xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Route 211, 7:59 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Along the pathway leading in the direction of Eterna City, the group of Keats, Anik, Tamara and Ambrose were standing around as the members of the travelling party were watching someone eating a ton of food. Sitting cross-legged with her back against a tree was the teenage girl with long chestnut hair in a ponytail and sporting a light blue shirt, dark blue pants, white sneakers, a green apron with a Pokéball symbol on it and wearing a Moltres hat that they saw the prior day inside Mt. Coronet.
"Aormph! Mrohhsp!" The Moltres hat wearing girl muttered loudly as she was stuffing her face with food.
"Float-float!" The Floatzel next to her said as it was eating next her.
In front of the Moltres hat wearing girl was a pile of food consisting of several messy containers of cold noodles, a pair of cylinders filled with flavored potato chips with very little left, a torn bag of chocolate covered pretzels, a trio of soda cans that were crushed and an empty large container that originally had strawberry tarts inside.
"Oh! You guys are life savers!" The Moltres hat wearing girl said after swallowing a mouthful of food and tears in her eyes.
"I can't believe you two crushed that entire tub of strawberry tarts!" Keats said with a bothered tone. "I wanted to do that!" He mentally whined.
"Were you going to share any?" Tamara asked towards Keats after hearing his thoughts.
"...No guarantee on that, if I'm being honest..." Keats thought as he looked at the blind psychic girl, causing her to pout.
"Let's be grateful Keats had so much food saved in his bags." Anik commented as she looked at the husky framed trainer.
"She ate most of the snacks I had!" Keats said with annoyance.
"Oh, uh. Sorry about that." The Moltres hat wearing girl said as she reached into apron and pulled out a Pokéball. "Floatzel, return." She said, recalling her Pokémon before standing up. "Once again, thanks for the food." The Moltres hat wearing girl continued.
"Why were you in there?" Ambrose asked as he pointed back at Mt. Coronet.
"I was training my Pokémon." The Moltres hat wearing girl replied. "Oh, and the name is Jodie, I completely forgot to say that." She said, introducing herself.
"I'm Anik." Anik said. "This is Ambrose. That's Tamara and the big guy who fed you is Keats." She said, introducing the others.
"Hi." Ambrose said with a casual tone.
"Nice to meet you." Tamara said with a smile and a wave.
"You didn't even use the spice packets on the noodles." Keats said with squinted eyes as his friends turned towards him with confused expressions.
"Been in there close to a week. Ran out of food yesterday." Jodie explained.
"Since you brought it up, we passed you at some point inside the mountain when it looked like you were being chased. What were you running from?" Ambrose questioned as Jodie bit her lip.
"...One of my own Pokémon. It got angry and started acting up, I started running until he calmed his butt down." Jodie said with a bothered expression.
"Ooohh! Sounds like a tough Pokémon! Want to battle!?" Tamara said with an excited tone as she took out the Pokéball for her Tangela.
"Whoa! No!" Ambrose said as he placed his hand on Tamara's wrist in protest. "You've had battle practice with my Furret, you haven't had one battle yet with Tangela." He continued.
"Awwww!" Tamara complained.
"I don't think your Tangela is going to be able to handle what I was running from..." Jodie thought with a nervous face.
"You don't know that!" Tamara exclaimed as she shifted herself to be facing Jodie.
"Huh?" Jodie replied in confusion as to what the blind psychic meant, not knowing she read her mind.
"Ah! Le-let's just save any sort of battling for later, okay?" Anik said, catching everyone's attention. "Let's not scare the stranger with your powers, okay?" She thought so Tamara could hear what she was thinking.
"Fine..." Tamara said with a defeated tone as she put away her Pokéball.
"Yeah, I'm still beat from the fight with "Lit Piss."' Keats said.
'"Lit Piss?"' Anik, Ambrose, Tamara and Jodie said in bewildered unison.
"...Oh yeah, I didn't explain what happened with that weird yellow giant." Keats said as he scratched the back of his head.
"On that note, I'm going to get a move on. Once again, appreciate what you guys did for me, really." Jodie said as she wiped herself off with her hands and prepared to leave. "I'm heading back into the mountain." She said.
"Why?" Keats questioned.
"Still in the midst of my training, I got three more badges to go before I can compete in the Sinnoh League, and the deadline is coming up for badge registration." Jodie said as she walked back in the direction of Mt. Coronet. "Bye guys." She said as she waved her hands with everyone waving back.
"She seemed nice." Tamara commented.
"Guess she's vying for the trainers league just like Birdclaw." Anik said towards Keats.
"Yeah..." Keats replied.
