curiosity, seeing graves of both human and Pokémon, just as the inscription had said. Some gravestones were ornate and detailed, others were sparse to the point of a single word – usually a Pokémon – and sometimes, it was a double grave of Pokémon and trainer.

"Damn," Danny heard Max whisper, and when he turned to look, he found Max reading a gravestone, kneeling because the stone was small. Danny stepped around him to do the same. "Twelve. Died protecting someone."

Danny read the inscription, dated about ninety years back. "Wasn't that during.."

"Some war? Yeah." Max rose and continued on, down the path, and Danny hurried to follow. "Just… Puts stuff in perspective."

"Guess it does…."

The second underground chamber was dimly lit, reminding Danny of a haunted house at a fair, only less deliberately scary. Most of the light came from a flame in the centre of the chamber, set in the slightly raised floor. A man, wearing all-white, knelt in front of it, muttering something that sounded like a prayer. It wasn't anything Danny had ever heard, nor did he think it was in any language spoken in Hoenn.

The man turned his head when Danny and Max came close enough. "Visitors to our memorial, welcome," he said as he rose up, revealing that he wasn't all that much taller than Danny was. "You are young to be here. So young..."

The man fixed his gaze on Danny, who found he couldn't look away from the piercing, too-blue, gaze. He was trapped, but the man broke eye contact himself only a few seconds later, to Danny's relief. "No. Not you. You, then?" Now Max stood transfixed, and if either of them blinked, Danny didn't see it. "It wasn't your fault."

"I know," Max said softly.

"Do you?" the man replied equally softly. "Are your heart and tongue in accord? Traitorous is the tongue that speaks untruths, and traitorous is the mind that closes itself to the heart." He stepped aside, an inviting hand held out. "Come, young one. Gaze, and perhaps the truth will out."

This man was giving Danny the creeps.

"No thanks."

"Are you so certain of yourself?" When Max didn't reply, instead settling for another round of eye contact – how did Max keep that up willingly? - the man nodded, closing his eyes for some reason. "For better or worse, you are, and only time can tell whether this is youth's folly, or wisdom's certainty."

The man left, through a side-door Danny hadn't even noticed, without another word. A chill settled in the air as the door was closed, and the fire looked dimmer than it had a moment before. A brief moment of eye contact was all that was needed to communicate, and the boys left the room through the main exit. "That was so creepy!" Danny exclaimed.

"Yeah," his friend agreed softly. "He—"

The sound of footsteps interrupted them, and they turned around in the direction the footsteps were coming from, off to their left. They saw an older man – grey hair where he had hair on his head, thin skin, wrinkled hands, oversized dark green sweater, some bands on his wrists – walk up to them. "I know you," Max said, and Danny recognised the tone of his voice. Max was trying to think of something at the same time as talking. "Casper, right?"

"Aye, lad," the man replied, effortlessly stepping around a fallen gravestone. "That's me name, and yer names are Max and Danny." As the man – the Ghost-type Gym Leader, Danny realised with a small start – moved closer, he saw that the wristbands actually held Pokéballs, several each. "What has you spooked?" As one, Danny and Max looked at the door they just entered through, prompting Casper to laugh. "Ah. Had an encounter with Alastor, did ye now?" The Gym Leader made a gesture, and the boys fell in line as they followed him. "You'd do well to listen to his words, lads. He knows things."

"And is creepy saying it," Danny muttered, softly.

Apparently, it wasn't soft enough to avoid Casper's hearing. "Aye. He long gave up caring for that, and caring for anything. He speaks his mind, and sees deeper than most."

"What happened to him?" Max asked. Casper stopped, and looked Max straight in the eye. "You said he stopped caring for anything. Why?"

The Gym Leader chuckled heartily, though it ended in a cough. "Clever. Ye, something happened. It isn't mine to share, but smart lads like yerself can figure it out." He opened a door, which led to the outside. "Now for a question of me own. Why did ye come here? We're a long way off the path, lads, and we don't see many youngsters here."

"We're going to Mead Town, and Danny wanted to visit," Max replied, even as they stepped onto the grassy slopes of the mountain. It was warmer here than inside, but not by much.

"Mead Town, huh. LeeAnn getting challengers?"

"Yeah. Wattson suggested it."

Danny had a sudden brainwave, but Casper put a stop to that idea before he could even utter it. "Ah. Wattson's a smart man. If he wants ye to go see LeeAnn, then ye should do that. If ye fail, then come visit me." A sudden breeze made Danny shiver. "And don't think I didn't notice yer not mentioning yerself, Max. Why are you here?"

