Chapter 5

Ghosts and Stuff

Alkan Territory - Alkan Forest

As the group packed up their belongings, Dillan opened his maw wide with a great yawn. The weight of his body threatened to topple him over again just for a little more sleep.

The previous night had dragged on for hours and hours of pulling his covers closer with each gust of wind. The breeze felt like ice upon his skin, and due to their mountainside camp, it never stopped blowing, always beating at the gabite's scales. Yet eventually, warmth came to the hills with the rising of the sun, and the group set out.

They walked on for hours, across that stretch of dirt road, passing over pastures of green and between trees like evergreens yet puffier in nature. The scents of flowers and tree needles filled the air with a pleasant aroma. And all the while, Hazel took up the opportunity to teach Dillan about fighting.

She started off with basics - boring stuff to Dillan. A lot of it was watching his breathing and making sure he stood in the proper stance when fighting, especially since he'd be a physical attacker. Their training was short and sweet - not enough to get into attacks but enough to tire the gabite.

And eventually, a long while after the two concluded their training, they all found themselves sharing things about themselves:

"I grew up in Labensia," Hazel explained. "One of the capital cities known as the 'Golden Hills of Ganderosa' because of all the crops we grew there. It isn't as big a city as Alka or even Fericia, but it was home.

"Growing up, it was just me and my father." Hazel sighed. She paused for a bit, staring up at the sky as she walked. "He always wanted me to become a part of the Guild. He would push me and my friends every day to be better. That way, one day, we could reach our dream."

"And here you are," Dillan started with a smile. "Off to Kerrosia to reach that same dream."

A wide grin came to Hazel's face. "I know! I've waited my whole life for this! And now it's finally about to pay off!"

Dillan saw the way she stared off into the sky - her gaze being one of an excitable hope, almost as if viewing her future laid out in the clouds. It was hard not to feel happy for the charmeleon.

"What about you, Dillan?" Hazel began. "What's your dream?"

"My dream?" Dillan repeated.

He sat on the question for a while. What was his dream? He could say it was getting back to Grace, but was that a long-term enough of an answer? What did he really want?

"I'm… not really sure…" Dillan admitted with a simple shrug. "Haven't really thought it over before."

Hazel looked over Dillan curiously, causing him to shrink a bit. "Well, what brings you to Ganderosa then?" she asked.

Dillan laughed nervously, unsure how to answer that question as well. "Fate?" he bargained.

Hazel laced her fingers behind her own back before looking up curiously. "I didn't think of you as a pokemon who relied on faith."

"Why not?" Ryan said. The two looked over at him with surprise though he didn't meet their gaze, still keeping his eyes set on the road ahead. "Most pokemon don't have a drive to do much of anything, perfectly willing to see where life takes them. Dillan seems like that kind of person to me, in which case, fate's as good a reason as any. Wouldn't you agree?"

Hazel blinked a couple of times at Ryan. "I guess… you have a point. Dillan does kind of stumble into things."

"H-hey!" Dillan stuttered. "I'm not just walking blindly!"

"Says the 'mon with no plan," Ryan smirked.

Hazel laughed aloud while Dillan just pursed his lips. He didn't think of himself as one with no plan at all… just someone who never saw the need for one as immediately as most.

"Ryan?" Hazel went on with an insistent gaze. "What about you?"

Me?" Ryan began, kicking a small stone down the road. "My dream is to live a worry-free life. Not much more than that."

"That's pretty vague," Dillan smiled.

Yet Ryan shrugged. "At this point, I'm just going where life takes me. I guess right now, that's with you two. After that, who knows? Doesn't really matter to me."

Silence fell over the group like a white bedsheet as the conversation had seemed to reach a natural conclusion. This lasted a good while, though a quick humming from the charmeleon meant a stop to that.

She walked up next to Ryan, her tail swaying with enthusiasm. "New question," she stated. "Where did you learn to fight?"

Ryan smirked at the question. "Why do you ask?"

"You handled yourself in Void Canyon. Clearly exploring isn't something new to you. So what is it? Were you part of a caravan? An old exploration team? Mailmon?"

A nostalgic smile spread across Ryan's face. He seemed to mull over the question, thinking up how best to answer it. "This isn't the first team I've been a part of," he admitted.

"It isn't?" Dillan asked.

Ryan shook his head simply. "We weren't a part of the Guild, more like…" a wicked smile made its way to Ryan's face, "like bounty hunters. We took the odd-job for spare cash. Sometimes it involved Rank D. Missions like delivering gifts across town, other times we found ourselves dungeon-crawling. The latter meant getting good at fighting."

An image with the small squirrel clad in leather armor passed through his mind, walking into bars and demanding the day's latest criminal. The little pachirisu was a bounty hunter? Dillan couldn't help but stare starry-eyed at Ryan. "That's awesome!"

"What was your teammate like?" Hazel asked. "Were they cool? Did they have a knife? Or- ooh! How about a sword?" Hazel had to bite her tongue to keep from badgering Ryan further, clearly a little more than excited at this information.

The smile on Ryan's face slowly fell into a pensive stare at the ground. "She was the best," he said as though it were a confession. "She was smart, capable, and a real great cook to boot. She was my best friend through and through."

Ryan stopped walking, staring off into the ground like there was a pit at his feet. The other two stopped in their tracks as well, both hearing hints of sadness - of regret - in his words.

"Ryan?" Dillan asked, urging the pachirisu on.

Ryan merely sighed, regaining some composure. "We were teammates for a couple years, but… mistakes were made."

"Mistakes?" Hazel asked curiously. "What kind of mistakes?"

Ryan scoffed at the question. "The kind you don't make if you expect to keep being a team," he said with a finality to his voice. "Don't worry about it. That's old news."

Hazel crossed her arms at the answer. Clearly, she didn't appreciate being kept in the dark, though whether that was because she wanted honesty between the members or because she wanted to identify a threat against the group, Dillan couldn't say. Nevertheless, he stepped towards Ryan.

"I'm sorry that happened," Dillan said.

Ryan gave a light chuckle but pawed him away. "Things happen. We move on. Nuff said."