"Well, now that we're out of Mt. Coronet, we better get a move on as well." Ambrose said, catching everyone's attention as they all started to move in the direction of Eterna City.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Eterna City, 8:32 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Finally reaching their destination, the travelling group headed straight for the Pokémon Center in the center of town. As Ambrose and Tamara stepped inside of the building, Keats hung back and started to dig around inside of his bag and pulled out his balaclava to hide his face until Anik grabbed it from his hands before he could put it on.
"Hey!" Keats exclaimed.
"Just go inside like a normal person. I highly doubt all the Nurse Joy's are that interconnected and know about whatever you did in Alola." Anik said with a critical tone as she made Keats put away the black facemask.
Stepping inside, Keats and Anik approached the counter where Ambrose and Tamara were as they were talking to Nurse Joy.
"Here's my Pokémon." Ambrose said as he handed over all of his Pokéballs.
"Be back soon, Tangela." Tamara said towards her Pokéball before handing it off to Nurse Joy.
"We're with them." Keats said as he and Anik pulled out their balls and handed them over as well.
"Oh my, this is quite a lot if you're in a group. Should take a couple of hours." Nurse Joy said as she looked at all the Pokéballs on the counter. "There's rooms for trainers to stay in down the hall over there if you would like to wait." She said while pointing with her finger to a hallway with many doors in the Pokémon Center.
"Thanks." Ambrose said as he led the way for the group.
Entering the room that consisted of a small closet with a mirror on the door, a window, a nightstand with a lamp and a set of bunkbeds on both sides, Tamara quickly jumped on top of one of the bottom bunks, laying on it with a content expression. Placing his bags on the floor, Ambrose stretched out his back as Anik walked over and sat on the same bed Tamara was laying on.
"Ahhhh... Feels so good to be in a bed!" Tamara said with a happy voice.
"No kidding." Anik said as she removed her glasses from her face and then pulled out a tissue, wiping them for a brief moment before putting them back on. "I'm just glad to be able to see the sky again come nighttime." She thought.
"I'm going to talk to the Nurse Joy for a moment." Ambrose said as he walked out of the room.
"What for?" Keats mumbled.
"He probably is going to ask about information with the Old Chateau." Tamara said as she sat up. "He always likes to make sure he is fully prepared for his "excursions" into haunted places." She continued as Anik raised an eyebrow. "Oh! Actually!" Tamara exclaimed as she got up from the bed, holding her cane.
"Hmmm?" Anik muttered.
"Now that I have a Pokémon, I should join him on the information train! First time getting a chance to actually go ghost hunting, I don't want to be left out!" Tamara said with an excited tone as she left to chase after Ambrose, leaving Keats and Anik behind in the room.
"Not even half a week with a Pokémon in her possession and she already feels like she's invincible." Anik said with a slight smile on her face as Keats sat down on the bottom bunk opposite of her.
"Not surprised, I felt that way after I won a sweepstakes once. Got a month of free Pecha Berries after weeks of ripping cereal box tops off." Keats said while folding his arms. "That was a good month last year." He thought.
"So... Now that we're here..." Anik said as she reached into her bag and pulled out Rotom's phone body as Keats made a displeased expression.
"Ugh... Fine." Keats said with a headshake.
"You knew this was going to happen eventually." Anik said towards Keats with half-closed eyes.
Pressing down on a button alongside Rotom's phone body, the phone begun to activate and lit up. Floating into the air above Keats and Anik, Rotom's face appeared on the screen as it looked around the room, finally back online.
"Zzzt!" Rotom exclaimed.
"Woooo... You're back." Keats said in a sarcastically celebratory tone.
"Welcome back, Rotom." Anik said towards the phone as it floated downward to meet them at eyelevel.
"Where are we currently, zzzzt?" Rotom asked.
"Eterna City Pokémon Center. It's been about three days since you were last online." Keats said as he scratched his beard. "A blessed three days." He thought, having enjoyed the lack of Rotom's presence.
"Where are the kids who hates ghozzzztzzzz?" Rotom questioned, referring to Tamara and Ambrose.
"Tamara and Ambrose are in the main foyer, talking to Nurse Joy." Anik said. "And it's really only Ambrose that hates the Ghosts. I think Tamara is a bit indifferent." She continued.
"Great, now I don't have to worry about that guy pozzzzzzzzzibly attacking me with one of his Pokémon." Rotom said with a tone of relief. "...So, what did I miss?" It asked as it faced Keats.
"Stunky evolved into Skuntank, I caught a time travelling Petilil, I fought the "Lit Piss," and I earned twelve gym badges." Keats said with a cocky smirk on his face.