"Does he have to have a reason?" Danny asked.

"Of course not." Casper seemed almost offended. "But Alastor doesn't talk too much to sight-seers. He talks to those with reason to visit, and death is indiscriminate. Who'd you lose, lad?"

"Ralts. Poachers," Max said at length, offering the same reply Danny had heard him mention often before.

Casper scoffed. "Poachers want live Pokémon, lad, not dead. Ralts are worth nothing dead. How did it die?"

Danny sucked in some breath, sharply. Nobody had ever called Max on the half-truth before. "He..." Max trailed off, seemingly unwilling to say more. Silence stretched; Casper looking at Max intently, Max looking at the ground, Danny looking between then. "He died in my arms."

Casper put a hand on Max's shoulder. "There lad. That wasn't hard, now was it? Lying's a bad habit to get into."

Max wrenched his shoulder out from under Casper's grip, suddenly looking furious. "Stop it," he demanded.

"Stop what, laddie?" Casper said in return. "Asking questions? For giratina's sake, I know ye're a teenage lad, self-centred as can be and twice as arrogant, but yer emotions are not the boss of ye. The world needs rational minds, not hotheads." A quick hand movement caused a Pokémon to appear, and a soft red glow to surround Max. "There. That's better."

"I really still don't like you saying that," Max replied, to Danny's confusion. All the tension seemed to have fled from Max's body, and there was no trace of the furious look on his face. What was left was… mild disapproval?

"When ye're as old as I am, yer propensity to care goes down." Casper's right hand went into the air, scratching a shuppet. "Not yer first time?"

"Abandoned house west of Fortree, helped shuppet reunite with its trainer." Max shot a weak smile at Danny. "Shuppet can drain strong negative emotions."

"I knew that," Danny muttered, but Max saw right through him, grinning knowingly. "Mr. Casper? Can I send my duskull out?"

"Of course lad," the Gym Leader replied. "No need to ask permission. Ye're a trainer, and this isn't some Pokémon free zone." Shuppet made a lap around Casper's head to emphasise the point.

Danny grabbed the right Pokéball, and sent duskull out, but as soon as he did that, she started glowing, the sudden flash blinding Danny for a second.

Danny's Pokémon landed on the ground, as a full body, legs, feet, hands sprouted in the light, and the light grew, until it – she – was about as tall as Danny himself was. Maybe an inch shorter. Then, the light vanished, leaving just a dusclops. "Whoa."

"Congratulations lad. Ye picked a good duskull to catch. They've got fairly long evolution cycles." Casper walked around the dusclops, who was shifting from foot to foot, trying to get used to something. "She looks tough, but make sure ye practice. Dusclops and duskull fight differently."

That, at least, Danny knew from spending time at his uncle's place. "Wait. She? You can tell her gender?"

"Always have been able to for Ghosts," Casper said with a shrug. "More hit 'n miss with other Pokémon." The Gym Leader stepped back onto the path leading up. "Come, let's find a trainer to inaugurate yer new dusclops."

They located a trainer some way up the mountain, on its northern flank, about ten minutes later. It was a friendly spar, almost lazy. Danny knew he and Max put more into their practice battles, but this was fine for a newly evolved Pokémon. Dusclops had no issue keeping up with the scizor when she attacked, which was something Danny had been worried about a tiny bit. They agreed to end it without any Pokémon declared the victor.

"Come," Casper ordered after the battle, as Max challenged the trainer to a battle of his own. They walked a fair distance away from the other trainers – and Danny made sure to add a few more steps when he saw Max send out manectric to deal with a lopunny. "Ye've got work to do."

Casper's words surprised Danny. "It wasn't that bad," he said defensively.

"Nay, it wasn't," Casper admitted as a bright yellow flash and a loud crackle announced manectric unleashing a powerful Discharge. "Ye trained duskull well. Too well."

"Huh?" That was a compliment, right? Why was it a bad thing? "I don't get it."

"Yer dusclops kept wanting to dodge. That's a fine strategy with duskull, but dusclops are immobile, lad. They fare far better tanking the hits and dishing damage back out. Yer dusclops lost time trying to do something she couldn't."

"So, more like aron, less like manectric?" Danny asked as he watched the electric type jump over what looked like a Shadow Ball.