Dillan nodded at Ryan. "That's a good way of thinking about it."

"If you have a better one, let me know."

And with a forced smile, the pachirisu continued on, leaving Hazel and Dillan behind him.

Dillan stared towards Ryan, silent questions coming into his brain.

Ryan had a teammate before him and Hazel. What were they like? Ryan seemed to speak fondly, but if something tore the two apart, was that the squirrel's fault or his old teammate's? And if it was Ryan's, was there something to be worried about?

Dillan looked towards the charmeleon, whose tail-flame pulsated rhythmically as she bit her lower lip in concentration. He wondered if the same thoughts went through her head, if more vigorously.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Huh?" Hazel asked, surprised by Dillan's voice as if forgetting he was even there. She laughed nervously before rubbing the back of her neck. "O-oh, it's nothing…" she lied.

"Really?" Dillan asked, eyeing her playfully. "You're not wondering about Ryan being on a team before?"

"Well…" Hazel's eyes drifted towards the floor and up to Dillan's insistent smile. "I mean, duh. Aren't you?"

"Buuut?" Dillan urged.

Hazel bit her lip again before starting: "Well… what do you think about Ryan?"

Dillan blinked a couple times at the question. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know…" she admitted. "I didn't say anything before, but… we've come up with a few team names and Ryan hasn't at all. And it bothered me how… out of it he was in Void Canyon. Like, he didn't even try to help you or me fight those ferals. I mean, you got stabbed for Arceus's sake. And now hearing he had an old team…" Hazel paused for a long moment - long enough for Dillan to hear the wind in the surrounding trees - before she sighed into the air.

"Hazel," Dillan said, his smile never fading. "If you're worried about something, you can talk to me."

Yet Hazel eventually shook her head. "It's nothing, really," she said with a smile back. "I'm sure I'm just overthinking things."

Dillan looked back at Hazel, studying her face. She spoke with reassurances, but she still seemed bothered. Was she worried about the "mistakes" Ryan had mentioned, as well?

Dillan nodded assuredly. "Hazel, when those nuzleaf held me as a prisoner, Ryan stuck by me. We were total strangers at the time, and I'm still not sure why he helped, but I think it's because he's someone who wants to help, even if he doesn't always come off like it.

"Ryan's a good guy, even if he can be an ass."

Hazel's face seemed to brighten up at those words. Whatever her worries were, Dillan seemed to have eased them, if only for now.

"Hey slowpokes!" Ryan hollered from ahead. "Hurry up already! At this rate, Poltress is looking like a pipe dream!"

Dillan's brow furrowed at the impeccable timing. "Case in point…" Yet he nevertheless smiled. "Guess we should catch up."

Hazel smiled towards him. "Thanks for the talk, Dillan," she said. "I appreciate it."

And with that, she stepped around Dillan and towards Ryan, shouting, "We're coming!" as she went.

Dillan turned towards the two, watching as Hazel ran forwards, and thinking to himself. "Ryan will have our backs. There's no doubt in my mind. No need to worry."

Hours passed by, walking across that dirt road, until the forested surroundings gave way in an instant to a lone river, running directly ahead of them. A cobblestone bridge stretched across the river, ending in a sea of sand that laid ahead as far as the eye could see.

Walking across the bridge, the group found themselves in the Kerrosian Territory, or at least that's what Hazel said. "The river divides the desert from the Alkan Territory's grassland. It serves as the natural border. A few more days north and we'll be at Kerrosia."

Somehow, walking through the desert felt amazing.

The heat of the sun beat down on Dillan's head. He felt the grains of sand in-between his toes like stepping on a warmed mattress, and its warmth spread through his scales. In fact, the warmth of the desert seemed to have the opposite effect that the cold breeze did, making him feel rejuvenated, like he could run a marathon. There was a newfound pep to his step and he owned it with joy!

In fact, Hazel looked about the same. She seemed to bounce with every step, hoisting her bag higher up her shoulder as though it weighed lighter than a feather.

Yet as the hours went by, the more Ryan seemed weighed down by the heat.

The pachirisu heaved himself with every breath. Unlike his scaly teammates, the pachirisu wore a coat of fur that trapped the heat against his body. He walked close by Hazel, asking for a small, damp pouch she kept in her bag filled with water, and poured some across his face.

"Careful," Hazel warned. "We only have so much."

Dillan looked at his compatriot, noticing how exhausted he looked. As his head hung low, Ryan's eyes fixated themselves on Hazel's footsteps, and each heavy breath he took sounded like creeping death.

Eventually, the gabite stepped up towards Ryan.

"Hey," he said with a light tap to his shoulder. "I could carry you if you want. You could even hide under my hood from the sun.

Initially, Ryan protested. "I'm not decrepit," he insisted with a dismissive wave. But the longer he went on, the slower and slower he became, and the pachirisu eventually staggered up Dillan's back unprompted, perching himself awkwardly between his shoulder blades and on his fin.

"I'm up here for a better view," Ryan panted. "That's all."

Dillan smiled back towards the pachirisu, thankful he accepted the gabite's help. He would ride upon Dillan's back to keep from overheating for the next couple of days.

The group found themselves subsisting on nothing but preserved berries Hazel had packed and, once their pouches of water ran dry, juice from some cactus-like bulb plants though its taste resembled a tongue-shriveling bite of old prunes and raisins.

"We'll do what we can to survive!" Hazel insisted, taking a large swig of the plant like a weightlifter to protein shakes. Though Dillan and Ryan found themselves taking small sips from Hazel's water pouch only if necessary.

Before long, the group stepped over the top of a large, sandy hill and saw their next destination.

Lying a good couple miles ahead, a small town sat next to what appeared to be a dried-up river. The town seemed to be a quaint, red town whose buildings were a sort of desert stone, topped with multi-colored tarps.

"A town!" Dillan exclaimed, and his achey feet suddenly felt the slightest relief.

At those words, Ryan almost fell off Dillan's back, barely managing to stay upright as he grabbed hold of his cloak. The pachirisu stumbled up Dillan's shoulder, and a great smile came to his face. "Society!"

"Poltress Town," Hazel said with a smile.