"...Those were all liezzzz, weren't they?" Rotom said with an unamused face.
"The "twelve gym badges" was a lie but everything else was true." Anik said. "Still don't know why he's referring to a wild Lickilicky by that silly nickname but whatever..." She thought.
"Wait, hold on... Let me check my logzzzz since they're synched to his progress." Rotom said as windows started to pop up on its screen. "Skuntank is registered and so is Petilil... Wow, you actually did evolve Stunky!" It said with a surprised tone.
"Why do sound so shocked?!" Keats angrily said with furrowed brows.
"Not only that, but we also encountered a Honchkrow that tried to steal Keats' Evolution Stone collection." Anik commented as Rotom turned towards her with wide eyes on its screen.
'"A Honchkrow?" Wait, is it the zzzzame one from Ecruteak City?!" Rotom said loudly in bewilderment.
"Followed us all the way from Johto. It's a persistent bastard." Keats said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I knew it would come back, zzzzt!" Rotom exclaimed.
"Yeah, and you missed the battle! Sucks to suck, doesn't it!" Keats said with an unfriendly smile on his face towards the floating phone.
"Nurse Joy is probably going to get angry from all the loud banter in here." Anik thought with mild embarrassment. "Keats, I'm going to go see if I can use the shower facilities. Can you catch Rotom up to speed?" She asked before standing up.
"Huh, oh sure." Keats replied casually as Anik grabbed her bag and left the room, leaving behind Rotom and Keats.
"You guyzzzz find anything on this "Birdclaw" person?" Rotom questioned as Keats looked at the floating phone Pokémon.
"Well, after a period of looking for Tamara after she went missing, Anik met with one of the gym leaders on this regions circuit. He beat him and apparently now has six badges." Keats explained.
"He needzzzz eight to compete in the trainer's league." Rotom stated.
"Already knew that... Not even awake five minutes and I find you annoying..." Keats thought with a twitch in his eye. "Anik said he was taking the "traditional" route? Anything there?" He questioned further.
"Hmmmmm... Hold on, zzzzt." Rotom said as it opened up a GPS application on its phone. "Sixth gym badge is Canalave City on this "traditional" route. So, the next locations on that would be... Snowpoint City and Sunyshore City." It said as it listed two locations on the gym circuit.
"You think the silver weirdo is in one of those two places?" Keats said.
"Potentially, zzzzt." Rotom replied.
"How far are those places from here?" Keats questioned.
"...Very far, zzzzt." Rotom said as Keats put a hand on his face, slightly upset from hearing this.
"Okay... Baby steps... Baby steps..." Keats thought with a headshake as he stood up. "Let's go see what the two ghost hunters are up to." He said as he motioned for Rotom to come over and go into his pocket.
After Rotom went into Keats' pocket, the husky framed trainer walked out of the room and walked over to the front foyer of the Pokémon Center, the room filled with trainers of multiple different ages and their Pokémon. Looking over at the counter where Nurse Joy was, Keats raised an eyebrow as he noticed that Tamara and Ambrose weren't there.
"Huh?" Keats thought as he walked over to Nurse Joy. "Hey, there was a small girl with sunglasses and a cane and a teenager with grey hair and a somewhat "jerky" attitude earlier. What happened to them?" He said, describing Tamara and Ambrose.
"Oh, I think I know who you're talking about. The teenager took the blind girl with him to go "scouting," if I remember correctly the words he used." Nurse Joy said. "Their Pokémon are still here so they should be back in due time." She continued.
"Yeah, they should be coming back to the center soon enough. They wouldn't be going to fight the spooky stuff unless they had their Pokémon with them." Keats thought. "Well, if they show up soon, tell them "Keats is in the room sleeping on the floor."' He said before starting to walk away.
"Will-... Wait... Did you say your name is "Keats?"' Nurse Joy said until making a surprised expression on her face upon hearing Keats' name.
"...Yeah?" Keats said in response. "Oh god damn it! I knew it! She knows about me nearly burning down that Pokémon Center in Alola!" He thought with a nervous sweat dripping down his face as Nurse Joy reached down behind the counter.
"Finally!" Nurse Joy said with a bothered yet relieved expression as she pulled out a small stack of white envelopes and placed them on the counter, slamming them down as the noise startled him. "These are for you!" She said with an annoyed expression as Keats looked at the envelopes, all addressed to him.
"...What?" Keats said in confusion as he looked at all of the envelopes, all of them sealed and marked with a stamp with a picture of a Skarmory on them. '"To Keaton "Keats" Dibiase, from..." He thought, reading what was on one of the envelopes until seeing the sender's name. '"Birdclaw..."' Keats said aloud.
