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Wet. Wet and get gradually colder. Why couldn't the nice weather come back? Why did almost every day feel like they were about to walk around the next corner and find a precipice, backlit by lightning, sustaining a crooked old castle surrounded by bats? It was awful and Espir didn't understand the sense of unease he felt as they slowly made their way north, towards Hearthome City. He was a ghost. So was Shane. Why did he have any reason whatsoever to be worried about ghosts? Was it his instinctual fear, leftover from his time as a human.
You're still a human.
It was hard, sometimes, to keep that in mind. That he wasn't a Marshadow. That he was still working towards regaining himself. His true form. He had almost given up on it. The trials in this world were a good distraction, but an irritating one when it came to his own goals. He was helping Alexis, but for what? Something to do? He was running out of time to figure these issues out. The infinite number of universes besides this one wouldn't hold up forever, not as he sauntered around, figuring himself out and helping Alexis collect her little badges.
He remembered a time when collecting these badges meant so much, but then he would be able to just turn the game off and go downstairs for dinner. He longed for a world like this. Just… not like this. He didn't want to be the one fighting. The one subjugated and commanded. He didn't like knowing what was behind the curtain, the incompetence of those pulling the strings, and how unimportant he was in the grand scheme of it all.
Yet, there was hope. It was only slight and struggling to hold on, if it was even there at all. Shane wished to go home, too. He had already died. He wasn't going home, whether they managed it or not. Shane would be going onto his afterlife, if there was one. Maybe souls just dripped down through the deep black void forever?
Still, Shane had hope- misguided that it was- that he would be able to return to his family eventually. Espir had let Shane continue to have that hope, he had pushed him towards that hope, even. Maybe he thought that if Shane could continue to hope, then maybe there was a chance for him, still? It was a tough thing to mull over. He wasn't some science expert- if science even had any sway over the events that Espir was experiencing- so he had little to no reference on how any of this would play out.
Hearthome City was about as far from foreboding as the walk up to it felt. Even through the terrible weather, Espir could see that the city was a beautiful collection of fashionable architecture, curated hedge cuttings, and just a well-kept city in general. Most of the other ones he had been to, had not been anywhere close to as well taken care of as Hearthome City appeared to be at a first glance.
"It's been a tiring walk up," Alexis said, "do you want to try the gym now and get it over with, or find somewhere to rest up for the night and tackle it in the morning?"
"I'm good with whatever," Espir said, knowing it didn't matter what he said, Alexis wouldn't understand it either way.
"You're right," Alexis nodded, "better to just knock it out of the park now, so that we can rest up even better tomorrow morning."
"That is totally what I said," Espir sighed.
"You sound like you're used to this," Shane muttered.
"Ever since we met," Espir said, nodding, "we just can't communicate, at all."
"Come on, then," Alexis said, urging the two Pokémon onwards, over the neatly paved streets towards the Pokémon gym.
"I just hope she remembers what she learnt before the last gym battle," Espir said, thinking ahead to whether this was going to be a trial by fire or a walk in the park. It rarely went down the middle of the road when it came to the difficulty of these battles.
The Pokémon gym for Hearthome was a pretty standard looking building from the outside, but Espir knew better than to think it would be anything normal. He trailed behind Alexis as she let them all into the building through the entrance and… nothing. The interior was such a dark room that even Espir, a being made of shadow, was struggling to see, to navigate his way around. There was nothing to see, besides what he thought might be a few doors placed around the room.
"A puzzle," Espir mumbled to himself.
"What?" Shane asked.
"I think we need to pick the right door to get to the gym leader," Espir said.
"What doors? I don't see anything."
"I guess this is going to be my task then," Espir shrugged, walking forwards and poking his head through each door in turn, to figure out which one was the correct one to guide Alexis towards. He didn't much care for facing other opponents before the main gym leader, so he didn't care that he would help her cheat to get her in front of the right trainer as fast as possible.
He did notice different trainers waiting in their own rooms for prospective gym challengers to come along- they all looked bored out of their minds. One room was empty, with even more doors in it- so Espir figured that must have been the correct door.
He rushed back to Alexis and grabbed at her hand, making her jump back- she was skittish in the dark- possibly from their joint experience in that haunted old house.
With Espir's help, Alexis was able to navigate the dark maze easily without having to run into unwelcome obstacles, which kept her Pokémon fresher for the coming gym battle.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Espir whispered to Shane as they made their way through the door maze.
"One step in front of the other," Shane said, causing Espir to look at him closely. It was a good mindset to have, but could end up becoming one that was less than healthy. He would need to watch his new friend until they made it back to their respective homes.
After many doors and rooms had been crossed, the trio finally found themselves in a room that was well-lit in comparison to the rest of the building, though that wasn't saying much. Standing in the room, waiting, was a lady taller than Alexis, with a sparkling, light purple gown and a bundled hairstyle with the color to match.