"I bet they have ice rooms down there…" Ryan fantasized. "No more of this stupid sun."

Dillan smacked his dry lips at the image of cool-running water, splashing against his face. "And no more cactus juice…"

"Maybe they have food, as well…" Ryan slumped onto Dillan's shoulder, resting his head on a bundled part of the gabite's cloak like a make-shift pillow.

"They should," Hazel said with a definite flick of her tail and its flame. "Not that we have money."

Ryan shook his fuzzy head at the statement. "We'll work for food. There's gotta be some pub down there that needs help during the midday rush."

Dillan looked towards the sun overhead. "It is that time of day. Maybe we can find some light work, after all?" He wondered what kind of work animals could possibly need help with. Then again, these pokemon were hardly animals.

"It's an option, I guess," Hazel shrugged. "I'll admit: something besides berries would be nice."

"Then let's get that grub!" Ryan said, planting his heel into Dillan's side with a point towards Poltress. "Run like the wind!"

Dillan eyed Ryan, wondering just where the pachirisu got off ordering him like some kind of horse, though he couldn't help the small smile that escaped his maw. And with a look towards Hazel, he shrugged. "Last one to the town is a rotten egg!"

And within a second, Dillan broke off in a full sprint towards the town, leaving Hazel to blink in confusion.

"H-Hey!" Hazel jeered before a giddy laugh escaped her maw. "Wait for me!"

The group ran with the wind in their faces, jeering at each other as they sped towards the bridge ahead. Dillan tried to stay ahead as best he could, swinging his arms to gain momentum like he'd always done, though he found the wind pressed against his body with every swing. Meanwhile, he heard Hazel's panting breaths growing louder with each second.

"She's gaining on us!" Ryan cheered from Dillan's back. "If you don't go faster, she'll beat us!"

"Us?" Dillan laughed. "When was this a team effort?"

"Starting now!" Ryan insisted. "So hurry up and run!"

He knew he didn't want to lose, but how? If she were genuinely faster than he was, she would cream him. How could he go faster?

Then it occurred to him. The way he was running, he swung his arms back and forth. As a human, it was to gain energy and keep up blood-flow. But as a gabite…

With each motion of his arms, he felt the wind press more and more against his fins. Perhaps running normally was the issue afterall? Perhaps… he needed to think more like a gabite…?

Dillan felt the wind in his fins. He quickly held his arms at his sides, like the wings of a plane. And as he did so, his body seemed to stabilize. Not only that, the wind seemed to catch underneath his fins, making each step throw him up into the air, almost as if his body fought off gravity itself.

He felt a laugh escape his mouth as he bounded with each step, practically skipping with a new-found speed. And Ryan seemed just as entertained:

"Hell yeah!" he cheered from the gabite's back.

And with a skidding stop in the sand, the two reached the town with a tap of Dillan's claw to a red archway.

"First!" the gabite declared with a triumphant grin. "We won!"

Finally, Hazel caught up with them wearing her own grin. "You guys cheated," the charmeleon laughed. "I wasn't ready!"

Dillan smirked back at Hazel. "Shouldn't a Guild member always be prepared for the unexpected?"

Ryan stood up tall upon his back, spreading his paws out to either side. "And you, Hazel Prince of Fericia, were woefully underprepared."

"As if," Hazel laughed. "Race me again and I'll smoke you both."

"I'd like to see it," Dillan laughed.

Yet before anymore could be said, the squirrel's paw tapped Dillan's shoulder a couple times. Looking back, he saw the pachirisu's brow furrowed as he stared ahead. "Yo, look at the town…"

Following Ryan's gaze, Dillan found his breath caught in his throat. The town itself was pretty small, about what you'd expect when you imagined a medieval village. But while Dillan previously expected some sort of up-keep to the place, he instead found thatch roofings caved in, with their multicolored cloths blowing dangerously from the roofs. Sand accumulated over every doorstep, creeping up their corners as if the desert started consuming the buildings with each gust. Metallic archways the color of rust hung over the buildings like decoratory bridges with small, unlit lanterns hanging from the bars.

As he stepped into the town, whose roads were completely overtaken by the sand, the breeze seemed to cease instantly. And as the wind stopped blowing in their ears, the dead silence of the town set in.

The group walked between run-down buildings of eroded stone, looking from alley to alley for signs of life. Yet none seemed to exist.

"What happened here…?" the gabite asked, hesitant for an answer.

"Maybe they're out foraging?" Hazel suggested with a shrug.

"The whole town?" Ryan questioned. "Really?"

"I'm sure everyone's fine," Hazel said with a wave, not waiting for the two to follow before proceeding deeper into the town.

Dillan and Ryan trailed while Hazel followed with her eyes drifting from street to street as if searching for something important: a sign of life, further evidence of a struggle, any clues as to the whereabouts of the town perhaps? And eventually, the charmeleon's flame flickered excitedly as she spotted something to their right, skipping down the street towards what appeared to be…

"A well?" Ryan said, crossing his arms. "This is what excites you?"

A smile spread across Hazel's face as she dug through her bag. "I have a sort of ritual," Hazel said. "Every new town we visit, I wanna make a wish in their well!" Eventually, she procured a gold coin, which glistened in her blue eyes, and flipped it with a "ping" of her claw against its metal. And with a "plop" of the water, she turned back with a smile. "A coin for a dream!"

She stared back at the two as if expecting a similar reaction, though she only received a look of utter disbelief from Ryan.

"Well, that was a waste of time."

Hazel's smile faded slightly as she clasped her hands behind her back. "Anyone ever tell you you can be a downer?"

"It's come up before," Ryan shrugged.

Dillan simply rolled his eyes at the pachirisu, not seeing the harm in Hazel's ritual, and ignored him for the most part. In truth, his mind was still set on the motionless town.

His eyes wandered across the run-down buildings, attempting to see any sign of life from a lit lantern to a wisp of smoke. His eyes set on a lone cart, abandoned on one of the paths, with torn bags whose now-moldy contents scattered across the ground.

"It's like the place has been abandoned… Are there normally towns that are just… left alone?"