"And I'm not the only one." Nurse Joy said with her arms folded.
"What?" Keats said as he looked at her.
"I have been getting calls from Oreburgh City, Pastoria City, Hearthome City, Veilstone City. All of them from my sisters and cousins from their Pokémon Centers. This person has been sending every one of us these letters every single day and they've been addressed to a man named "Keats" for at least two weeks now." Nurse Joy said with a displeased tone as Keats looked at her. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say these are for you because you're the only person named "Keats" I've seen since he's started doing this, so now these letters can stop coming in. I'm going to call my sisters to tell them to throw them out." She continued before walking away to grab a phone on the wall.
"Uhhhh..." Keats mumbled in confusion before walking away from the counter, sitting in one of the booths in the Pokémon Center and placing all of the letters on the table in front of him. "One is from ten days ago. One is from three days- ah, here's the most recent one... Also, I'm the only person named "Keats" on the planet?... Huh, that makes me feel special." He said as he found a letter amongst the pile that was sent yesterday before Rotom popped out.
"More bizarre letterzzzz?" Rotom questioned as Keats rolled his eyes.
Opening the envelope, Keats took out the paper that was inside and unfolded it.
'"Dear Keaton "Keats" Dibiase, though time may pass as the sun goes down and the moon comes up, the crusade of my silver soul still rages on as my wings of steel slashes at the air, propelling me all the way past Canalave City to the next location where my Pokémon will-" oh my god, does this guy make any sense!?" Keats thought with his head already starting to hurt from the confusion of what he was reading.
"This letter looks like itzzzz been handwritten then photocopied." Rotom commented.
"So, he's been daily handwriting letters addressed to me directly and then going to a place to photocopy multiples of them and then mailing them all in individual envelopes to all of the Nurse Joys in case I show up at a center!?" Keats said with a bewildered look in his eyes. "Worst I ever did with mail was sent a pen pal I had in Hoenn an envelope filled with rotten cheese as a prank. This is way more annoying!" He thought.
'That's some dedication... Zzzzt." Rotom said.
"Yadda-yadda-yadda, blah-blah-blah, "my victory will only be complete when our Pokémon clash at the end of the road that all trainers strive for. Soon, we'll lock horns. Signed, "Birdclaw."' Keats said, skipping ahead in the letter. "Do you have a translation app for gibberish?" He asked towards the floating phone Pokémon.
"No but from what I gather, it'zzzz basically a repeat of the first letter he sent at the ranch." Rotom said as Keats looked over at the other envelopes.
"Probably the same goes for the rest of these." Keats said. "We're dealing with the king of over-the-top redundancy." He thought as he scratched at his head. "What does he mean by "clash at the end of the road that all trainers strive for?"' Keats asked.
"He'zzzz on the gym circuit. I think he might be telling you to meet him at the league conference." Rotom said, attempting to translate Birdclaw's newest letters wording.
"...Huh?" Keats muttered. "What does that mean? Like, meet him at the building before the tournament starts and have an illegal street fight with wooden boards?" He questioned.
"...No, I think he meanzzzz he wants to fight you in an officially recognized Pokémon battle." Rotom replied. "With how peculiar this particular Snagem Family member is, I actually wouldn't be surprised if he agreed to a fight like that..." It thought.
"Tha-that was my second guess..." Keats said with his eyes moving back and forth. "So, he is challenging me like we thought, but he wants to do it at the league- wait..." He said until he came to a realization. "Hold on... The Sinnoh League...?" Keats said.
"To compete in the Sinnoh League, you'd need to get eight badgezzzz." Rotom said as Keats bit his lip.
"That's a lot of work..." Keats thought while looking at the letter again. "Asshole..." He said quietly to himself before getting up from the booth.
"Keatzzzz?" Rotom said.
"Let's go see what Anik thinks before we do anything." Keats said with a serious voice as he walked away back in the direction of the rooms, Rotom floating next to him. "Okay, really need to think on this one. Really need to figure out what to do here..." He thought as he walked up to the door to the room his stuff was in.
Opening the door, Keats walked in and was met with an incredibly weird sight, his eyes widening in surprise. Anik, her hair down and having changed her outfit into a tight black mock turtleneck long sleeve shirt, tight black pants under a long red dress skirt that reached her shins, red slip-on shoes and her Moon Stone necklace dangling from her neck, was standing in front of a massive setup of pictures of constellations held up by threads from the ceiling. Turning around, Anik locked eyes with Keats as she made a red face of embarrassment.