"I am Fantina, the gym leader of Hearthome City," she said theatrically, and with a hint of a foreign accent. "I trust that you are a challenger to this gym?"
"I am," Alexis said, nodding.
"You also understand that it is late, the gym almost closing for the night?" Fantina asked, and Espir noticed that her voice was ever so slightly restrained, reminding him of his days working in customer service when a customer would arrive just before closing time. He understood why she might be more irritable than normal.
"I'm sorry," Alexis said, "but I would really like to get this gym out of the way."
"Well, I won't hold you up, if you believe your team as competent as you imply. Surely, this mere gym, only an obstacle in your greater path, will provide a worthy challenge."
Espir could tell Fantina was almost bristling at Alexis' words. He figured he might be in for a tougher fight than he'd expected, purely due to the amount of barely controlled anger brimming just below the surface of Fantina's eyes.
"Let us battle," Fantina said, "and allow me to teach you a lesson in manners."
Alexis nodded and walked over to the other side of the room, so that they were both standing on opposite sides of this dimly lit battle arena. It was light in comparison to the rest of the gym, but dark enough to keep the ghost-type atmosphere in full swing.
Fantina held out her first Pokéball, waiting for Alexis to do the same, but instead, Alexis just looked down to Espir.
"You're up first," she said, "good luck."
Espir took a deep breath and then stepped forwards, onto the arena. He was never the first choice for the Pokémon, usually second or last- to close out the competition. It made sense to him that he would be first now, with the type matchup, but he was more used to getting into the mood of the battle while the others fought.
Fantina's first Pokémon to reveal itself from within the red light, was as ghost-like as they come. Espir remembered that it was called a Mismagius and was a deep purple color, with pink tinging the tips all across its body. It appeared to be a floating cloak with a wide-brimmed pointy witch's hat, but Espir could see the small round head and deep yellow eyes peeking out from underneath the hat. There were dark amber gems embedded in its chest and Espir couldn't think of many other Pokémon that could possibly look more like a ghost than a Mismagius. It made sense that this would be Fantina's first Pokémon to bring out.
"Are you ready to begin?" Fantina asked, looking over Espir's head, towards Alexis, who nodded determinedly. Espir only hoped that he wouldn't end up like the others usually did, considering he was the first line of defense for once. He had to hold off the other Pokémon as long as he could, to give Shane the best possible chance of succeeding without also getting knocked out.
"Then let us begin," Fantina said with a smirk. "Mismagius, use Dark Pulse!"
Espir awaited Alexis' command, but she was a touch slower than Fantina, likely trying to remember which type might be best against this Pokémon. Espir knew, but he couldn't just act without her giving him something to go on first.
"Marshadow, use Shadow Punch," Alexis said, "and try to avoid as much as you can until you connect. You know the drill."
Espir nodded and did his best to dodge out of the way of the spiraling blast of dark energy that came his way. It glanced against his side and stung more than he'd expected. Dark was strong against Ghost, he'd forgotten that. Ghost, however, was strong against that floating cloak, Espir just had to get close enough to smack it out of the air.
As the Mismagius was veering left and right, trying to charge up another Dark Pulse, as they'd noticed it did a significant amount of damage for the small scrape that had actually hit Espir, Espir was making his way across the arena, trying to close the distance to the other ghost Pokémon.
He had to dodge two more pulses before he was close enough to try jumping and punching at the other Pokémon. Thankfully, though it clearly focused more on the ranged moves, the Mismagius was far slower than Espir. He made the most of the dim light in the room to propel himself forwards, off of the ground and through the air, slamming his fist as it broiled with violent shadow, right into the head of the Mismagius.
One hit and it was down. All the effort spent to just cross the arena and Espir almost felt like the fight had been anti-climactic with how swiftly he had dealt with the other Pokémon. It must have been a critical hit, coupled with his ghost-type.
Espir landed before the Mismagius, as it gradually floated down to the ground, like a jellyfish underwater. Fantina recalled it into her Pokéball, her irritation even more apparent across her face.
She angrily pulled out her second Pokéball, muttering to herself as she did. Espir could hear the words she was speaking, but couldn't understand the language that she was using.
She held the Pokéball out and the red flash appeared once again, as Espir backed up a little so that he could get a good gauge on his opponent.
The Pokémon that appeared was almost like a hot air balloon with a face. No, it really was a hot air balloon with a face. It was purple and bulbous, with four tendril-like ribbons poking out of its side. It had a tuft that was similar to a cloud on the top of its head and a small red flair at its base. It, too, floated in the air.
"Same plan!" Alexis shouted out to Espir, who gave her a thumbs up before turning back to the big floating balloon.