Casper shook his head. "Lad, aron still move. Dusclops can fight the entire battle in an area the size of a hula hoop. They don't need to move. They stand there, they absorb what's sent their way, and they outlast. Dusclops don't win. Their opponents lose."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Danny wondered as he looked into the distance, taking his eyes off the battle for a second. The mainland was visible across the water, and he could even make out the Safari Zone entrance from here. "You win or you lose. Right?"

"Banal nonsense," Casper spat, literally. "What if dusclops faints, but exhausts another Pokémon? Who won then?" The Gym Leader let a pause fall, just long enough that Danny couldn't reply. "Don't, laddie. Ye do not understand, nor am I expecting ye to. Maybe it'll come with practice. Maybe it won't. There are trainers triple yer age that do not understand this." A loud crackle of electricity whipped through the air. "If ye manage to, ye'll have a leg up."

"And if I don't?"

"Then ye don't," Casper replied drily, before his Pokénav rang. Danny took a step or two back towards the fight, even as Casper took it, listened, and ended the call. "I'm leaving. Ye can find yer way down." The Gym Leader walked off at his normal brisk pace.

By the time Max's fight ended, two minutes later with a very narrow loss for Max, Casper was probably halfway down the mountain already, Danny thought. They followed, more leisurely, talking about the fights and about dusclops.

They were close to the entrance back into the mountain's interior, maybe two or three minutes of walking away, when Max suddenly stopped. It took Danny a moment to actually notice, and when he looked back, he saw his friend staring at one of the bushes on the side of the path, standing stock-still. "Max?"

"Do not interrupt." The voice in his head was soft, male, smouldering, not human, demanding compliance. "Look right." Danny turned without thinking about it, and saw golden-white; blazing, comforting, soothing, intelligent, life-yet-not. "Keep silent."

The invisible pressure eased off, but flickering flames burned at the back of Danny's mind as he turned back to Max, who was rustling through the bush, looking for something, but apparently not finding it. "Danny?" he called. "Where are you?"

"I'm here," said an unfamiliar voice from Danny's left, and when he turned to look, he saw… himself. Same clothing, same hair, same everything. Except the smirk, which vanished when his… whatever spoke again. "You never told me what ya wanted to do to the poachers that got ralts."

Max looked confused. "Put them in jail?" he half-asked. "That's what we did, right? They got their rewards."

"Did they?" 'Danny' asked, taking several steps to the edge. Max followed, as did the real Danny. "Is that all you want to do? I remember sceptile keeping you back." The fake chuckled. "Would've felt so good to punch him, right?"

"Yeah..."

"And that masquerain poacher? It must've felt good to hear him break his arm."

"Kinda..."

"Oh, c'mon Max. You know it did. I sure felt good."

Max shot the fake a weird look. "You didn't sound like it."

"Eh, changed my mind." The real Danny made to talk, but heat flared in his head, preventing him from doing anything apart from clutching his head in pain for a second or two. "But sure. Maybe not that poacher. But the poachers that got ralts. You're not saying you wouldn't want revenge on them. And I don't mean time in jail," the illusion – was it an illusion? – added. "You want to get back at them for the pain they caused you, and his mother."

"I..." Max said, and from Danny's sideways view of his friend, he saw Max biting his lip, like he always did when he was nervous or unsure.

"Well, got some good news for ya. They're here." The illusion turned, arm outstretched in a revealing gesture, and the two boys followed. "All bound-up and at your mercy."

There, near the entrance to the interior graveyard, were two men, wearing full-black and masks, just like they'd been in the memory the gardevoir had given them on Izabe Island. They were struggling against their bonds, but the ropes were incredibly tight, Danny thought, because they weren't making any headway.

Oh, wait. Illusions. Now he felt stupid.

The warmth in his head turned comforting and warning.

Max was halfway to them already, but for some reason, he turned around, eyes passing over Danny's form before resting on the fake. His fists were balled up, and he looked tense. "Why are they here?"

"Casper and I caught them earlier. Figured it was a nice present," the illusion lied easily, but a look of confusion – did he really look that goofy when confused? - came over its face when Max's fists unclenched. "Aren't ya–"

"I saw you and Casper," Max interrupted. "Talking. Until Casper left. How'd you capture them?"

"Does it matter? Just go get revenge."

Max snuck a look at the bound illusion, almost longingly, Danny thought. "It's not real. You're not the real Danny." He made to grab a Pokéball on his right side, but froze before he could do so.