"Ah!" Anik mumbled in shock.
"Whooooa..." Keats said as he looked at all pictures of the constellations hanging from the ceiling.
"Anik, zzzzt?" Rotom said with a concerned tone.
"...I can explain..." Anik said as Keats walked forward into the room.
"...Cute outfit but what's all this?" Keats said as he complimented Anik's attire before looking at a constellation with a drawing of a Kingler on it.
"I haven't been able to do any of my astronomy work in the last few days, since I've been sleeping on planes, buses and the inside of a mountain. I was trying to do some catchup." Anik said with a defensive tone as she grabbed an image of a constellation with a drawing of a Druddigon on it, Keats noting the pictures familiarity.
"Seeing this makes me want to swap my team around..." Keats thought as he raised an eyebrow. "How does dangling all of these in our room help with your work?" He asked with confusion.
"I was examining some of the designs of the stars and their alignments and was trying to reanalyze their potential outer images. It gets a bit difficult when the parsecs are always hard to judge just by looking at them through these bad eyes of mine." Anik said as she removed her glasses and then rubbed her eyes.
"Rig-right, a... Parasect? Or whatever it's called?" Keats said with a confused voice.
"A parzzzzec is a unit of distance for astronomical objects." Rotom explained.
"Yes!" Anik said with a smile on her face as she pointed at the phone. "God, feels good to know someone is here who can understand astronomy." She continued.
"She's only saying that because she didn't want to hear the ghost hunter teen whine about how awful your kind is." Keats said towards Rotom as the phone Pokémon made an angry expression.
"Oh! When I zzzzee that jerk, I'm going to get out of this phone and zap him until he pees his pants!" Rotom exclaimed loudly.
"Want someone to record it?" Anik said while folding her arms as a smirk formed on her face.
"Can you both not?" Keats said as he looked at Rotom and Anik. "Something's on my mind." He said.
"...You going to want to talk about it or are you going to be quiet for hours on end again?" Anik asked.
"The first one..." Keats said with half-closed eyes. "Me and Rotom found a bunch of letters with my name on it from Birdclaw. Says he wants me to face him at the Sinnoh League." He said as Anik raised an eyebrow.
"...In the streets with wooden boards or in a legitimate battle in the tournament?" Anik said with a confused voice.
"...There's a reason I like you..." Keats said with a dumb smile on his face, noting that her guesses were similar to his and her face beginning to blush from the surprise admittance.
"Wi-will you knock it off with the sudden flirting?" Anik replied with a bashful tone. "First the compliment about my outfit and now that, it's a bit much... Though..." She thought before glancing at the mirror in the room and looking at her appearance. "Huh... I actually do look pretty good in this outfit." Anik thought as a smile formed on her face before playing with a stray strand of her hair.
"Can we get back on track, pleazzzze?" Rotom said with half-closed eyes on its screen.
"Ah! Oh, yeah. Right." Anik said as she stopped playing with her hair and readjusted her glasses.
"I think he wants to meet me for the tournament." Keats said.
"Based on what Byron said, he's got six badges." Anik replied as she walked over to one of the bottom bunks in the room and sat down.
"And bazzzzed on what I looked up, he's either going to be in Snowpoint City or Sunyshore City." Rotom stated as Keats sat down on the bed opposite of Anik.
"And that is apparently super far from where we are..." Keats said as he put a hand on his face.
"Rotom, when is the Sinnoh League?" Anik questioned.
"One zzzzecond." Rotom said used a search engine to look up information. "The Sinnoh League is occurring in approximately one and a half months from now." It said as Keats raised an eyebrow.
"...That a lot of time, or no?" Keats asked as Anik shook her head left and right. "Yeah, I thought so..." He said with an annoyed tone.
"He wants to face you in a battle, correct?" Anik questioned as Keats nodded. "Maybe we can try and get the battle against him before the league happens since we know where he's going." She said.
"Then we muzzzzt head for Snowpoint City and if he's not there, he'd have to be in Sunyshore City." Rotom said as Keats scratched his head.
"First, can we get some snacks? A girl in a Moltres hat ate everything I had left." Keats said with a tired expression as Rotom turned to look at Anik, the astronomy enthusiast nodding to confirm.
Meanwhile, as the group chatted, Nurse Joy was on the phone, having finished up a phone call with one of her family members on the other end. After hanging up, she pulled out a card that had a phone number on it and typed it in with a disgruntled look on her face.
"Hello, is this Huell?" Nurse Joy said as someone picked up on the other end.