Espir was about to rush in, but the Drifblim started to spin in mid-air and he hesitated, waiting to see what it was about to do. Slowly, out of the red base of the Drifblim, a green cloud started to seep into the air. The spinning of the Drifblim pushed the cloud to spread further in each direction, gradually spreading out over its area of the arena and beyond. Now, instead of just hesitating, Espir was forced to back away from the Pokémon to avoid whatever effect that cloud was meant to induce.
"What are you doing?" Alexis called out and Espir gestured to the giant cloud of green, but could feel confusion from her. He watched her closely for a moment, she had no idea what he was looking at. Was this a hallucination? Was she just really bad at seeing in this level of lighting?
Espir decided he didn't have time to figure out which it was and held his breath, rushing into the cloud to strike at the balloon. As soon as Espir stepped into the cloud, he realized that it had nothing to do with his breathing. He began to feel an almighty headache slam through his mind. He felt drowsy immediately. This was some sort of mental sleeping effect, but Espir refused to go down so easily. He forced himself to stay awake, clenching his fists and springing up toward the balloon before it rose too high for him to reach.
He grabbed onto its tasseled sides with one hand and began to pummel the balloon with the other, until they both began to careen to the ground, the green cloud disappearing all at once- as if it was never there.
With his knowledge of the Pokémon games, Espir expected the Drifblim to possibly explode once it was down, surprisingly however, nothing seemed to happened.
Must not have Aftermath, Espir thought, Close Call.
Espir was quite proud of himself, having defeated two Pokémon by himself already and pretty handily. He turned to Alexis to see her reaction and she was giving him the same thumbs up that he had given her. They were acing this gym in a way they hadn't really done with any of the others.
Espir noticed that Fantina seemed to be on the brink of a full on tantrum, her face was a much redder shade than it had been when they'd entered her arena. She thrust out her hand with her final Pokéball and the red flash revealed a ghost Pokémon much larger than Espir. A plain purple, large being, with spiky ears and spikier teeth. A Gengar.
It looked over at Espir with its deep red eyes, grinning the entire time it regarded him.
"Give him a taste of his own medicine!" Fantina shouted, and the Gengar nodded in a manner that Espir recognized- from himself.
Espir rushed in at the same time the Gengar did and they immediately began trading Shadow Punch blows, back and forth. Each hurting severely from each hit, but dealing just as much damage in return. Espir knew he had to whittle this Pokémon down as much as possible, so that Shane could have a good chance at beating it. He also knew that he wasn't going to knock this one out. He had already taken enough pain from the other two to be at a disadvantage.
Finally, eventually, with both Pokémon barely staying on their feet, Espir took a hit that turned off his lights for good as he fell unconscious. He noticed the gentle red glow surround him as his vision faded entirely. He was going back into that dreaded Pokéball.
...
...
...
Shane watched Espir go down and hit the floor after the Gengar caught the side of his head with a devastating swing. The two had been going at each other for an impressive amount of time before he fell. Which only meant one thing.
Shane would have to go in to finish the job.
"You've got this," Alexis said, trying to quietly encourage him, "I don't really know what moves you can do, so you're just going to have to do your best and I'll try to cheer you on, okay?"
Shane nodded and started to walk out into the arena.
Shane didn't really know how to use any of these moves but figured it would be like riding a bicycle and running after walking. The skill would catch on with use. He would just need to use it first.
Shane slowly walked up to the hulking Gengar, grinning down at him in the same way it had grinned at Espir. Shane knew that, with his lack of experience, he wouldn't last in a slugfest like Espir had for so long. Shane needed to be quick and avoid hits, while trying to hit back.
The Gengar darted forwards and Shane, instinctively, sprang away as fast as he could. He ended up, rapidly, behind the larger Pokémon, which struggled to keep up with his diminutive size and superior speed. Shane sprang towards the Gengar's back and slammed into it.
"A Shadow Sneak, nice!" Alexis shouted out.
The Gengar spun and glared down at him, his hit had clearly hurt at least a little bit. Shane noticed the Gengar was struggling to focus on him. It was barely holding itself up after the beating Espir had given it. Shane grinned back at the larger being and slammed into him once more. Dodging away as the Gengar tried to strike out at him.
Little by little, Shane started to work away at the larger Pokémon, until finally- like David versus Goliath- the Gengar crashed to the ground, unconscious. Shane had won the battle.
He looked over at Fantina, who recalled her Gengar and was trying to rearrange her tired face into one of gracious defeat, though she was clearly livid.
Alexis hurried over to congratulate Shane, her face beaming with happiness.
Alexis accepted her new gym badge and showed it off to Shane.
"Come on, let's go get Marshadow back on his feet," she said, quickly hurrying away from the furious gym leader, who had forced out the pleasantries through gritted teeth.
Shane didn't mind that Fantina had been angry, he was elated at his victory. He could see Alexis was happy with him, too. He could get used to this.