He looked back towards Hazel, who rejoined him with a curious look to the cart. Yet she shrugged at his question. "I mean, I've never heard of a town being abandoned like this. Normally, the Guild is supposed to give aid to any town that's doing poorly. It's honestly weird that this one's been left alone for so long."

"Hey, look!" Ryan said with a pat to Dillan's shoulder. He pointed his paw towards a building to their left: one with a set of wrought-iron doors, a sand-covered deck, and a rusted sign that fell onto the sand with more of that weird writing Dillan couldn't make out. "A pub! They might have some water inside!"

Dillan pursed his lips at the suggestion. "Even with the town abandoned like this?"

"Wouldn't hurt to check," Hazel shrugged, stepping up towards the building.

The group of three walked onto the sandy deck, looking towards a set of shattered windows surrounding a set of ornate doors with rusty knockers.

Hazel set a hand on one of the knockers and gave it a tug. Yet between the rust on the door to the great accumulation of sand, the door didn't budge an inch. Hazel gave another failed tug followed by planting her foot against the opposite door.

"H-Hazel," Dillan said. "It's fine. We can just-"

"I got this!" Hazel said, gritting her teeth and pulling at the door, but it hardly budged.

Ryan sighed from Dillan's shoulder. "Hazel, really. We can just-"

"I got this!" Hazel insisted through gritted teeth. She leapt up, setting both feet against the opposite door, and tugged at the knocker with all her might. She began seething from the sheer exertion, and with a shrill moan of the door, it slowly creaked open more and more. And when Hazel had pried it as much as possible, the sudden lack of pressure to her legs meant a loss of traction that sent her face-planting against the sand with a small, "Plooff!"

Hazel quickly shot up and dusted the sand from her stomach, saying, "There! Piece of cake!"

Dillan smiled nervously towards Hazel, unsure how to go about telling her, while Ryan just planted his face in his palm.

"We could have just went through a window, you know," Ryan said behind his paw.

Hazel blinked a couple times at Ryan before stepping back from the door. And observing the shattered windows once more, a nervous smile crept up Hazel's face. "Ah. Y-yeah. I guess we could have."

"It's… probably fine?" Dillan suggested. "No risk of cutting ourselves on the glass."

"Right," Ryan said. "Who needs the risk of glass when we can get tetanus instead?"

"Fair point…" Dillan sighed.

"At least it's open," Hazel declared, stepping to the side and gesturing towards the entrance. "After you?"

And with that, the group entered the pub.

Upon entering, Dillan noticed the sand which caked the floor almost as much as the outside deck. Multiple tables made of weathered wood sat throughout the pub, circular water-marks dotting each and every one. Splintered chairs - most intact with the occasional one smashed-to-bits - sat in a corner of the room, towering up towards a hole in the grassy roofing. And as Dillan took a breath of air, expecting to smell a musty-old, molding smell, he was pleasantly surprised to find a sweet smell filling the air instead.

"Something smells good," Ryan noted, also having picked up on the aroma.

Dillan took a few more sniffs, finding the smell originating from beyond a wooden door behind a bar at the back of the room. "It's coming from there," he said with a point of his claw.

"That's weird…" Hazel said skeptically. She took a couple steps deeper into the room and looked around at its dilapidated state. And as if in response, she shivered. "Maybe we should go…"

"Go?" Ryan questioned. "Aren't you hungry?"

As if in response, Hazel's stomach began to growl. Even still, she shook her head. "I don't like this… I mean, why does an abandoned town have fresh food?"

"Clearly it isn't as abandoned as we thought," Ryan said with a nod.

Dillan shrugged. "It isn't like we've checked the whole town yet. There might still be a few friendly pokemon around?"

"And what if they aren't as friendly as we thought?" Hazel insisted. She took another look and shivered. "Look, let's just go? We can find a prickly aspear bush to forage."

"No point," Ryan said with a raised brow. "We've got food here."

Hazel looked towards Dillan with a pleading look, but as another smell of the sweet food wafted across his nose, Dillan shrugged. "It smells really good. It's at least worth investigating."

Ryan chuckled at Dillan's words as he patted his shoulder a couple times. "I knew we were friends for a reason," he grinned. And hopping off Dillan's shoulder, Ryan walked towards the doorway at the back, followed by the gabite and a reluctant-looking Hazel.

Dillan's mouth began salivating at the idea of what kind of food lay beyond that door. He imagined some sort of berry-flavored pie, having been freshly baked behind those doors, his name spelled out in blue-berry-flavored letters on top. Or even better - strawberry ice-cream with chunks of fruit inside. Better still, a jelly-filled doughnut! Not like he thought doughnuts existed here but one could hope.

His knees got weak just thinking about what kind of treat lay just beyond the door! Of course, he knew it had to belong to someone, but he knew he would be able to convince this mystery person how worthy of a meal Dillan was. After all, he was a traveler seeking to join the guild! He was going to help others. He was very deserving.

Yet as they approached the door, a cool breeze swept itself through the pub. Dillan's body shivered viciously from the gust. In fact, he wasn't the only one as his whole group seemed to shiver at the same time. But… that couldn't be. There were walls on every side of them. No breeze could possibly get in.

"W-weird…" Ryan stated, his jaw chattering from the sudden gust. "Anyone else feel suddenly c-colder?"

Now that Ryan mentioned it, Dillan did feel a bit chillier after the breeze. He pulled the cloak closer as his jaw began chattering as well. "Th-that's…"

"W-we should g-g-go…" Hazel insisted.

"It's probably f-fine," Ryan shrugged, stepping once more towards the door and reaching for the handle.

Yet as his finger touched the door, the light, which had fluttered peacefully down from the opening in the roof, vanished. Complete darkness consumed the group in an instant.

"H-hey!" Ryan shouted. "What did you guys do?!"

"What happened to my tail-flame?!" Hazel shrieked from behind Dillan. Her breaths became shaky as her panting echoed in the darkness. Her panicky footsteps sounded behind him before a forceful object, like a scaly tendril, slammed into Dillan's back, forcing him onto a table ahead with a "thud" and a scrape of its legs.