"Huell is a name that only exists on a birth certificate. For I am Birdclaw, and shall be addressed as such." The voice said. "As I recognize this voice, you must be calling from the place of healing. Has my adversary begun his hunt to chase me to the road of victory?" He said on the other line.
"...Co-correct." Nurse Joy said with a bothered expression on her face. "I think?... He told me and my sisters and cousins that if we encountered this "Keats" person, we needed to call him as soon as possible... Maybe then, he'll stop mailing so many envelopes..." She thought.
"I thank thee for the time and effort." Huell said on the other end of the call.
"He's currently at the Eterna City Pokémon Center. You said you wanted to know where he was so you could meet up in person?" Nurse Joy said.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Snowpoint Temple, 9:56 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Snowpoint Temple, a notable landmark building of the Sinnoh region from the ancient past, that was nearby from the city of the same namesake as the snow fell softly from the sky. Standing atop the temple was a young man on the phone dressed in all white with a white parka, pants and shoes with a Skarmory mask on his face.
"Verily, madam." Huell said as hung up the phone and reached into his pocket.
Pulling out a Pokéball, the silver-clad young man in the mask opened it and out came a large avian-like Pokémon of a silver, gray-ish color. With a blue neck, legs and tail, it had yellow eyes, grey talons, a pointed beak with several teeth and, most notably, red-colored wings with a top silver wing that were shaped like blades.
"Skaaarr!" The Pokémon exclaimed.
"Skarmory. Prepare to enter the air. We're heading to Eterna City to greet the one who wishes to defeat us." Huell said as he approached the Pokémon, jumping on its back.
"Skarmory!" Skarmory said as it spread its wings and flapped them, taking flight.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Eterna City, 2:19 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Walking through the town was Ambrose and Tamara as Ambrose had a look of contemplation on his face after heading in the direction of the Old Chateau outside of Eterna City. Poking him to get his attention, the teenage ghost hunter turned to look at his blind psychic partner.
"Our Pokémon should be good by now, right?" Tamara asked as Ambrose shrugged.
"Hopefully." Ambrose replied. "Did you get any readings by the Old Chateau?" He asked as he walked with Tamara. "Deep in the woods, an old brick building of at least fifty or even sixty years of age. Very dilapidated from the way the roof looked, and I could see the dust building up from the inside from where we were standing in the woods." Ambrose thought, mentally listing the various aspects he noted about the Old Chateau.
"Definitely got some things going on in that place." Tamara said. "I sensed a variety of different Pokémon inside, all of them being Ghost types." She continued.
"Belly of the beast then..." Ambrose thought. "Once we tie up the loose ends with the other two, we're going to head inside tonight." He said with a serious look in his eyes as Tamara stopped walking.
"...So..." Tamara said as Ambrose also stopped moving, turning back to look at her. "We're just going to go our separate ways?" She said with a slightly depressed tone.
"That's the deal we had with them, remember? We get across Mt. Coronet to Eterna City and then we handle our business, and they handle theirs." Ambrose explained as Tamara clutched at her cane.
"But... I liked being around them." Tamara said as Ambrose raised an eyebrow. "Anik was like a decent older sister to me and Keats was a lot of fun to be around." She thought.
"Sorry but it has to be this way. We're the "Lavender Town Paranormal Society." We protect people from the terribleness of Ghost Pokémon, and they aren't members." Ambrose said as he walked over to Tamara.
"...You're just saying that because you won't admit you have an issue..." Tamara said with furrowed brows in Ambrose's direction.
"...Excuse me?" Ambrose thought with an offended face.
"Ghost Pokémon are super effective against Ghost Pokémon! If you caught one, you might be able to get over yourself and you'd still have no issues with fighting them!" Tamara exclaimed loudly as random passersby turned their heads in the direction of her loud words.
"Shhh!" Ambrose said in an effort to keep Tamara quiet as she was now starting to shake with agitation. "That is never going to happen, you know that. I refuse to raise a Ghost Pokémon after everything that happened to me in my childhood." He thought, knowing Tamara could hear his thoughts.
"Well, we're about to head inside of a very large building filled with them. I just might try and catch one with help from my Tangela." Tamara said with an angry voice as she brushed past Ambrose, walking ahead of him in the direction of the Pokémon Center.
"Hey, hold up!" Ambrose said as he sprinted ahead of Tamara and got in front of her. "You've not gotten any battle training with Tangela since you got her. I'm not going to let you endanger yourself by going into a haunted mansion filled with Ghost Pokémon." He said to the blind psychic girl. "Also, do not catch a Ghost type! Please!" Ambrose thought, begging.