"You're a clever one," a female voice barked, and Danny saw a shimmer where the bound pair had been. The illusion melted, revealing a golden-white, majestic, Pokémon. A second ninetales joined the first, leaving a wave of hot air as the Pokémon moved past Danny. "What would you have done, young one, had they been real?"

"Pummelled their face in," Max said in a monotone, immediately, before shaking his head. "Wait, no, what? You made me say that."

"Yes. And no." The female ninetales walked up to Max, and around, three of her tails moving independently of the others, caressing Max's arms and neck. "You spoke truth. It is what you want. What you dream of in the dark of night, when not dwelling on other matters. Sometimes, you're ashamed of dreaming it. Sometimes you don't remember. And sometimes… Most times, even… Most times, you don't care. Because you want it. You need the catharsis."

Ca-whatsnow? "You know what is happening." The male ninetales, the one that had held Danny in his sway, was speaking now. "Plots. Plans. They must be stopped. They must be purified."

"What are you talking about?"

"Petal Grove. Rinshin. Abominations forcing Ghosts." The male ninetales joined his… partner? Mate? Both of them circled Max, who looked like he wasn't happy with that. "You'll do it."

With that, the two Pokémon let out a shared howl, eyes glowing, and the next thing Danny knew was him getting up from the grass, no ninetales in sight. He did hear a ping of a Pokéball accepting a capture, and he was just in time to see it vanish.

"What was that?" Danny asked of Max as he got up. Max appeared to have remained standing. Somehow. "Did you just capture a Pokémon?"

"The ninetales caught me a vulpix," Max said softly, kneeling by the spot where the Pokéball had vanished. "Jirachi that was weird."

Danny could only agree with that, but there was something more important. "Is it true?" he asked, trying to catch Max's eyes, but his friend avoided his gaze, even when he got up. "Max!"

"Is what true?"

"The… the dreams. And wanting to..." Pummel their face in.

Silence stretched for what felt like a long, long time, with not a sound on the mountainside, except the whistling of the wind through grass. Danny kept looking at Max, who kept his head down, looking at something near his feet. Danny didn't care about that. He just wanted the answer. The ninetales hadn't sounded like they were lying, but they were legendarily cunning. He wouldn't be surprised to find out it was an exaggeration or something.

Dark eyes met dark eyes behind glasses, and Danny knew the answer before Max said it. "Yes. A hundred times yes."

Danny gave in to the irresistible urge to hug his friend, and got a confused look for it. And a warm face. "Let's go back. Enough crazy stuff here."

"Yeah..."

The journey back was silent, uneventful, quick, until they reached the obelisk at the entrance, where they saw a familiar sight of a man wearing all-white.

As before, Alastor approached them, stopping Max and Danny by stepping in front of them. He took Max's wrists in his hands, and made eye-contact. "Take good care of her."

~~§~~§~~

Max gently scratched the fox-like Pokémon lying on his lap, and she leant into them with a soft purr-like rumble in her throat and belly. The vulpix wanted attention, and was very good at getting it, Max had learned in the few hours they'd had together. Not that he minded: there was something calming about the fire-type's warmth underneath his fingers, on his thighs, next to his calves, even if him having a vulpix made him remember the very-much-not-calming events on Mt. Pyre's flanks.

Jirachi this day had been strange. Danny hadn't stopped giving him weird looks ever since, and Max had spent the first few minutes after getting in the Center, when Danny was in the shower, just looking up things about ninetales on the internet.

Turns out there'd been stories of a pair of ninetales on Mt. Pyre stretching over a hundred and fifty years back. With how long they lived, Max was willing to bet a badge it was the same pair as back then. They just felt ancient, and very powerful. Max was pretty sure he could count the Pokémon that had the same… aura, he supposed, on one hand, if he didn't count the Legendaries.

The stories also hadn't been kind, and Max felt a shiver on his spine even recalling it. He was pretty certain he knew what the male ninetales had meant when he said 'purify' now, and while he'd love to punish the ones responsible, the idea of going that far made him more than a bit sick to his stomach.

It had been the first story chronologically, back when Hoenn was in a civil war. Mt. Pyre, even then a monument and graveyard, was under attack from a small force seeking… something on there. The website wasn't clear. Whatever it had been, two ninetales had appeared at the water's edge, at the moment the civilian defenders were close to giving up, and they had unleashed hell on earth. The end result had been eighty percent fatalities, and the remaining twenty percent bore burn marks for the rest of their lives. Two years later, when the fighting had ended, and a memorial and gravestones for the war had been raised, the ninetales emerged again, shattering select graves: the graves of those that had died attacking the place.