"Hey! Take it easy!" Dillan insisted, pushing from the table and onto his feet. As he did so, he found his foot stepping not on sand but on a rugged, bony surface like someone's foot. But as he drew back, apologizing for having stepped on what was presumably Hazel's foot, neither of his friends answered back.

He felt a sudden tap penetrating through the cloak on his back and etching itself into his shoulder-blade. Dillan twisted suddenly with a quick swipe of his arm. "Ryan?" he questioned.

"I'm over here!" Ryan's voice said, though it sounded like it came from the other side of the room, and he froze - not out of fear, but from pure disgust - at what felt like a warm slug creeping up his leg.

"Oh my Arceus, you did NOT just lick him!" a voice whined from behind Dillan.

"W-What?!" Dillan snapped, jumping from the wet tendril and finding his leg caught on one of the chairs, sending him down and into the sand. "Is someone else there?!"

"Goddamn it, Chuck!" a new voice snapped. "Way to ruin the illusion!"

Just then, a set of blue sparks shot into the air from Ryan's body, illuminating the area for a brief second, but just long enough to get a good look at a purple, bear-like creature with a massive, toothy frown (gengar) staring back towards Hazel, who seemed to have a small, purple pokemon with a horn on its head and a skirt for a body (shuppet) curled around her tail, looking ready to hurl.

"What…?" was all Dillan could say as the sparks dissipated, bathing them all in darkness again. Were those… pokemon? Did they cause their sudden darkness? And from the sounds of it, did that mean this was one big, elaborate way of screwing with them?

Dillan didn't know whether to laugh at the convoluted nature of this prank or shiver at the realization that he'd just had his thigh licked.

"I can salvage this!" a new voice - squeakier in nature - insisted.

A mass scraping sound could be heard from within the darkness. And within a moment, a growling echoed ahead of Dillan. A dim, red light spilled like blood across the floor, creeping through the room and towards Dillan. There, towering ahead about twenty-feet-tall, with broken spines shooting from its shoulders and rugged spines for teeth, stood a ghastly ogre that loomed over him. A huff of air shot from its maw towards the gabite, who merely coughed from what smelled like old onion.

The creature creaked ahead of the gabite, growling, "What business do you have in my lair, mortal!?" But Dillan didn't even shake. By this point, he knew this was merely some game.

He held up his fin towards the creature, and it extended into a blue, glowing blade that illuminated the creature ahead, revealing its body to be nothing but a mess of busted wood - the pile of chairs from before given form. And behind the array of splintered wood, looking towards Dillan in slack-jawed silence, hovered a black, wispy pokemon who seemed to be wearing a tree stump, with horn-like knots shooting from its ears, like a helmet (phantump).

"Mortal!" the phantump cried, covering itself with the chair-made arms it seemed to control psycho kinetically. "How dare you shine a light in my lair! I will smite you where you stand!"

"Give it up, Chucky…" the shuppet groaned, detaching itself from Hazel's tail, allowing her flame to once more illuminate the room. "You ruined it the second you talked, and there's no way 'chair god' can salvage it…"

As they floated in view of Hazel, who had been staring slack-jawed at the wooden creature that towered above Dillan, she yelped aloud. Her arm swiped her tail, pulling it close to her chest as she stumbled backwards and onto the floor.

With the room finally illuminated well enough to see, Dillan noticed the gengar from before floating towards the mess of chairs. They passed through the wooden structure, and within a moment, it collapsed in a wave of splinters and sand that made Ryan and Hazel both cough. And with the phantump completely revealed, they crossed their arms in defiance.

"Chair God is just unrefined…" the phantump whined. "It could be cool…"

The gengar looked down at his little friend with a look of sympathy. They knelt down (in thin air) towards the little mon, and putting an assuring hand to the phantump's shoulder, the gengar shook their head. "Chucky, don't listen to them. Listen to me, and know I mean it when I tell you that Chair God is not your best idea."

The phantump eyed them with a look of disbelief. "Real heart-felt, Drake. I appreciate it."

"You just need some better material," the gengar said simply, patting the phantumps shoulder as if having given some great piece of advice.

All the while Dillan, Ryan, and Hazel looked on in disbelief.

Dillan looked across each feature of the three pokemon, from their floating bodies to the almost empty feeling that grew in his chest having seen their forms. Their appearances, as simple and silly as they should have been, unnerved Dillan, almost like a switch went off inside of him that couldn't be reversed. These pokemon… were they…

"Ghosts…?" Dillan questioned aloud.

"Are you kidding me?" the pachirisu exclaimed, punching the sand. He stood up with a furious look to his face. "Was all that really some sort of lame prank?!"

"Seems like it," Dillan shrugged.

The phantump huffed into the air. "That was hardly some prank," they said indignantly. "That was art! The art of terror!"

The other two ghosts nodded in agreement. Dillan and Ryan, however, simply stared in bewilderment.

"Great," the pachirisu groaned. "Out of all the pokemon we could have met, we had to run into a bunch of theater kids…"

"Thespians!" the shuppet snapped. They raised their head into the light with pride swelling in their eyes. "We're not just some amateur scarers looking for a quick jump! We are professional poltergeists! Ghosts of ghasts! Heralds of Haunts! We are Team Terror!"

And as if on cue, the three pokemon all floated above Dillan, Ryan, and Hazel, proudly puffing out their chests like performers looking for applause after a spectacular show.

"My name's Drake," the gengar announced with a bow. "The devilishly cute shuppet is Penny, and Chuck is the brains behind 'Chair God'."

"I wouldn't call it, 'brains' per say," the shuppet, Penny, snidely remarked. Yet the phantump, Chuck, merely stuck their tongue out in response.

"Enough of that," Drake said with a warning look to the two of them, as if scolding children.

Dillan cocked his head to the side. Never in his life did he think he'd be face-to-face with literal ghosts. And what's stranger, Ryan acted as though they were simply more pokemon, like their presence wasn't somehow out-of-the-ordinary.

"Weird…" Dillan said under his breath. Then, another question came to his brain. "You said you're, 'Team Terror.' Does that mean you're all with the Guild?"