"Then what was the point of me coming with you to this place if I'm not going to help battle them?!" Tamara loudly replied as Ambrose put a hand on his forehead, becoming more and more frustrated with the conversation. "Some "group" we are if only one of the two members actually gets to do anything!" She exclaimed as Ambrose opened his eyes widely.
"Fine then, what do you want to do?!" Ambrose questioned with an agitated voice. "You complain about me doing everything, want to carry the workload as well?!" He thought.
"I'm perfectly capable!" Tamara said as she raised her cane high into the air, holding it like a sword.
"Put the cane down before you hurt yourself or someone else!" Ambrose said as he grabbed Tamara's cane, pulling it out of her hands.
"...I'm never going to be a good trainer if I don't take the chances when they come and the only thing stopping me is you..." Tamara said while tilting her head down as Ambrose made an apprehensive expression.
"Tam, I..." Ambrose said with a bothered tone. "I'm just trying to look out for you, okay?" He continued as Tamara lifted her head.
"...We're a team, aren't we?" Tamara said with a serious voice.
"We are." Ambrose said with a stern tone.
"Then right now, I'm making an executive decision as a fellow member!" Tamara said as she stepped forward and grabbed her cane out from Ambrose's hands as she walked away towards the Pokémon Center.
"What?" Ambrose replied with confusion from what she said. "What does that even mean?" He thought.
Reaching the Pokémon Center, Tamara walked inside with Ambrose trailing behind her as Keats and Anik stood at the front desk with Nurse Joy's Chansey wheeling out a cart filled with the Pokéballs that belonged to the group. As Keats grabbed all of his Pokéballs and Anik doing the same, the astronomy enthusiast grabbed the ball that contained Tamara's Tangela and handed it to her.
"There you go." Anik said with a smile as Tamara held the ball in her hand.
"So, I guess this is it, huh?" Keats said as Ambrose approached the pair, standing behind Tamara.
"Wa-wait..." Tamara said with a nervous tone.
"Hmm?" Anik muttered. "Something the matter?" She thought, knowing Tamara could hear what she was thinking.
"Oh, you're not feeling a headache coming on, are you? Because if you are, I still don't know how to work that "beat machine" in my brain." Keats said.
"Can-can you guys stay a little longer?" Tamara said with a bashful face.
"Eh..." Ambrose muttered, unsure of how to react to her request.
"What do you mean?" Anik said with a raised eyebrow.
"I... Really enjoyed spending time with you guys and I would like it if you guys joined our group." Tamara said as she shifted her head upward towards the husky framed trainer and the astronomy enthusiast.
"You want us to join the ghost hunters?" Keats said with a raised eyebrow as Anik looked over at Ambrose, whose eyes were widening.
"What?!" Ambrose questioned loudly. "Tamara?!" He said as he approached the blind psychic, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What are you doing?!" Ambrose continued.
"I want us all to stay together a little longer!" Tamara exclaimed in a confrontational tone as Ambrose was taken aback by her words, removing his hand from her. "The group only consists of us, and the Old Chateau is a very large place. Even larger than the normal locations me and Ambrose tend to go to." She explained towards Anik and Keats. "If we offered you membership in the Lavender Town Paranormal Society, would you guys join us?" Tamara said while clutching at her cane with both hands.
"Uh..." Ambrose said as he looked at how serious she was.
"Well... It's a kind offer but... I'm not interested in working as a "remover" for Ghost Pokémon." Anik said as she rubbed the back of her head. "I'm an astronomer, if I was asked what my profession was." She thought as Tamara made a worried face. "Keats, what about you?" Anik asked.
"Hmmmmm..." Keats mumbled, unsure of how to answer. "I mean... I'm still not allowed to be around Ghost type Pokémon. Ecruteak City practically made it a law that I am dangerous to be around them after what I did." He thought as Tamara heard his thoughts.
"That's even more of a reason you should join us! You can keep the Ghost types away!" Tamara said in a pleading voice.
Seeing what was happening before him, Ambrose glanced at the indecisiveness of Anik and Keats when asked if they would be willing to join the Lavender Town Paranormal Society with Ambrose and Tamara. Swallowing his pride as he closed his eyes, Ambrose took a deep breath and placed a hand on Tamara's shoulder once again.
"...Please." Ambrose said with a troubled voice. "She's right..." He said as Anik and Keats looked at Ambrose.
"Huh?" Keats muttered.
"Are you actually asking us for help?" Anik said while crossing her arms.