Ever since, vulpix roamed the flanks of the mountain, in decent numbers. Many trainers had mentioned getting a vulpix from there. Max wondered how many had lied about how they'd captured the vulpix, saying that it had been a battle, and not something like this. Like he'd done to Professor Birch.

The door to the lobby slid open with a soft hiss, and Max raised himself from the sofa to greet Danny, who'd gone to get food. They were the only ones in the Center, as far as he knew, so the food took a while to make. Danny was probably helping again.

Max didn't recognise the girl, but he recognised the short-haired boy next to her. "Paul!"

Paul, who'd been talking with his sister, looked up. "Max!" he exclaimed in that accent of his, sounding exactly the same as he had a few months back. "Fancy meeting you 'round here." He led his sister to the sofa Max had been occupying. "Max, meet my sister Alice. Alice, meet Max. He's the one who beat me in Pyreflow."

Max set vulpix down, and the two exchanged a shake. "So, got a ninjask already?"

Alice smiled, but shook her head. "Naw," she said, in an accent that was heavier than Paul's was. "Paul tells me it's getting closer."

"It is! It's got more red than your nincada had, Max."

"I'll take your word for it." The door slid open again, this time revealing Danny, with two plates of food on a platter. "Danny, look who walked in."

"Paul?" Danny ventured, and Paul confirmed it for him. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Gee, I wonder why, Mr. three badge going to Lavaridge," Paul drawled. "Alice, meet the other guy I roomed with. I did beat him."

"Duh," Alice said, and Max saw her roll her eyes, before she took a sniff. "Ooooh, that smells great."

Danny put down the platter, and offered one of the plates to Alice. "Here, go eat. I can wait." Max's stomach took that time to gurgle audibly. "And Max can't. Sorry Paul, no luck for you, I think."

"Got that right," Max added as he snatched the second plate and utensils. Vulpix let out a quick series of soft barks near his feet. "You'll get some food after this, okay?"

Two hours later, the three boys sat in the lobby, lazily eating ice cream. Alice was around as well, but she was off to the side, doing some drawing.

Most of the Pokémon had been returned to their balls, but five of them were still out. Three of those were Max's: vulpix and bagon were flanking him on the sofa, and clefairy was chatting with Paul's marill. Danny's aron completed the set, because Danny had been cleaning it after dinner. "Bagon, clefairy, vulpix. Are you trying to catch rare Pokémon?"

"Naw," Max tried to imitate Paul and Alice's accent. "Just worked like that."

"He's only really caught on… two Pokémon," Danny added. "Just manectric and vulpix."

Max did a quick count in his head. Starter, injury, capture, food, Egg, injury, playing, vulpix. "Yeah. You captured most of them." Only Danny's two newest Pokémon weren't captured by battling them. "It's kinda weird, I suppose."

"Kinda?" Paul nodded his head with a weird look on his face. Disbelief? "What are you? A Pokémon whisperer? You sweet-talked all of them into going with you?"

"Only some of them." Max didn't know why he felt the need to defend himself, but he did. "Just ninjask and poliwag."

"And the others?"

"Found bagon's Egg, healed baltoy and clefairy."

"Healed clefairy from the brink of death," Danny corrected, and Max shot him a glare. "Come off it. She would've died. You know it." He stretched, and Max could just about hear Danny's back cracking. "He heard a Pokémon and went out. Into a thunderstorm."

"Is that why clefairy has a scar?" Alice asked as she sat down in the chair next to her twin brother's. "She got hit by lightnin'?" Max nodded in confirmation. "That's gotta be dangerous."

Max shrugged. "I had electrike." And he had trusted her to defend him, like pikachu had defended them. She'd never let him down. "But yeah, she was in a bad spot. Two days in a Pokémon Center. Baltoy was just sick. Pokémon flu or whatever." He looked at the twins. "You had to battle for all of them?"

Paul nodded as he put his spoon and bowl away. "Except machop, all of them."

"Machop just sat down for eatin' with us." Alice giggled. "You didn't even notice for five minutes."

Paul didn't give his sister a verbal reply, but he did roll his eyes, seemingly outside of her view. Max wasn't so sure, because Alice renewed her giggling at that point. "So, badge count?"