Drake's smile slowly fell into a frown as they blew a flume of air between their teeth.

Chuck hissed at the question. "There's no Guild in Poltress."

"They don't even recognize us as a town," Penny sighed.

The three seemed to float closer towards the ground at that, almost depressed by the notion.

"The Guild wouldn't r-recognize an abandoned town…" Hazel stuttered quietly from the floor, which drew Dillan's attention.

Looking back at his friend, she seemed to be eyeing the ghosts intensely, as these pokemon severely unnerved her. Perhaps their 'prank' was a little too much for her, after all?

"Abandoned?!" the phantump snapped. They whipped through the air towards Hazel, and as they stopped abruptly in front of her, she took a sharp breath and retreated a couple steps whilst her flame flared wildly. "Poltress is a town of nearly forty pokemon!"

"Forty?" Dillan blinked in confusion. "But we didn't see anyone coming into town, and it looks so worn down."

Chuck paused at the question, their voice trailing off in an awkward hum. They looked back towards Drake as if looking for an answer. The gengar's brow knitted together in a scowl, pausing as if to consider the unasked question. But they shook their head simply and smiled towards the group of three.

"Please forgive us for the previous scare," Drake chuckled. They floated downwards onto the floor. "Poltress is a bit of a tourist attraction in Kerrosia, renown for our playful scares. We meant no harm towards any of you, truly."

Dillan looked into the pokemon's toothy, stretched grin, and while the look uneased him, their voice seemed to be overflowing with sincerity that made him trust the pokemon.

"It's fine," Dillan smiled.

"I wasn't scared," Ryan said indignantly as his tail stuck upwards with his head.

The phantump floated towards Ryan with a snide smile. "You know, the ones who say that the most are always the most scared."

"And I saw the way you shot those sparks," Penny insisted, also floating towards him. "You seemed ready to flail like a little girly-girl."

The pachirisu scoffed aloud, pushing the two away with a fuzzy paw.

Just then, Ryan's stomach growled aloud, as fearsomely as the previous Chair God. All pokemon looked towards Ryan in shock at the sheer volume echoing from his stomach through the room.

Drake merely chuckled. "You all seem hungry. How about we treat you to a small meal?"

Ryan and Dillan both perked up at the suggestion. "Food?" Dillan asked.

"What's the catch?" Ryan began.

The gengar opened their palms to the two as if showing he had nothing hidden. "No catch," he said with a smile. "Consider it a 'thank you' for allowing us to scare you all today. Penny and Chuck have been needing someone to practice on for quite some time, and it was good exercise."

"It's been a while," Chuck said, floating down next to Drake. "We needed it bad."

Drake set a hand atop the phantump and ruffled the swirly bit on top of their head, saying, "Don't be so dramatic."

"We should r-really go…" Hazel stated with a glance at the door they came in. "We're heading for Kerrossia a-and we shouldn't be w-wasting time."

Dillan's head drew back in surprise. "We're not in that much of a rush, are we?"

The pachirisu eyed Hazel playfully. "Turning down a kind gesture isn't like you, Hazel."

Hazel looked between Ryan and Dillan with a pleading expression that surprised the gabite before looking out the corner of her eye towards the three ghosts. Her lip twitched as she stared followed by a clenched fist. Did she know something about these pokemon that indicated they were dangerous?

Yet with a sigh, Hazel gave a small nod. "W-we'd be happy with any help you can g-give to us."

This brought a great smile to Drake's face. "Then give us a moment to prepare!"

Dillan found himself in awe at the ghosts' speed and grace. They flew through the air like feathers on the wind, moving back and forth from the back of the diner and setting up one of the larger, rectangular tables to eat at. Chuck blew a gust of wind across the wooden surface, dusting off all the sand, while Penny placed an old, yellow table runner with a cracked vase atop the table. They brought some of the chairs from the crippled form of Chair God and set them up, guiding an enraptured Dillan, a starved Ryan, and an off-put Hazel (who kept her distance from the shuppet) to sit at one side of the table.

Drake floated from the table and through the wall at the back, returning in a dusty suit through the door with plates of food in-hand, balancing them along their arms like a waiter from a movie. They set plate after plate down in front of the members.

Dillan watched as the phantump floated back with a pair of shriveled flowers for the cracked vase. "This is awesome!" Dillan said to Hazel, who sat in the seat between him and Ryan, in wonder. Yet he received no response. "Hazel?" he asked.

Yet Hazel seemed to be eyeing the table with an intense eye. Her claws set on the side of her chair, while the knuckles in her paws turned white from pressure.

Dillan looked again towards her, seeing her averse look. He reached out to put a reassuring claw to her shoulder, but the moment he touched her, the charmeleon jumped away, and a small yelp left her maw. Dillan raised his claws passively with a simple smile.

"Are you okay?" he whispered towards her.

Hazel opened her maw to answer but hesitated. She went back to eyeing the table. "D-don't worry about it…" she said slowly.

"Hazel…?" Dillan insisted.

"I'm f-fine," she insisted.

And before Dillan could push the point, Drake came back into the room, another few plates in-hand and six glasses filled with a clear liquid: water. He set the plates on the opposite side of the table, where the three ghosts came to rest, floating above the ground in front of wooden plates filled with a red, spiny fruit topped with some sort of orange spread. The cups then floated towards each of them, resting atop the table, leaving Dillan to stare in awe.

"Dig in!" Drake announced.

Dillan started with the water, taking the cup between both claws like a little kid. And setting the lip of the cup to his lips, he took a quick drink.

"Aughe!" Dillan coughed, sputtering the "water" into his cup as the taste of prune juice spread across his tongue. "Not water!"

"Oh, sorry," Drake said with a mischievous grin. "I guess I should have said something first. My mistake."

"Sure…" Ryan said, tracing a finger across the cup's rim. "Just a simple mistake."

"Truth be told, that's all we have," Chuck explained. "We usually get water from the river, but it dries up during the hot season, leaving us with no crops or water. So everything here was scavenged from outside."

"Hence the cactus juice…" Dillan forced out. He faked a grateful smile, trying to remain courteous to his hosts. "That's… fine. Thanks."