"Yes..." Ambrose said with a sigh. "Tamara likes you guys and she's very adamant of going inside the Old Chateau with me. If there's any chance that place overwhelms me and her, we'll have better odds with more members... So, would you guys like to join the L.T.P.S?" He said as he looked at the two adults.
"...No qualms about me having a Ghost type Pokémon?" Anik said with a judgmental voice.
"...No..." Ambrose said with an annoyed tone.
"No qualms about me having more than one?" Anik said with a smile on her face.
"No qual- wait, what do you mean "more than one?"' Ambrose said until he noticed the words she used.
"You have another Ghost type?" Keats questioned towards Anik as she reached inside of her handbag and pulled out a vial of purple fluid.
"Oricorio can change their forms and typing by being fed special nectars native to the Alola region. I happened to grab a bunch during my time there in case of emergency and I needed a type swapped. This purple nectar changes my Oricorio from Baile Style to Sensu Style. And with it, from Fire type to Ghost type." Anik explained.
"...Gyh..." Ambrose grunted as Tamara shifted her face towards him, the teenage ghost hunter noticing the seriousness in her expression. "I'll... Put up with it." He said. "I don't actually have much negative information on Oricorio as a Ghost type, believe it or not..." Ambrose thought.
"I'm not going to let my Drifloon whisk away any children and my Oricorio isn't going to suck the souls of the living." Anik said with a reassuring tone.
"...So, is that a yes!" Tamara said with an interested voice.
"Keats? You?" Anik said towards the husky framed trainer.
"...Something tells me that I'm going to need a lot of training in the near future to deal with Birdclaw if I'm going to get to him before the Sinnoh League... A raid on a haunted house sounds like the closest I'm going to get to a decent opportunity." Keats thought as Tamara overheard what he was thinking, a bright smile forming on her face.
"I heard that! I heard that!" Tamara said loudly.
"Sure." Anik said with a smile.
"I'm in." Keats said with a shrug.
"Yay!" Tamara cheered as Ambrose looked at the three.
"And two became four..." Ambrose thought as he made a small smile upon seeing how happy Tamara had become. "Okay... First thing's first. Does everyone have Pokémon that can battle a Ghost type?" He asked as everyone looked at him.
"You know that we do already." Keats said.
"With Tamara's Tangela unable to use Dark or Ghost type moves, it means someone is going to be on protector duty." Ambrose said with a serious tone. "Big guy." He said as he looked at Keats.
"Me?" Keats replied while pointing at himself.
"Can I trust you to keep her safe?" Ambrose said while locking eyes on Keats. "It's a lot of responsibility I'm putting in this guy..." He thought as Keats looked at Tamara.
"I- huh?" Keats said until he noticed Tamara grabbed his wrist.
"I have Tangela to watch your back." Tamara said with a smile towards Keats as he looked at the blind psychic girl before sighing.
"...Guess I'm on the job then." Keats said as he shifted his eyes towards Ambrose, Anik smiling upon hearing Keats' response.
"Alright then... We head in tonight." Ambrose said with a confident tone.
I'm in the mood for cold noodles right now. And chips... And strawberry tarts... And delicate fivers stuff into bulging wallets. Damn it, this story has too much food in it! After being introduced to Jodie, the hat wearing girl, the group finally reached Eterna City. After several hours of frolicking fun that consisted of seeing Anik being weird about her astronomy obsession, Keats finding out Birdclaw has been sending too many letters through the post office to the Pokémon Centers and Tamara going off on Ambrose for his prejudicial issues against Ghost types making him a bit of a "d-bag," Ambrose swallowed enough "humble pie" to appease his psychic friend and asked Anik and Keats to join the Lavender Town Paranormal Society to help them investigate the Old Chateau of the Sinnoh Region. The big question is though: what will they experience in the haunted mansion? And what will happen with Birdclaw heading their way out of nowhere? Perhaps we'll get answers next time! On Wannabe!
Keats' Pokémon:
1. Pineco.
2. Skuntank.
3. Porygon.
4. Venonat.
5. Dragalge.
6. Petilil.
In rotation:
1. Raichu - Alolan Form.
2. Druddigon.
3. Sizzlipede.
4. Gurdurr.
5. Swalot.
6. Cloyster.
Released/Traded away:
1. Diglett - Alolan Form.
2. Surskit.
Anik's Pokémon:
1. Kingler.
2. Cleffa.
3. Oricorio - Sensu Style.
4. Minior - Green Core.
5. Vigoroth.
6. Drifloon.
Ambrose's Pokémon:
1. Furret.
2. Crawdaunt.
3. Dodrio.
4. Helioptile.
5. Aipom.
Tamara's Pokémon:
1. Tangela.