"Seven," Danny answered. "Flannery, Terry, Roxanne, Wattson. Brawly was on holiday. You?"

"Eight." Paul looked proud of himself, and he had every reason to. "Got the Illusion Badge two days ago. Also picked up Feather and Mind." He produced his badge case, throwing it over to the Petalburg duo.

After a bit of brief checking, and congratulations, Danny tossed the badge case back. "Illusion Badge, huh. Was Casper hard to beat?"

"Two tries." Paul scowled. "Old coot requires you to win. Draws don't get you a badge, and his Pokémon know Destiny Bond." Marill jumped onto the armrest of Paul's chair, crying its name softly. "I hate Ghosts. They're dangerous. Roxanne is right."

An awkward silence followed, Max, Danny, and Alice sharing a few looks as Paul got up and collected all the dishes from the ice cream. Max was sort of happy dusclops was in Littleroot, and he guessed Danny was too. "So, Alice, how many Ribbons?"

"Four." She didn't appear too happy about that. "Nearly beat a top coordinator two weeks back, but he won on points." Behind everyone, the door slid open as Paul left the lobby.

"Ouch."

"Who'd ya lose to?" Danny asked. "Maybe Max knows him."

"Uh, Drew something. Few years older 'n me."

Well, that sounded familiar. "Green hair, absol, flygon, roselia?" Max asked.

Alice's eyes went wide-open, and she nodded. "How'd you know?" she wondered.

"He's one of my sister's rivals. She fought him in two Grand Festivals," Max said as he remembered his sister's nerves before those battles. He wasn't nearly as bad as Harley, but Drew could get to his sister if he wanted to. "Won one, lost one."

"Your… sister?" Alice asked, looking confused. "What's her name?"

"May."

Alice scrunched up her face, snapping her fingers twice before her eyes shot open in understanding. "Oh. Right. Right!" She got up, talking a few steps until she was right in front of Max. "You don't look like her," she stated matter-of-factly.

Max gave a lazy shrug. "And you don't really look like your brother." Both of them had black hair, but Alice's face was a lot rounder and she was shorter than her brother by half a head.

Alice smiled and sat down on the carpet, releasing one of her own Pokémon: a growlithe. "That's true," she said as she rubbed the canine Pokémon between the ears. Vulpix soon jumped down from the sofa, and also received scratches. "You got vulpix on Mt. Pyre, right?"

"Yep. Earlier today." Max saw Alice's face fall slightly. "What's wrong?"

The girl let out a deep sigh. "It's nothing. It's just that… Paul doesn't want to go there, but I do. He just thinks the Ghosts are going to… I don't know… Eat my soul?"

"He really hates them that much?" Danny wondered.

"Yeah… I mean," Alice shot a quick look at the door, which was closed still, "he got his dream eaten by a haunter when we were seven, and a duskull burnt him when we were ten…"

"Good reasons to hate them," Max observed.

"Sure, but it's kinda too much. He wanted to do the Illusion Badge, because our Da knows Casper somehow, but..." She trailed off with a simple shrug, followed by a yawn. "Oh, I guess I'm kinda tired."

Max and Danny, as one, checked the clock. Somehow, it was close to ten. Time flew, apparently. "Well, let's get to bed," Max said as he got up, careful not to dislodge the bagon: he did not want the small dragon to fall on his foot. Again. "We have a badge to get, and you have Contests to get to."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Chaos in Rinshin

Inhabitants of quaint Rinshin Town, population 8503, were awoken suddenly last Tuesday night as various Ghost Pokémon went on what can only be described as a Pokémon rampage, seriously injuring three and interrupting the sleep of hundreds, if not thousands.

The reason for the rampage is unknown, but a government source, speaking anonymously, reported that there was no obvious trigger to be found. This is similar to the events in Petal Grove, a scant fifty miles away, back in mid-July. As before, police were powerless to stop the tide of the Ghost Pokémon, and only fate stopped them from attacking as they started feigning confusion.

Several trainers whose Pokémon were involved were interrogated, but no lead has been found. One trainer was fined after protesting against how police treated the potentially dangerous Ghosts.

From: Hoenn Mail, September 27th.

Author's Note: The memorial places aren't really used in the anime. Shame, really, but somewhat understandable. I hope I did them justice. Alastor is some loose amalgamation of various Hex Maniacs and associates - anyone who's played the games and read their quotes knows that they lean towards the creepy.