The gabite cleared his throat, turning his attention from the cup to his fruit. He stabbed it on his claw and held it in front of his eyes, allowing the sauce to dribble off the array of spines and back onto the plate. With a tap of his arm-fin to the tip of the spine, he confirmed with a wince it was, indeed, as prickly as it looked.

How was he expected to eat this?

A growl rumbled from his stomach as if urging him to stab his own tongue for sustenance. But he didn't budge. There had to be a special way of eating this. Maybe he was supposed to take off the spines?

His eyes glanced across the table towards Penny, who had just wrapped a white cloth like a bib around their neck with some help from Drake. And as they licked their lips, an unseen force lifted the fruit from the plate ahead of the shuppet. Dillan watched with anticipation, wondering just how the little pokemon intended to eat it without getting stab-

Dillan's eyes bulged from his head as the shuppet's mouth grew as big as the gengar's. Their tongue shot out like a tentacle, wrapped itself around the entire fruit, and pulled it into their own mouth with the speed of a whip - spines and all. The puppet's eyes rolled into the back of their head as if in bliss, seemingly unaware of the multitude of jagged edges that had to be stabbing at the inside of its mouth.

Dillan's eyes fell back towards his own fruit. Good god, was he really expected to eat it whole?! Maybe there was some sort of ghost dog he could feed this to instead?

"Hey genius," Ryan said with a playful smirk towards the gabite. "They're screwing with you."

"W-what…?" Dillan asked, looking back up at the shuppet. And to his surprise, Penny eyed him with a wicked grin, the red spines of the fruit lacing their gums like teeth.

"We're ghost pokemon," they said through the spines, as if on the verge of laughing. "We can just phase through the spines so they don't hurt us."

"A-ah…" Dillan said with a light laugh, allowing his shoulders to relax again.

Ryan grabbed one of the spines by the base and tore a chunk from the fruit. "Just break them off real quick and eat." He then stuck it in his mouth like a lollipop. "Easy pickings."

Dillan looked down at his own fruit, wondering how exactly he was supposed to do that without hands. However, in a moment, he had an idea.

He focused on his spare fin and extended it into the blade once more. And with a quick movement, he broke the spine away from the fruit entirely, giving himself a free spot to bite.

The second it hit his tongue, a sweetness soaked his tongue, carried deeper down his throat and up into his nose with a punch of sweetness. Dillan opened his mouth on instinct to air off the overwhelming taste though he couldn't say it was bad. In fact, the fruit tasted quite delicious.

Ryan smirked towards the gabite. "Nice," he said through a mouth-full of fruit.

"So," Drake began from across the table with his own chunk of berry. "We introduced ourselves, but we never did get your names. And while we're at it, what brings you to Poltress?"

Dillan nodded apologetically. How rude of him to neglect an introduction. He swallowed before saying, "My name's Dillan Guerrero."

"Ryan Simon," the pachirisu waved, speaking through a mouth-ful.

"Hazel," the charmeleon said, albeit sounding a bit distant.

"We're traveling to the Kerrosian Guild to become Guild members," Dillan explained.

"Dillan here wants access to the Kerrosian library," Ryan said, pointing a thumb to the gabite.

"A knowledge-seeker, then?" Drake began, leaning onto the table towards the three.

Dillan shrugged lightly. "I guess you put it that way."

"Well, how would you put it?"

Dillan shrugged again. "I'm not really from Ganderosa, so I figured the best way to learn about everything was to read up?"

The gengar smiled broadly, as cheerfully as they were unnerving. "You know, Poltress has a few books. Perhaps we could give you-"

Drake stopped himself mid-sentence, as if realizing something important. Their eyes went towards Chuck who, out of the corner of their eye, had paused mid-bite at the mention of, "books".

"Scratch that," Drake sighed. "Some of us have a tendency to take scaring a bit too far…"

"I said I was sorry…" Chuck whined.

"I'm just along to get paid," the pachirisu shrugged. "And Hazel's wanted the job since she was a little kid."

"Oh?" The gengar leaned over the table towards the charmeleon, looking her up and down as she shrunk into her seat. "You don't look brave enough to be a member."

"You don't even know m-me," Hazel said as she shifted uncomfortably in her chair, not looking the pokemon in the eyes. "How can you judge?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Each pokemon finally took notice of Hazel's behavior. Yet instead of being insulted, the gengar shrugged easily enough, sitting back as if into an invisible throne. "Fair enough."

"A-anyway…" Ryan continued, taking another bite of the fruit. "What happened to the rest of town? You mentioned forty members, so why have we only seen three of you?"

The ghost pokemon all stopped eating at the question. Penny's eyes fell onto their plate as if scanning the wooden cracks for an answer while Chuck swallowed hard. Drake's smile fell into a small frown as he also scanned the table's surface

Eventually, the gengar cleared his throat. "That's… a bit of a story…"

"They can help," Chuck insisted.

Dillan leaned over his fruit at Chuck's statement. "Something happened then?"

Drake looked down at Chuck with a warning look. Yet after looking between Dillan and Ryan's interest, he eventually sighed. "About two months ago, pokemon in Poltress started going missing."

Dillan and Ryan both cocked their heads to the side. "Missing?" the gabite asked. "Missing how?"

Drake shook his head and shrugged. "Honestly, we're not sure. They just up and vanished."

"Like a bad ghost story…" Penny mumbled.

"You see, it's the hot season for the Kerrosian Territory, which means our river goes dry. No river, no crops. That leaves us scavenging for food.

"However, our scavengers started going missing. We figured they'd just wandered off in search of food and would be back soon, but weeks went by and they never returned. Pretty soon, not just our scavengers went missing. Eventually, town elders, shop keepers, friends - they all vanished without a word."

Dillan leaned closer with his elbows set on the table. "This isn't another prank, is it?"

But the gengar wasn't amused by the question in the slightest. He blew air from between his teeth in protest. "Believe me: I wish this were a mere prank."

"Do you have any idea wh-why they were taken…?" Hazel asked slowly to the surprise of Dillan. She still didn't meet the gengar's eyes though she did remove her claws from the chair's base, crossing her arms over her chest instead.

"Well…" Penny said quietly. "One night, I was walking towards the fountain in the middle of town. Well… I thought I heard someone chasing after another pokemon. I thought it might have been one of us playing with one of the adults, but then I heard a scream…"

As it recounted what happened, Dillan watched their eyes, not moving from a dark stain on the table. The shuppet began trembling on the spot. Had Dillan thought this was some elaborate prank before, he didn't now.

The poor child was terrified.

Chuck seemed to see this. They moved behind Drake and floated right next to Penny as if being a reassuring presence.

"I didn't want whoever was there to see me, so I hid behind the fountain. And that's when I saw… The Red Eye…"

"The what?" Ryan asked with a quick shake of his head.

"The Red Eye," Drake explained. "It's a fairy tale about a red-eyed monster that gobbles up children who are naughty. Now, I know," Drake raised their hands in defense, "a child's story meant to keep children from acting up doesn't sound plausible. But there was definitely something there that night, and it's been taking our pokemon north towards Sandy Slopes."

"You should have reported this to the Guild…" Hazel said, yet her voice sounded barely louder than a whisper.

Drake gritted their teeth at the question, crossing their arms in frustration. "We don't have a Guild in Poltress. Kaimana didn't deem us large or prosperous enough."

"You still could have written a l-letter," Hazel insisted.

"You don't understand!" the gengar interrupted, sending Hazel deeper into her chair. "Guild Master Kaimana wouldn't help a crippled woman rotting in the street! She doesn't consider our town worth protection! So she left us defenseless - the Guild left us defenseless - and now-"

Chuck set a soft hand on Drake's arm, pulling him back to his senses. Drake stared downward once more and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for shouting. The Guild is a touchy subject for me."

"No need to apologize," Dillan assured. "I can understand how hard it must be to look for help just to have it denied."

"The point is," Chuck continued for Drake, "The Guild won't help us find our friends."

"And even if I found the culprit, I can't risk the childrens' safety by going after them," Drake said, looking between Chuck and Penny. "The fact is, Poltress is a dead town and we can't do anything to save it."

"Is that why you're feeding us?" Ryan asked. "You want us to find and save your citizens?"

Dillan and Hazel both looked at the pachirisu with surprise, but this seemed to only lighten the gengar's mood. They laughed a joyous laugh that reminded Dillan of a villain from an old Saturday morning cartoon.

"I'm right then," the pachirisu smirked.

"The Guild won't send help," Penny said. "We've written letters, and some of the adults even went to Kerrosia before everyone else went missing. But the Guild doesn't want to help."

"Not to mention your story is a bit out there," Ryan continued. "Pokemon being abducted by 'The Red Eye' isn't exactly believable."

Drake eventually calmed down, taking a deep breath and steeling himself once more. He looked across the table towards the small squirrel with a stoney expression. "I know you aren't members of the Guild just yet, but I can't risk the childrens' safety-"

"We'll do it," Ryan stated without hesitation.

As those words left his mouth, the ghost pokemon across the table all began smiling wildly. In contrast, Dillan and Hazel both looked at him in wide-eyed surprise.

"R-Ryan?" the charmeleon whispered, leaning closer to him. "Can we talk about this first?"

Ryan leaned over the table and eyed Hazel out the corner of his eye. "What's there to talk about?" he questioned. "These pokemon need our help, the Guild isn't doing shit, and we can help."

"Can we though?" Dillan asked, feeling the marks across his arms from their encounter in Void Canyon. "I don't know if we can fight this Red Eye guy…"

"Who said anything about fighting?" Ryan shrugged. "All they're asking is to find and return their town members, right?"

"Right," Drake confirmed. "We'll even help you search."

"So we'll go to Sandy Slopes, find wherever Redeye is keeping their friends, free them, and leave. What's to worry about?"

Dillan looked towards Ryan curiously. Why was he being so forceful all of a sudden?

"R-Ryan-" Hazel started.

Ryan shook his head fiercely. "I'm not about to give these pokemon over to some kidnapper, Hazel. And besides: this is what Guild members do. We help pokemon. Isn't that what you want?"

Dillan considered the pachirisu's words. Each one rang in his head like an echo, reminding him of what he'd committed himself to. It was true: they were trying to become Guild members. And even though Dillan wanted to do so for a different reason, this would make for some good prep work before the exam.

"I'm with Ryan," the gabite nodded. "Let's do it."

Now, all eyes were on Hazel.

Hazel leaned over the table as beads of sweat built across her brow. She looked like she could double over and vomit chunks of fruit across the floor at any moment. Yet as she closed her eyes tightly, she took a hard swallow that looked like she'd eaten a stone. "O-okay… Let's h-help them. Like Guild members."

The pachirisu smiled broadly towards Hazel, patting her on the shoulder with, "That's the spirit!" before hopping onto the table.

The three ghost pokemon all floated up from their spots at the table. They drifted towards the three aspiring guild members and struck their chests twice before bowing to the Guild members (Penny skipped striking their chest over their lack of hands).

"Thank you so much, my new friends," Drake said. "You three have no idea how much this means to us."

"Don't worry about it," Dillan assured.

"This should be a piece of cake," Ryan said, popping his knuckles with a confident smirk. "Onward to Sandy Slopes!"

(A/N)

Hey all!

First off, a very special thanks to the new Beta-Reader for the story, "StarLord98", who has been hella helpful and kind enough to parse through the chapters and help me edit them! Bro is definitely a cool dude, and I cannot thank him enough for his help.

If you're interested in beta-reading for the story, feel free to let me know and you, too, can not only have access to the finished chapters early, but also get a special thanks credit at the end of the chapter you helped out with.

Second off, thanks to all of you who have followed and left a review. Starting the original work years ago, getting any kind of interaction was hella difficult, but seeing how many people have already followed and left their thoughts on the story, I honestly can't thank you enough. It means a lot to me :D

Thank you for reading!

If you haven't yet, feel free to leave a review, follow the story, and favorite it if you enjoy what you're seeing. Otherwise, I will see you all next week

Have a good one!